2 Best Sights in Mexico City, Mexico

The occupants of cars and buses speeding along the city's Anillo Periférico (southern beltway) are sometimes surprised to see an ancient, conical pyramid rising just off the side of the highway, standing out rather strangely among the modern buildings that dominate the surrounding landscape of the city's Pedregal area. From around 1400 to 200 BC, a Mexica settlement with as many as 20,000 residents thrived here along the southern shoreline of Lake Texcoco, the now drained body of water on which Mexico City now stands. They built this impressive pyramid likely around 800 BC, several centuries before the construction of the massive pyramids of Teotihuacán (a settlement that some believe was created by descendants of Cuicuilco inhabitants). It's thus considered the oldest of the major archaeological sites in metro CDMX. Today you can visit the site, which has been remarkably well preserved in part because it was covered in lava by the eruption of nearby Xitle around 100 BC. A small museum designed by noted Mexican architect Luis Macgregor Krieger houses excellent exhibits tracing the settlement's history as well as countless pots, figurines, tools, and other artifacts unearthed on the site. You can also walk the grassy, verdant grounds and stand atop the pyramid. Cuicuilco is a five-minute drive from Tlalpan Centro and about a 15-minute drive from UNAM and Ciudad Universitaria. You can Uber here, or take the Insurgentes Sur Metrobus to the Villa Olímpica stop, from which it's an easy five-minute walk.

Located relatively close to the city center in the San Pedro de los Pinos colonia, near San Ángel and Del Valle, this important archaeological site is on what centuries ago was the southwestern shore of Lake Texcoco, an area fed by streams from the western mountains. Its name, which in the Nahuatl language of the Mexica who resided here means "viper of the cloud," is believed to refer to the swirl of stars above that we call the Milky Way. The physical structure preserved at this site is relatively young, having been inhabited from around AD 900 to 1521. One of Mexico's smallest archaeological sites (it's just under 2 acres), Mixcoac only opened to the public for visits in summer 2019, under the aegis of Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH). Visitors can tour the remaining structures, which include a central courtyard surrounded by east and west platforms, with a ceremonial plaza, residential rooms, and other spaces.