Teotihuacan: The City That Predates the Aztecs by a Thousand Years, and Nobody Knows Who Built It

The Aztecs found Teotihuacan already abandoned when they arrived in the Valley of Mexico around 1250 CE. The city had been empty for roughly 600 years. They named it “place where men become gods” and built it into their mythology as the site where the gods created the current sun. Who actually built it, what language they spoke, and why they abandoned it around 550 CE remain genuinely unresolved questions in Mesoamerican archaeology.

At its peak between 100 and 450 CE, Teotihuacan had a population of approximately 125,000, making it the sixth-largest city in the world at that time. It was also one of the most deliberately planned: the Avenue of the Dead, running north-south for 4 kilometres, is oriented 15 degrees east of true north to align with specific astronomical observations. The Pyramid of the Sun is positioned so that on the two days of the year when the sun passes directly overhead, it sets perpendicular to the pyramid’s western face.

The Aztecs inherited the city as an archaeological site. We are doing the same thing.

The Pyramids

The Pyramid of the Sun is the third-largest pyramid in the world by volume, after the Great Pyramid of Giza and the buried Cholula Great Pyramid (which has a Spanish colonial church on top of it). It stands 65 metres high and was originally coated in red plaster. Climbing to the summit is still permitted and takes about 15 minutes at a steady pace. The view along the Avenue of the Dead to the Pyramid of the Moon at the northern end is the clearest perspective on the site’s scale.

The Pyramid of the Moon is smaller (43 metres) but archaeologically more interesting. Excavations in the late 1990s found sacrificial burials inside, including bound humans and animals from the period of the pyramid’s construction. It cannot be climbed, but its base gives the best view back down the Avenue of the Dead.

The Temple of Quetzalcoatl (the Feathered Serpent Temple) in the Citadel complex at the southern end has the most elaborate surviving stone sculpture on the site. The facades alternate feathered serpent heads with faces archaeologists have variously identified as Tlaloc the rain god or abstract ceremonial headdresses. Excavations beneath the pyramid found 137 sacrificial burials from around 200 CE.

Getting There

Teotihuacan is 50 kilometres northeast of Mexico City. Buses from the Terminal Central del Norte run from about 7am, taking 1 to 1.5 hours. The bus drops at the site entrance directly. The bus is more practical than any tour bus arrangement for independent travellers.

Arrive when the site opens at 9am: cooler temperatures, fewer visitors, better light for photography. By 11am on weekends the main pyramid areas become significantly crowded.

Equinox Warning

March 21 (the spring equinox) brings over 100,000 visitors to Teotihuacan in a single day, drawn by the tradition of wearing white and raising arms to receive the pyramid’s energy at sunrise. The experience is powerful in a festival sense. If you prefer the archaeological site rather than the ceremony, the week after the equinox is dramatically quieter.

Eating and Practical Notes

The restaurants immediately outside the entrance are squarely tourist-facing. Local vendors in the market area near the site perimeter sell tamales, quesadillas, and atole (a masa-based warm drink) at prices aimed at Mexican day-trippers rather than tourists. Bring water; the site has limited shade and dehydration is a real risk in summer.

The climb in full midday sun from May through September is punishing. Early start is not optional advice.