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    Parroquia Santiago 2025, Santiago Acahualtepec, Ciudad de México

    Photo by ESntiago, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Santiago Acahualtepec

    Village Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México Municipality of Iztapalapa Valley of Mexico

    An original village of Iztapalapa that lived off tezontle quarrying: a church with an indigenous-style façade, a free community museum and a July 25 feast.

    From Mexico City: 25 min by car (20 km by road) How to get there ↓

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    Tours to Santiago Acahualtepec

    Day trips and guided outings from Teotihuacán often include Santiago Acahualtepec; 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 Santiago Acahualtepec

    • From Mexico City: about 25 min by road (~20 km)
    • Nearest airport: Mexico City (Felipe Ángeles) (NLU), 35 min by car to Teotihuacán
    Rent a car at NLU Flights to NLU

    Route, map and directions ↓

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    Tours from Mexico City, near Santiago Acahualtepec

    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 Santiago Acahualtepec

    Santiago Acahualtepec is one of the original villages of Iztapalapa, on the city's east side next to Santa Martha Acatitla. The name pairs the patron saint with a Nahuatl word usually rendered as "hill of the acahual", a local wildflower. The neighbourhoods that now surround it, among them the Santiago Acahualtepec extensions, Miguel de la Madrid, Ixtlahuacán and Lomas de Zaragoza, were once the village families' farmland.

    Through the colonial era and much of the 19th century, people here made a living quarrying tezontle, the red volcanic stone seen on so many buildings in the capital. The first houses were of grass thatch and only slowly turned to adobe, and a few adobe houses still stand in the centre. The painter Luis Nishizawa visited one of the quarries in 1950 and painted it in oils, a landscape later shown as "Minas Acahualtepec".

    A chapel is recorded as early as 1580. The present church of Santiago Apóstol is thought to have been started in 1776, was finished only in 1922 and was heavily altered in 1960; its white façade with gilded reliefs is handcrafted work with a strong indigenous stamp. Tradition says the statue of Santiago Matamoros was travelling on a pilgrimage from Culhuacán to Chalco and grew too heavy to lift once it got here, so it stayed. The centre is small and easy to walk, and on feast days the streets are hung with cut-paper banners.

    The festive calendar is busy. The main feast of Santiago runs three to five days around July 25, with Santiaguero and Twelve Peers of France dances, a procession, mass and a fireworks castle. There is also a carnival, a Holy Week with a crucifixion re-enactment, crosses raised on Loma Tlatixco on May 3 and, in June, the Sacred Heart feast with a pyrotechnic bull burned in the square. The Community Museum keeps photos, costumes, objects and papers donated by residents.

    How to get to Santiago Acahualtepec

    Drive from Mexico City: 25 min, 20 km

    By Metro, get off at Santa Marta on Line A (Pantitlán–La Paz), which is also the terminus of Cablebús Line 2, crossing the Sierra de Santa Catarina from Constitución de 1917 (Line 8), and of trolleybus lines 10 and 11. From the station it is about 2 km on foot southwest to the church, roughly 30 minutes. RTP route 161 (Ampliación Santiago) connects with the Lomas de la Estancia Cablebús station. By car it is about 20 km from the Zócalo (around 25 minutes without traffic, much longer at rush hour) via Calzada de Tlalpan, the Viaducto Río de la Piedad and Calzada Ignacio Zaragoza.

    Directions to Santiago Acahualtepec on Google Maps

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

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    From the nearest cities to Santiago Acahualtepec

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

    Before you go to Santiago Acahualtepec: hours, prices and tips

    Hours
    Community Museum: Tuesday to Sunday, 9 am to 6 pm; closed Mondays. Time Out México · checked Oct 2026
    Entry
    Admission to the Community Museum is free. Time Out México · checked Oct 2026
    Best season
    Feast of Santiago Apóstol: starts July 24 with a procession, mass on the 25th and a fireworks castle at night, usually ending the following Monday. Carnival two weekends before Palm Sunday; Holy Week; Holy Cross on May 3; Candelaria on February 2; Guadalupe on December 12. Wikipedia · checked Oct 2026

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

    Visiting Santiago Acahualtepec: what to see and do

    The parish church of Santiago Apóstol, with its white façade and gilded reliefs and the statue of Santiago Matamoros.
    The surviving adobe houses in the village centre.
    The Santiago Acahualtepec Community Museum on Cerrada Dalia: carnivals, dances, the tezontle quarries and village life before the city arrived.
    The feast of Santiago around July 25, with Santiaguero and Twelve Peers dancers and a fireworks castle.
    The carnival parade along Avenida Las Torres and Ermita Iztapalapa, two weekends before Palm Sunday.
    The crosses on Loma Tlatixco on May 3.
    The Santa Martha Acatitla market, about a kilometre away, for a meal.

    Plan your trip

    Places to stay in Santiago Acahualtepec

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    Tours & activities

    Day trips and guided outings from Teotihuacán often include Santiago Acahualtepec; 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 35 min by road to Teotihuacán, then 41 km more to Santiago Acahualtepec, on your own schedule.

    EconomyBookings Discover Cars

    Flights

    The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Mexico City (Felipe Ángeles) (NLU), about 35 min by road from Teotihuacán, the base for Santiago Acahualtepec.

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    Travel insurance

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

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    Mobile data

    Signal can drop away from Teotihuacán: download a map of the way to Santiago Acahualtepec before you set out, or carry an eSIM with data.

    Airalo

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    When to go to Santiago Acahualtepec mild

    Santiago Acahualtepec shares the climate of Teotihuacán, 41 km away. The best months to visit are January, February, March, and December.

    See the month-by-month climate of Teotihuacán

    The closest Pueblo Mágico: Teotihuacán

    Hot-air balloons drifting over the Pyramid of the Sun at dawn, Teotihuacan, Estado de México mild
    Estado de México Teotihuacán

    Teotihuacán is the Pueblo Mágico closest to Santiago Acahualtepec, with places to stay, food, and more to see.

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    Near Santiago Acahualtepec

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

    Location from OpenStreetMap. Written by Puebloteca.