Arcos del Sitio

The Arcos del Sitio, also called the Xalpa aqueduct, is the most dramatic piece of colonial engineering around Tepotzotlán. Tiers of stone arches stack up across a deep ravine in the Sierra de Tepotzotlán, reaching around 60 meters at the tallest point and running more than 400 meters end to end, which puts it among the tallest aqueducts in the Americas.

The Jesuits of Tepotzotlán, whose college is now the National Museum of the Viceroyalty, began it in the early 1700s to carry water from the hills to their Hacienda de Xalpa. Work stopped when the order was expelled from New Spain in 1767, and the aqueduct was only finished in the mid-1800s. Seen from below, with green hills on every side, it looks more like a scene from the European countryside than the outskirts of Mexico City.

Today the arches sit inside the Arcos del Sitio ecotourism center, part of the Sierra de Tepotzotlán state park. Trails wind around the ravine to viewpoints at the top and bottom of the arches, and there are areas for camping, horse rentals, mountain biking and stands selling antojitos, which makes it an easy half-day out from town.