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    A street and canal in San Luis Tlatilco, Naucalpan, the neighbourhood that now covers the Tlatilco site, Estado de México

    Photo by M.A.P.J, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Tlatilco

    Archaeological site Naucalpan de Juárez, Estado de México Valley of Mexico

    A Preclassic village famous for its figurines, now under the streets and factories of San Luis Tlatilco; there is no site to visit.

    From Mexico City: 20 min by car (14 km by road) How to get there ↓

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    Plan your visit to Tlatilco

    Where to stay near Tlatilco

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    Tours to Tlatilco

    A guide brings Tlatilco to life: look for tours from Tepotzotlán that include the site and the ride there.

    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 Tlatilco

    • From Mexico City: about 20 min by road (~14 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 Tlatilco

    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

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    About Tlatilco

    Tlatilco was one of the first large villages in the Valley of Mexico, on the old western shore of Lake Texcoco where the San Luis Tlatilco neighbourhood of Naucalpan now stands. It flourished in the Middle Preclassic, roughly 1200 to 200 BC, and peaked between 1000 and 700 BC, when objects in Olmec style reached it from the Gulf lowlands. The Nahuatl name is usually given as "where things are hidden", most likely applied long after the village was gone.

    The finds came out of brick pits. In the 1930s workers digging clay here began turning up pottery and selling it, and in 1936 the artist and ethnographer Miguel Covarrubias spotted Olmec-style pieces among it; his interest, and Diego Rivera's, sent prices soaring and made looting more profitable than brickmaking. Covarrubias led the first controlled dig with INAH in 1942, and later seasons recorded more than 500 burials, many with offerings: slender female figurines with elaborate headdresses, two-headed figures, contortionists, and vessels shaped like ducks, fish and squash. High-status burials show shaped skulls and filed teeth. The place was first taken for a cemetery, until digs showed the graves lay beneath houses built of perishable materials.

    Nothing survives above ground. Much of the site was destroyed before it could be studied, and factories, warehouses and crowded housing now cover it. It is not open to visitors as an archaeological zone. To see Tlatilco, go to the Museo Nacional de Antropología, which shows the famous acrobat vessel and a reconstruction of burial 154; El Conde, the nearest INAH site in Naucalpan, is about 2 km away.

    How to get to Tlatilco

    Drive from Mexico City: 20 min, 14 km

    San Luis Tlatilco is an urban neighbourhood of Naucalpan, right on the north-west edge of Mexico City, and there is no archaeological zone to look for: what is left lies under streets and factories. The easiest way in is Metro Cuatro Caminos, the end of Line 2, which is already in Naucalpan; from there it is about 2 km in a straight line, a short taxi or pesero ride. By car, use the Anillo Periférico Norte (Boulevard Manuel Ávila Camacho). For El Conde, INAH's directions are to leave the Periférico at Avenida Primero de Mayo and follow J. F. Kennedy, Andrés Atoto and Ozumba streets. Tepotzotlán is about 25 km north in a straight line.

    Directions to Tlatilco on Google Maps

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

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

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    From the nearest cities to Tlatilco

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

    Before you go to Tlatilco: hours, prices and tips

    Hours
    El Conde archaeological site, about 2 km away, opens Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 5 pm, last entry 4 pm; admission is free. INAH · checked Oct 2026
    Rules
    The Tlatilco site is not open to visitors: it is built over and has no hours or ticket office. The nearest INAH site is El Conde. Wikipedia · checked Oct 2026

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

    Visiting Tlatilco: what to see and do

    The acrobat vessel and Tlatilco figurines in the Museo Nacional de Antropología.
    The reconstruction of burial 154 from Temple IV in the same museum.
    INAH's El Conde archaeological site, about 2 km away in Naucalpan.
    The streets of San Luis Tlatilco, where the brick pits and the original site were.

    Plan your trip

    Places to stay in Tlatilco

    Compare hotels, posadas, and rentals in and around Tlatilco.

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    Tours & activities

    A guide brings Tlatilco to life: look for tours from Tepotzotlán that include the site and the ride there.

    Viator GetYourGuide

    Rental cars

    Pick up a car at NLU (Mexico City (Felipe Ángeles)): about 48 min by road to Tepotzotlán, then 28 km more to Tlatilco, 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 Tlatilco.

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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 Tepotzotlán: download a map of the way to Tlatilco before you set out, or carry an eSIM with data.

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    When to go to Tlatilco cool

    Tlatilco shares the climate of Tepotzotlán, 28 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 Tlatilco, with places to stay, food, and more to see.

    Also close to

    Closest to Tlatilco

    Near Tlatilco

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

    Lists with Tlatilco

    Ruins in Estado de México · 11 Ruins near Mexico City · 17 Ruins near Tepotzotlán · 14 Ruins near Villa del Carbón · 11 Ruins near Metepec · 13 Ruins near Toluca · 10 Ruins near Teotihuacán · 17 Ruins near Tepoztlán · 19

    Location from OpenStreetMap. Written by Puebloteca.