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    Biblioteca de Tonanitla, Santa María Tonanitla, Estado de México

    Photo by Armando Olivo Martín del Campo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Santa María Tonanitla

    Town Tonanitla, Estado de México Valley of Mexico

    Seat of Tonanitla, a municipality created only in 2003 after a century-long fight for autonomy; its fair for Nuestra Señora de los Remedios is on 1 September.

    From Mexico City: 35 min by car (35 km by road) How to get there ↓

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    Tours to Santa María Tonanitla

    Day trips around Tepotzotlán sometimes stop in Santa María Tonanitla; a tour is the easy way to see it without a car.

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    How to get to Santa María Tonanitla

    • From Mexico City: about 35 min by road (~35 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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    About Santa María Tonanitla

    Santa María Tonanitla is the seat of the municipality of Tonanitla, in the northern Valley of Mexico, and counted 6,915 residents in the 2020 census. The name is Nahuatl and reads as "in the place of our mother": the municipal glyph shows an old woman's head on a hill, a reference to Tonan, the goddess people once venerated here. The land sits at roughly 2,240 m, among Jaltenco, Tecámac, Ecatepec, Tultitlán and Nextlalpan, and farming is still the main occupation.

    The recent history here is about land and about independence. In 1931 the village was granted 524 hectares of ejido carved out of the grazing land of the Ojo de Agua hacienda, and in 1935 another 259 were added. In 1949 a plot in the centre was expropriated to build the primary school. For more than a century the village belonged to the municipality of Jaltenco and pressed to break away; the State of México legislature finally agreed on 29 July 2003 with decrees 152, 153 and 154, and the town council took office on 3 December that year, which is now the municipal anniversary.

    What a visitor finds is village life: a small centre with its public library, and the fairs. The big one honours the patron, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, on 1 September (moved to the nearest weekend and followed by eight more days, the tornafiesta). In August there is the Feria del Elote y del Maíz, running since 2003 in colonia Concepción.

    How to get to Santa María Tonanitla

    Drive from Mexico City: 35 min, 35 km

    Tonanitla lies in the north of the Valley of Mexico between Jaltenco and Tecámac, about 30 km in a straight line from Mexico City's Zócalo and about 18 km from Tepotzotlán; by road allow roughly 45 minutes to over an hour from the city depending on traffic (our estimate, not an official figure). The toll road of the area is the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense, whose Zumpango–Tultepec section crosses the México–Querétaro highway (57D); from there, or from the México–Pachuca highway, you reach Jaltenco, which borders Tonanitla. There is no reliable published information on public-transport routes to the village: the safest plan is to get to Jaltenco or Tecámac and take a colectivo or taxi for the last stretch, and check a maps app.

    Directions to Santa María Tonanitla on Google Maps

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

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    From the nearest cities to Santa María Tonanitla

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

    Before you go to Santa María Tonanitla: hours, prices and tips

    Best season
    The patron-saint fair for Nuestra Señora de los Remedios is on 1 September (moved to the nearest weekend, plus an eight-day tornafiesta); the Feria del Elote y del Maíz is in August in colonia Concepción. Wikipedia (es): Municipio de Tonanitla · checked Oct 2026

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

    Visiting Santa María Tonanitla: what to see and do

    The village centre and the Biblioteca Pública Municipal de Tonanitla.
    The patron-saint fair for Nuestra Señora de los Remedios on 1 September, with its eight-day tornafiesta.
    The Feria del Elote y del Maíz in August, in colonia Concepción.
    The colonia fairs: Asunción (15 August) and Concepción (8 December).
    The farmland of the 1931 ejido around the village.

    Plan your trip

    Places to stay in Santa María Tonanitla

    Compare hotels, posadas, and rentals in and around Santa María Tonanitla.

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    Tours & activities

    Day trips around Tepotzotlán sometimes stop in Santa María Tonanitla; a tour is the easy way to see it 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 18 km more to Santa María Tonanitla, 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 Santa María Tonanitla.

    Kiwi.com

    Travel insurance

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

    SafetyWing

    Mobile data

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

    Airalo

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    When to go to Santa María Tonanitla cool

    Santa María Tonanitla shares the climate of Tepotzotlán, 18 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 Santa María Tonanitla, with places to stay, food, and more to see.

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

    Location from OpenStreetMap. Written by Puebloteca.