Visiting Teotihuacan with a Toddler or Baby

Teotihuacan, located about 25 miles outside of Mexico City, is one of the most archeologically significant ancient Mesoamerican cities. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and during it’s time, was at least the sixth most populated city in the world. But is Teotihuacan worth a visit with a toddler or baby in tow?

Yes, it definitely is! But there are some things that you should know before you make the trek.

Because there are a few challenges that come with visiting Teotihuacan with a baby or toddler.

In this post, I am not going to cover any of the history or background info about Teotihuacan – there are plenty of blogs out there that can do that better than I can! I am really just focused on how to visit the ruins with little ones.

Getting there

If you are coming from Mexico City, there are typically 4 options for getting to the ruins:

Join a Group Tour

This is the most common way that tourists visit Teotihuacan, and in some ways it will make things very easy. You can get picked up at your hotel, you will have a guide to tell you everything you need to know, and you can pretty much expect everything to run smoothly.

I personally don’t like this option when traveling with really young kids. Kids are unpredictable. You might need to step away from the group to change a diaper, or breastfeed, or whatever else. It can be challenging to manage your child’s needs with the pace of the group. Plus no one will appreciate a baby crying while they are trying to hear the guide.

For these reasons, many group tours will not allow young children, so be sure to check if you go this route.

Book a Private Tour

This is a much better option if you want someone to do the organizing, but it comes at a steep ticket price. Most that I found online were in the US $100-200 price range per person. The advantage is that you will still have someone come pick you up, ensure everything runs smoothly, and teach you about the ruins.

When shopping around for private tours, look for ones that appear family-friendly or have reviews from other travelers with kids. I have experienced some private tours that were very flexible to our needs as a family, and others that were rigid and wanted to go at their typical pace regardless of our needs. You’ll want to find someone who is happy to take cues from you about what you need.

Take an Uber

If you don’t want to pre-book a tour, you can always Uber to Teotihuacan. (I talk about why you should never take a taxi in my guide to Mexico City with a toddler or baby!) This should take about 40-60 minutes from CDMX (depending on traffic and where in the city you depart from) and should be pretty affordable.

Once you are there, you’ll need to purchase an entry ticket from the gate. This is straightforward and easy to do, and it costs 80 pesos (under US $4) per person.

Then you are free to roam the ruins on your own. There are guides available there, in case you would still like a tour. We met several, and while we did not inquire about their prices, you can expect that they are negotiable and it is often best to get a little further inside where there is more competition between guides to secure a better price.

Catching an Uber back would be tougher. If you go early in the day, you’ll have better luck catching one as they drop someone off. You can also negotiate with your Uber driver to stay “off the clock” for a set price while you are inside. Or you can take the bus back.

Take the Bus

This is the cheapest option, and because it isn’t too complicated, this is what we chose. This would also be a safer choice if you are making the trip without a car seat.

You’ll want to catch the bus from the main bus terminal, Terminal Norte. We Uber’ed to the terminal (about 20 minutes from our location in Condesa). Once there, proceed to the furthest north end, and find the ticket counter that says Los Piramides. It was the second to last counter when we were there. A bus ticket cost about US $5 when we visited in 2021.

It’s pretty straightforward, but if you want a detailed walk-through, we followed this guide to taking the bus to Teotihuacan.

The bus ride is direct, with only one stop. It takes about an hour and was a pretty low-key and relaxing ride. The bus drops you off outside of the complex, so expect to walk about 10 minutes (toddler pace) to get to the entrance. This entrance is Gate 1, which is the main entrance (near the Temple of the Queztalcoatl) but also the furthest from the Pyramid of the Moon. More on that in the next section.

One thing to note: look at the time on your bus ticket and make sure you catch the right bus! Even after reading this on another blog, we messed this up. We looked at the return ticket, which had no time, and thought the info I had read must have been outdated. Such a dumb mistake!

We missed our bus because we had to take a potty break. And the bathrooms in the bus terminal are pay-to-enter, so we needed to get small change (10 pesos to enter, and another 5 for toilet paper). If your toddler might need a bathroom break, do it before you buy your ticket.

It ended up fine. They told us to wait until the next bus was almost ready to leave, and if there were any seats available, we could have them. It got close, but there were enough empty seats for us to get on that bus, and even sit together. But still… whoops.

Teotihuacan involves a ton of walking

This is the main issue with taking a baby to Teotihuacan: you are going to do a lot of walking. And climbing. And that’s not easy with any young child.

If you want to get all the way from Gate 1 to the Pyramid of the Moon, you will need to walk about 2 miles, and over several tall platforms that you need to climb and descend.

You can significantly shorten this distance by entering at one of the other gates. Gate 2 will put you right next to the Pyramid of the Sun, which is still a long ways from the Pyramid of the Moon, but much more in the center of the “action”. If you are taking a taxi, Uber, or private tour, this is what I would suggest.

Traveling with a little one, you’re probably not going to see the whole complex. We enjoyed the Temple of the Queztalcoatl, but found the Temple of the Sun more interesting. We did not make it any farther than that. I would have preferred to enter in the middle and head toward the Temple of the Moon, but I don’t feel like we missed out, nor do I regret our decision to take the bus.

Many people come to Teotihuacan to climb the temples and get the best view. You’re not doing that with a toddler (definitely not safe) and not likely while babywearing (still pretty unsafe – they are very steep). So it might not matter to you whether you make it all the way to the main temples. Seeing them from further down the Avenue of the Dead was fine for us!

Can you bring a stroller to Teotihuacan?

I mean, maybe they would let it in? But you definitely won’t be able to use it much. It’s not just the uneven grass, dirt, and sand that you’re walking through for those 2 miles. The bigger issue is that you will need to scale several large staircase structures – up and then back down – along the way.

You probably don’t want to do that while dragging a stroller.

This is especially true if you come from the main entrance (Gate 1), but still an issue from the closer entrances as well. You won’t have to climb as much, but there will still be climbing.

This is a perfect example of why I prefer babywearing while traveling. Strollers are great around Mexico City, but bring your favorite baby carrier for Teotihuacan.

Gate 3 is the only wheelchair accessible gate, so consider entering there if you do want to bring a stroller.

Bring or buy lots of water

Plan ahead and bring an appropriate amount of water. Even if the weather is not super hot (as it often isn’t), you’ll be doing a lot of walking and exploring. You can purchase when you get there so you don’t have to carry as much.

When you enter through the main entrance, you’ll walk through an area filled with several little minimarts. This is a great place to stock up on bottled water and snacks, and you can also find tons of souvenirs. We also enjoyed having a popsicle break here.

While there are vendors throughout the complex that sell water, I would err on the side of caution and avoid buying from them. You are much more likely to get a bottle that is filled with tap water than if you purchase from the minimarts.

There are vendors set up around all of the entrances, but there are only restrooms at Gates 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Watch out for ants

You can’t go far in Teotihuacan without encountering ants. Throughout the complex, there are huge ant colonies, and these are not ants that you want to mess with.

Ensure your little ones (and their grown-ups) are wearing close-toes shoes for this trip!

Watch out for steep fall offs

The most dangerous thing about Teotihuacan is the potential for falls.

It’s not just that the stairs are steep. There are areas around the ruins where you could easily fall a serious distance, and there are no guardrails or barriers. Typically, you need to climb up to the walls to encounter this. But at least once, we were surprised by a dangerous drop that we didn’t realize was right at the top of some stairs that we climbed.

If you have a young toddler, be especially vigilant for this.

Along the Avenue of the Dead, the stairs are pretty straightforward. They look the same going up as they do coming down – steep, but not a cliff. It’s really in the Pyramid area that you need to watch out.

Avoid the crowds if you can

Teotihuacan is one of the best ruins in Mexico, drawing about 3.5 million visitors each year. You are never going to truly escape the crowd. But you can choose better times to encounter fewer people.

If you are joining a tour for your trip to Teotihuacan, it is going to be next to impossible to avoid the crowds. You’ll arrive at the same time that all the other tour groups do.

If you are taking the bus or Ubering, consider trying to get to the ruins early. It opens at 9am every day. When we arrived around 1, it was during a lull between the morning and afternoon crowds. It wasn’t completely empty, but we had plenty of space to ourselves, and the vendors were mostly on break.

However, the late crowds did show up while we were there, and it was like we could see a tidal wave of people, a quarter mile behind us. The vendors all popped back out, and we were thankful that we had seen pretty much everything our toddler had energy for right as the crowd caught up with us.

There are good and bad days to go, as well. It will be most crowded on the weekends. It is one of few public attractions open on Mondays, so it might be more crowded than other weekdays, but that also might be a nice choice because most other sites you want to see are closed anyway.

You can’t avoid the hawkers

There are vendors selling trinkets throughout the complex. This is true of pretty much any archaeological site in Mexico (and much of the world), and some will be pushier than others.

If you see something you like, be sure to haggle – that’s what is expected and built into their prices.

But if you want to be left alone, it is best to give a simple “no gracias” and look away. No need to be rude; they are just doing their job. As I mentioned above, you can encounter fewer of them if you go during a non-tour time.

So, is Teotihuacan good for toddlers?

While I don’t usually recommend historical and archeological sites as toddler attractions, Teotihuacan was actually a lot of fun. My toddler was thoroughly entertained by climbing all the stairs and running around in the fields.

There is a ton of walking, which might be a deal breaker for some families. But it’s a great break from the city, it’s fun to explore, and as long as you go in without expectations about being able to make it to every corner of the complex, you will see plenty of interesting ruins.

Have you visited Teotihuacan with little kids? Let me know about your experience in the comments!