Free guide
Free Estado de México travel guide
All 12 of Estado de México's Pueblos Mágicos on one printable page. Free when you sign up for our weekly email.
- All 12 Pueblos Mágicos, with a photo and what makes each special
- A map of Estado de México with each one on it
- Road trips that join the pueblos close together
- The best months to go
- How far each is from the nearest city
- The sights not to miss
- The fiestas worth planning around
- The fiestas month by month
- Where to stay in each
- Made to print or save as a PDF
The 12 Pueblos Mágicos in this guide
Most visited first. The full guide adds the sights not to miss, the fiestas, how far each is by car, and a layout made to print.
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1
Valle de Bravo
A lakeside town in the pine forests west of Mexico City and a favorite weekend escape for the capital. White houses with red-tile roofs climb the hills above Lake Avándaro, which is used for sailing, and paragliders launch from the ridges above.
When to go: Jan, Mar, Apr, Dec
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2
Tepotzotlán
Tepotzotlán sits just northwest of Mexico City and still feels like a colonial town, with a wide plaza ringed by arcades, restaurants and craft shops. Its centerpiece is the former Jesuit college of San Francisco Javier, a Churrigueresque Baroque complex that now houses the National Museum of the Viceroyalty. Outside town, the Sierra de Tepotzotlán state park offers hiking and the towering Arcos del Sitio aqueduct. December brings traditional pastorelas.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
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3
Villa del Carbón
Villa del Carbón is a highland town northwest of Mexico City, with white-walled houses, red clay-tile roofs, and cobblestone streets. Life centers on Plaza Hidalgo, shaded by palms and giant eucalyptus and ringed by arcades, old mansions, and the church of Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia. People come to buy leather boots, jackets, and hats, wool ponchos and blankets, and local rompope, and to fish for trout, camp, or go boating at nearby streams and reservoirs.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
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4
Metepec
Metepec sits right beside Toluca, at the foot of the Cerro de los Magueyes, the hill that gives it its Nahuatl name. It is a pottery town, known above all for its brightly painted clay Trees of Life, and workshops in neighborhoods such as Santiaguito, Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Espíritu Santo open their doors to visitors. People also come for the 16th-century Franciscan monastery of San Juan Bautista, the walk up to the Calvario chapel, the herbal liqueur called garañona, and the Quimera arts festival each October.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
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5
Malinalco
Malinalco sits in a warm green valley in the State of Mexico. Above town is an Aztec temple carved directly into the rock, and in the center is an Augustinian convent with 16th-century murals.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
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6
El Oro
El Oro de Hidalgo is an old gold-mining town in the pine-covered hills of the State of Mexico, near the Michoacán border. Foreign mining companies left it with unusual buildings for a town its size: the Art Nouveau Teatro Juárez of 1908 and a town hall with pointed towers. Visitors tour the mining museum and the wooden headframe of Tiro Norte, picnic or fish for trout at Brockman dam, and try chiva, a local herbal liqueur.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
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7
Jilotepec
Jilotepec is a town in the hilly, wooded north of the Estado de México, about 100 kilometers from Mexico City. Its center gathers around Plaza Manuel Ávila Camacho, with a kiosk, arcades and the sober 16th century Franciscan church of San Pedro y San Pablo, which holds a gilded Baroque altarpiece. Nearby are reservoirs and parks such as Danxhó and Las Peñas for a day outdoors. In the weeks before Lent, the Xhita carnival fills the streets with dancers wearing cattle-hair wigs and large horns.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
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8
Otumba
Otumba de Gómez Farías is a town in the northeast of the State of Mexico, not far from Mexico City, whose name means "place of the Otomí". It is famous for two things: the 1520 Battle of Otumba and donkeys. Every May 1 the National Donkey Fair fills the center with costumed burros, donkey races and donkey polo, and there is a donkey sanctuary nearby. Pilgrims also come to the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Tocuila.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec
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9
Ixtapan de la Sal
Ixtapan de la Sal is a spa town in the warm south of the Estado de México, known for its thermal springs, bathhouses and a large water park. A jacaranda-lined avenue and a statue of Diana the Huntress welcome you into a center of cobbled streets and red tile roofs. The parish church, with its battlemented atrium, keeps a life-size cane-paste Christ called the Señor del Perdón. Try the gorditas cooked on the sidewalk, agua de lima and the fruit sweets.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
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10
Teotihuacán
The town of San Juan Teotihuacán neighbors one of the great cities of the ancient Americas. The Pyramids of the Sun and Moon line the Avenue of the Dead, and hot-air balloons float over the site at sunrise. It is an easy day trip from Mexico City.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
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11
Aculco
Aculco is a quiet town of Otomí roots in the north of the State of Mexico, set on a small hill along the old Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Visitors come for the Baroque parish and former convent of San Jerónimo, the main garden, the old public washing basins, and the waterfalls of La Concepción and Tixhiñú nearby. It is also cheese country: local dairies make queso Aculco, cream, and butter, best followed by barbacoa, pulque, or fruit liqueurs.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
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12
Tonatico
Tonatico is a small town of Nahua origin at the warm southern end of the State of Mexico, and its name means place of the sun. Life centers on the main plaza and the colonial parish of Nuestra Señora de Tonatico, whose fiesta runs from the last Sunday of January to February 2. Visitors also come for the local hot springs and the nearby Grutas de la Estrella caves.
When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
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