One Week of Mexico City Day Trips
A full week out of Mexico City, without spending any of it inside Mexico City. Days 1 through 6 repeat the six-day spine exactly, Teotihuacan, Puebla and Cholula, Tepoztlan, Cuernavaca, then a Taxco overnight, and day 7 is deliberately left flexible: a second run at Teotihuacan if you skipped the balloon the first time, or a slow morning packing before an evening flight. Only have 6 days? Drop day 7 and use the 6-day itinerary as is. Need less time overall? The 5-day version skips the Taxco overnight entirely.
Book these before you go:
- The Teotihuacan sunrise balloon, here , the one booking on this list with a hard lead time, since pre-dawn hotel pickup gets arranged in advance.
- A Tepoztlan day tour, here , if handling two consecutive Pullman de Morelos legs on foot is more admin than you want mid-week.
- A room in Taxco for the overnight, here , which has fewer rooms than Mexico City and fills up faster around any Mexican holiday weekend.
- A Roma Norte or Condesa base for the rest of the week, here .
| Day | Focus | Distance and travel time from CDMX |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Teotihuacan | 50km, about 1 hour each way |
| 2 | Puebla and Cholula | 130km, about 2 to 2.5 hours each way |
| 3 | Tepoztlan | 82km, about 1 to 1.5 hours each way |
| 4 | Cuernavaca | 85km, about 1 to 1.5 hours each way |
| 5-6 | Taxco (overnight) | 170-180km, a genuine 2.5 to 3 hours each way |
| 7 | Flex day, CDMX | none, stays in the city |
Day 1: Teotihuacan
Autobuses Teotihuacan runs from Terminal Central del Norte (Metro Line 5 to Autobuses del Norte, Gate 8, marked Piramides) every 15 to 30 minutes, 55 to 105 pesos one way. Entry costs 210 pesos for foreign visitors, 105 for nationals and residents, an INAH rate unchanged since January 2026, including on the misleadingly named free Sunday. Climb the Pyramid of the Moon instead of the packed Pyramid of the Sun stairs, over pyramids the Mexica arrived to find already ancient and simply named as their own.
Day 2: Puebla and Cholula
Estrella Roja and ADO run TAPO to Puebla’s CAPU terminal every 15 to 20 minutes, 200 to 320 pesos, about two to two and a half hours each way. Puebla’s UNESCO-listed centre is the true home of mole poblano and Talavera pottery. Cholula, 13km on, holds the Great Pyramid of Cholula, the largest by volume anywhere, entry to the zone about 85 pesos; spend part of the visit on the town’s other churches too, especially the Capilla Real’s cluster of small domes, rather than treating the hilltop view as the whole stop.
Day 3: Tepoztlan
A full day, not a shared one: Pullman de Morelos from Terminal Sur (Taxqueña), about 200 pesos and 1 to 1.5 hours each way, for an unhurried El Tepozteco hike above town. Land on a Sunday if the calendar allows it, since the tianguis market fills the plaza with mezcal, textiles, and food that does not show up midweek.
Day 4: Cuernavaca
Same terminal, a similarly short ride, this time to the City of Eternal Spring alone. Diego Rivera’s murals inside the Palacio de Cortes and the colonial gardens at Jardin Borda both reward slowing down. One more night in Roma or Condesa before leaving the city again, this time for two days.
Day 5: Taxco, up into the mountains
Taxco sits 170 to 180km southwest, a genuine two and a half to three hours each way on the switchbacks of Highway 95D from Terminal Sur via Estrella de Oro or a comparable line, 300 to 450 pesos one way. Check into a hotel in town and spend the afternoon on Santa Prisca’s Baroque towers and the plaza before the evening crowd thins out.
Day 6: Taxco’s silver workshops, then back to CDMX
Spend the morning in one of the town’s working silver workshops rather than the shops ringing the square; several talleres will show a piece being made from sheet to finished ring if you ask. Catch an early afternoon bus back to Terminal Sur and you will be back in Mexico City with the evening still free.
Day 7: Flex day, second pyramid or packing
This day is deliberately open. If you skipped the Teotihuacan balloon on day 1, this is the day to circle back for a sunrise flight, since a week gives you the buffer a single missed weather window on day 1 would not. If you already did it, use the morning for laundry, souvenir shopping near your hotel, and packing, and treat the afternoon as recovery before an evening flight. Either way, this is the one day of the week with no bus terminal on the agenda.
Is a full week overkill for day trips from Mexico City?
Not if you actually use all five: a week is what it takes to give Teotihuacan, Puebla and Cholula, Tepoztlan, Cuernavaca, and Taxco each a real day rather than a rushed one, plus a genuine overnight in Taxco instead of a bruising same-day round trip. Anything less than 5 days means picking which of the five you are willing to skip.
What should you actually do on the flex day?
Whatever the rest of the week did not leave time for: a second pyramid visit, a slower breakfast in Roma or Condesa, or simply packing without a bus schedule pressing on you. Resist the urge to add a sixth day trip here; the whole point of day 7 is that it does not require leaving the city again.
Seven days out, five day trips, one overnight in the mountains, and a flex day at the end that asks nothing of you. That is a genuinely complete way to see the country around Mexico City without living out of a rental car.