Town Álvaro Obregón, Ciudad de México Municipality of Álvaro Obregón Valley of Mexico
Cobbled lanes, a Carmelite convent with tiled domes and mummies, the Saturday art bazaar on Plaza San Jacinto, and Rivera and Kahlo's twin studios.
From Mexico City: 20 min by car (14 km by road) How to get there ↓
Near here
Plan your visit to San Ángel
Where to stay near San Ángel
Compare hotels, posadas and guest houses in San Ángel.
Tours to San Ángel
Day trips around Tepoztlán sometimes stop in San Ángel; a tour is the easy way to see it without a car.
Tours from Mexico City
Teotihuacan pyramids morning or afternoon without tourist traps
★ 4.9 (10,269) · From US$59
How to get to San Ángel
- From Mexico City: about 20 min by road (~14 km)
- Nearest airport: Mexico City (MEX), 1 h 25 min by car to Tepoztlán
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Tours from Mexico City, near San Ángel
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About San Ángel
San Ángel is a former village in the south-west of Mexico City, now part of the Álvaro Obregón borough, that still feels like a place apart: about half a square kilometre of cobbled lanes, walled gardens and old country houses. Before the Spanish arrived it was the Tepanec settlement of Tenanitla. The Dominicans put up a chapel around 1535, and from 1615 the Carmelites built a college here dedicated to San Ángelo Mártir, which gave the town its name and grew rich from its orchards. The Reform laws closed the college in the 19th century, and in 1847, during the US invasion, members of the San Patricio Battalion were executed in Plaza San Jacinto. The city swallowed the village in the 20th century and Avenida Revolución and Insurgentes were cut through it in the 1950s, but it was declared a picturesque typical town in 1934 and a zone of historic monuments in 1987.
The Carmelite complex is still the landmark, with three domes covered in glazed tiles. The old convent has been the Museo de El Carmen since 1929, and its crypt with mummified bodies is the stop everyone remembers. Plaza San Jacinto is the social centre, with the Casa del Risco and its baroque tiled fountain. On its corner is the Bazar Sábado, which started in 1960 on Doctor Gálvez street and moved to Plaza San Jacinto 11 in 1965: every Saturday artisans sell Taxco silver, ceramics, backstrap-woven textiles and carved wood directly, with marimba music in the covered patio, while painters hang their canvases in the plaza outside.
San Ángel also holds one of the city's key pieces of modern architecture, the Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo. Juan O'Gorman designed it in 1931 and finished it in 1932: two separate houses, one for each artist, joined by a bridge. Frida painted works such as Lo que el agua me dio here, Rivera kept working in his studio until his death in 1957, and since 1986 it has been a museum run by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. In July the Feria de las Flores, held since 1856 in honour of the Virgen del Carmen, fills the streets.
How to get to San Ángel
Drive from Mexico City: 20 min, 14 km
Metrobús Line 1 runs down Avenida Insurgentes through San Ángel; get off at La Bombilla and walk a few minutes south to Plaza San Jacinto. The nearest Metro station, Miguel Ángel de Quevedo on Line 3, is about 1 km east. The Museo de El Carmen is at Avenida Revolución 4 and 6, and the Bazar Sábado at Plaza San Jacinto 11.
Directions to San Ángel on Google Maps
Distances are in a straight line; the road is usually longer.
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From the nearest cities to San Ángel
- Mexico City · 14 km by road, 20 min
- Toluca · 58 km by road, 1 h
- Cuernavaca · 65 km by road, 1 h 10 min
Drive times by road from OpenStreetMap, without traffic or stops. Times marked ~ are estimated from the straight-line distance.
What to see in San Ángel 4
Sights with their own page, closest to the centre first.
Landmarks and museums
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Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo · Landmark · 1 km from the centre
Juan O'Gorman's 1931 twin houses in San Ángel, a red one for Diego and a blue one for Frida, joined by a rooftop bridge behind a fence of cactus. -
Ciudad Universitaria · Landmark · 1 km from the centre
UNAM's 1950s campus on a lava field, a UNESCO site since 2007: O'Gorman's mosaic library, Siqueiros on the Rectoría, the Olympic stadium and MUAC. -
Museo Frida Kahlo · Landmark · 3 km from the centre
Frida Kahlo's cobalt-blue Casa Azul in Coyoacán, where she was born and died: her studio, kitchen and garden. Tickets online only, by time slot.
Archaeological sites
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Copilco · Archaeological site · 1 km from the centre
A Preclassic village buried under Xitle's lava, tunnelled into by Manuel Gamio in 1917; its site museum closed to the public in the early 1980s.
Map of San Ángel
Neighbourhoods and villages of San Ángel
Part of San Ángel or just outside it, closest first.
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Coyoacán · Town · 3 km from the centre
Cortés's first seat of New Spain, later home to Frida Kahlo and Trotsky: twin plazas, a 16th-century parish, a market and cobbled streets. -
San Jerónimo Lídice · Village · 3 km from the centre
Old village of Aculco with a 1713 baroque church, a 16th-century open chapel and a plaza that remembers Lidice every 10 June. -
Mixcoac · Town · 4 km from the centre
A former town swallowed by the city in 1928: a kiosk plaza, a Dominican convent, Gómez Farías's house and an Aztec pyramid beside the Periférico.
Day trips and tours from San Ángel
The closest Pueblos Mágicos and places to visit, with the drive from San Ángel and tours that leave from it.
Times marked ~ are estimated from the distance. Links open a partner site. We may earn a commission if you book, at no cost to you.
Before you go: getting to and around San Ángel
- The nearest airport is Mexico City (MEX).
- The best months to go are January, February, March, and December.
- 1 of the places on this page is more than 3 km from the centre: take a taxi, a ride-hailing app or a local bus.
- For day trips a rental car gives the most freedom; the tours above leave from San Ángel.
Before you go to San Ángel: hours, prices and tips
- Hours
- The Bazar Sábado opens on Saturdays only, 10 am to 7 pm, at Plaza San Jacinto 11. Mexico City Tourism (CDMX) · checked Oct 2026
- Best time of day
- Saturday is the day to come, when the bazaar is open and artists set up in the plaza. Mexico City Tourism (CDMX) · checked Oct 2026
- Best season
- The Feria de las Flores, held every July since 1856 in honour of the Virgen del Carmen, is the neighbourhood's big festival. Wikipedia · checked Oct 2026
Hours and prices change, especially around holidays. Each fact links to where we checked it.
Visiting San Ángel: what to see and do
Browse the Bazar Sábado on Plaza San Jacinto on a Saturday, with marimba in the patio.
Walk among the painters' stalls in Plaza San Jacinto.
See the baroque tiled fountain of the Casa del Risco.
Visit the Museo de El Carmen and its crypt of mummies under the tiled domes.
Tour the Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, Juan O'Gorman's twin houses joined by a bridge.
Wander the cobbled lanes and walled gardens between the plazas.
Come in July for the Feria de las Flores.
Plan your trip
Places to stay in San Ángel
Compare hotels, posadas, and rentals in and around San Ángel.
Tours & activities
Day trips around Tepoztlán sometimes stop in San Ángel; a tour is the easy way to see it without a car.
Rental cars
Pick up a car at MEX (Mexico City): about 1 h 25 min by road to Tepoztlán, then 41 km more to San Ángel, on your own schedule.
Flights
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Mexico City (MEX), about 1 h 25 min by road from Tepoztlán, the base for San Ángel.
Mobile data
Signal can drop away from Tepoztlán: download a map of the way to San Ángel before you set out, or carry an eSIM with data.
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When to go to San Ángel mild
San Ángel shares the climate of Tepoztlán, 41 km away. The best months to visit are January, February, March, and December.
See the month-by-month climate of Tepoztlán
Weather in San Ángel now and the next 7 days
Live forecast from Open-Meteo. Chance of rain is the day's highest.
The closest Pueblo Mágico: Tepoztlán
Tepoztlán is the Pueblo Mágico closest to San Ángel, with places to stay, food, and more to see.
Also close to
- Tepotzotlán · Estado de México · 41 km away
- Metepec · Estado de México · 44 km away
- Tlayacapan · Morelos · 49 km away
- Villa del Carbón · Estado de México · 51 km away
- Teotihuacán · Estado de México · 53 km away
Near San Ángel
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Parque nacional Fuentes Brotantes de Tlalpan · Nature reserve · Ciudad de México
15 min drive · 9 km
Drive times by road from OpenStreetMap, without traffic. Times marked ~ are estimated from the straight-line distance.
Location from OpenStreetMap. Written by Puebloteca.