Tepoztlán

Tepoztlán sits in a bowl ringed by ragged volcanic cliffs, and on top of one of them, four hundred metres above the village, stands the Tepozteco, a small pyramid to Ometochtli, a god of pulque. The climb is short but brutally steep, mostly on rough stone steps, and takes about an hour up; from the top the whole valley opens out and the pyramid itself is modest, which nobody minds. The village below has a sixteenth-century monastery among the UNESCO-listed fourteen, a weekend market known for its food, and a long-standing reputation among Mexicans as a place of spiritual energy, which has brought a dense layer of healers, retreats and crystal shops.

History

The name means "place of abundant copper" or "place of the broken rocks". Myth makes nearby Amatlán the birthplace of Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, and the oldest pottery found in the area dates to about 1500 BCE. Tepoztlán became a Pueblo Mágico in 2002, lost the title in 2009 and regained it in 2010 (Wikipedia, Tepoztlán).

Highlights

• The Tepozteco climb - a steep hour up to a clifftop pyramid.
• The cliffs - ragged volcanic walls ringing the village.
• The market - weekend food stalls, itacates and ice creams.
• The Dominican monastery - one of the fourteen UNESCO-listed foundations.

When to go

October to May is dry, and the climb is best started early before the heat and the crowds. Weekends bring the full market but also heavy traffic from Mexico City; midweek is calmer. The trail closes in heavy rain and after landslides.

Before you go

The climb is genuinely steep and rough underfoot, with a fixed capacity that means queues at busy times, and it defeats a lot of people who set off casually. Weekend traffic from the capital clogs the single road in. The spiritual tourism layer is thick and the town has become expensive because of it.

Nearby

Cuernavaca is half an hour; Xochicalco is an hour and a half west.