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    Templo y Antiguo Convento de San Matías Apóstol 03, Pueblo de Iztacalco, Ciudad de México

    Photo by Gunnar Wolf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Pueblo de Iztacalco

    Village Iztacalco, Ciudad de México Municipality of Iztacalco Valley of Mexico Volcano Route

    A former lake-island town in east Mexico City: Franciscan San Matías church, a market and barrio chapels, a short walk from Metro Iztacalco.

    From Mexico City: 15 min by car (10 km by road) How to get there ↓

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    Tours to Pueblo de Iztacalco

    Day trips and guided outings from Tepotzotlán often include Pueblo de Iztacalco; with a local guide you can get there without a car.

    Tours from Mexico City Teotihuacan pyramids morning or afternoon without tourist traps ★ 4.9 (10,269) · From US$59
    Find tours on Viator GetYourGuide

    How to get to Pueblo de Iztacalco

    • From Mexico City: about 15 min by road (~10 km)
    • Nearest airport: Mexico City (Felipe Ángeles) (NLU), 48 min by car to Tepotzotlán
    Rent a car at NLU Flights to NLU

    Route, map and directions ↓

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    Tours from Mexico City, near Pueblo de Iztacalco

    Teotihuacan pyramids morning or afternoon without tourist traps ★ 4.9 (10,269) 5 h 30 min From US$59
    Balloon flight + Breakfast in cave + Pyramids + Pick up CDMX. ★ 4.9 (8,170) 2–8 h From US$149
    Xochimilco, Coyoacan and Frida Kahlo with Optional Lunch ★ 4.5 (8,395) 9 h From US$40
    Balloon flight + pick up in CDMX + Breakfast in Cave + Pyramids ★ 4.9 (7,685) 4–7 h From US$157
    Teotihuacan Hot Air Balloon Flight from Mexico City / Volare ★ 4.8 (4,447) 3–9 h From US$144

    Tours, prices and ratings from Viator, checked weekly. We may earn a commission if you book.

    About Pueblo de Iztacalco

    Pueblo de Iztacalco is one of the two original villages of the Iztacalco borough, east of the Centro Histórico. The Nahuatl name means "in the house of salt": its first residents made a living drawing salt from the waters of Lake Texcoco, on an island between Tenochtitlan and the Iztapalapa peninsula. The Xólotl codex lists it among the last stops of the Mexica migration, and in 1550 Franciscans founded the convent of San Matías here. Through the colonial period the La Viga canal, which brought vegetables and flowers by canoe from Xochimilco and Chalco, made the town a required stop. The canal was filled in from 1940 and is now the Calzada de la Viga, a busy avenue.

    The old centre is divided into seven barrios: La Asunción, Santa Cruz Atencopac, Los Reyes, Santiago Atoyac, Xicaltongo, San Miguel and Zapotla. The heart is the San Matías plaza, also called Plaza Hidalgo, with a kiosk, shade trees and the bust of Miguel Hidalgo that Benito Juárez unveiled in 1870. The church has a stone façade, a single bell tower with an 18th-century clock, a Greek-cross chapel to the Immaculate Conception and an altarpiece with the statue of the saint. Beside the plaza stands Mercado Iztacalco, at the corner of La Viga and the Tezontle canal, where a boat lock opened in 1908; it has plenty of food stalls. The chapels of La Asunción and La Santa Cruz are under 200 metres away, and the village counts 16 catalogued historic buildings in all, among them the country house Quinta Pachuca in Zapotla.

    The liveliest day to come is the Tuesday after Easter Sunday, when residents of the seven barrios fill the churchyard with flowers and hand out aguas frescas. The rest of the year this is a working-class city neighbourhood with no souvenir trade.

    How to get to Pueblo de Iztacalco

    Drive from Mexico City: 15 min, 10 km

    By Metro, Iztacalco station (Line 8, Garibaldi–Constitución de 1917) sits on Eje 3 Oriente, Francisco del Paso y Troncoso, and its logo is the San Matías church itself. Metrobús Line 5 runs along the same axis and stops opposite the station (Oriente 116). From the station walk toward the Calzada de la Viga to reach the old centre; Coyuya, also on Line 8, is the alternative stop. By car, aim for the Calzada de la Viga (Eje 2 Oriente) (the Viaducto Miguel Alemán lies to the north), with the plaza next to Mercado Iztacalco. It is about 5 km from the Zócalo: roughly 15 minutes by taxi or ride-hail in light traffic, and over an hour and a half at rush hour. Walking from the Centro Histórico is not practical because of the fast avenues.

    Directions to Pueblo de Iztacalco on Google Maps

    Distances are in a straight line; the road is usually longer.

    Where to stay Hotels in Pueblo de Iztacalco Compare hotels, posadas and guest houses in Pueblo de Iztacalco. See prices →

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    From the nearest cities to Pueblo de Iztacalco

    Drive times by road from OpenStreetMap, without traffic or stops. Times marked ~ are estimated from the straight-line distance.

    Before you go to Pueblo de Iztacalco: hours, prices and tips

    Hours
    Mercado Iztacalco is open daily, 8 am to 6 pm. Mexico City tourism site (mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx) · checked Oct 2026
    Best time of day
    Daytime: the area has no tourist police and some pockets have higher crime, so go in daylight and keep valuables out of sight. Wikivoyage · checked Oct 2026
    Best season
    The Tuesday after Easter Sunday, residents of the seven barrios gather at San Matías with flowers and aguas frescas. Time Out México · checked Oct 2026

    Hours and prices change, especially around holidays. Each fact links to where we checked it.

    Visiting Pueblo de Iztacalco: what to see and do

    Church and former convent of San Matías Apóstol (Juárez 4, barrio La Asunción), with its clock tower and the Immaculate Conception chapel.
    San Matías plaza, with its kiosk, the pre-Hispanic Iztacalco glyph and the bust of Hidalgo.
    Mercado Iztacalco, at Canal de Tezontle and Calzada de la Viga, for lunch.
    The chapels of La Asunción and La Santa Cruz, about 150 and 200 metres from the plaza.
    Ermita de la Gualupita (Santa Cruz), a tiny colonial hermitage.
    Calzada de la Viga, the old canal that once carried chinampa produce into the city.

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    Places to stay in Pueblo de Iztacalco

    Compare hotels, posadas, and rentals in and around Pueblo de Iztacalco.

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    Tours & activities

    Day trips and guided outings from Tepotzotlán often include Pueblo de Iztacalco; with a local guide you can get there without a car.

    Viator GetYourGuide

    Rental cars

    Pick up a car at NLU (Mexico City (Felipe Ángeles)): about 48 min by road to Tepotzotlán, then 38 km more to Pueblo de Iztacalco, on your own schedule.

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    Flights

    The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Mexico City (Felipe Ángeles) (NLU), about 48 min by road from Tepotzotlán, the base for Pueblo de Iztacalco.

    Kiwi.com

    Travel insurance

    Medical and trip cover for Mexico, by the week or month.

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    Mobile data

    Signal can drop away from Tepotzotlán: download a map of the way to Pueblo de Iztacalco before you set out, or carry an eSIM with data.

    Airalo

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    When to go to Pueblo de Iztacalco cool

    Pueblo de Iztacalco shares the climate of Tepotzotlán, 38 km away. The best months to visit are January, February, March, and December.

    See the month-by-month climate of Tepotzotlán

    The closest Pueblo Mágico: Tepotzotlán

    Churrigueresque facade and tower of San Francisco Javier with its atrium cross, Tepotzotlán, Estado de México cool
    Estado de México Tepotzotlán

    Tepotzotlán is the Pueblo Mágico closest to Pueblo de Iztacalco, with places to stay, food, and more to see.

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    Closest to Pueblo de Iztacalco

    Near Pueblo de Iztacalco

    Drive times by road from OpenStreetMap, without traffic. Times marked ~ are estimated from the straight-line distance.

    Location from OpenStreetMap. Written by Puebloteca.