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Teotihuacan Group Tour
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$2,800 MXN per person
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I'm Angela, a SECTUR-certified guide from Mexico City, and me and my team take groups to Teotihuacan almost every morning. And the Moon is one of my favorite places to tell stories, because so much of the city's history is buried inside it.
This page is part of my Teotihuacan guide. If you want the bigger one first, read my page on the Pyramid of the Sun, and if you want to know how the two connect, start with the Avenue of the Dead.
The Moon is 43 m (140 ft) tall, and the base is about 130 x 156 m.
So it's a lot smaller than the Pyramid of the Sun, which is 66 m (216 ft).
But here's the thing most people don't notice until I point it out... from the Avenue of the Dead the top of the Moon looks almost as high as the top of the Sun. That's because the Moon was built on higher ground, at the foot of a mountain called Cerro Gordo, and the shape of the pyramid copies the shape of the mountain behind it.
If you want all the numbers for every monument in one place, I keep them on my Teotihuacan facts and statistics page.
The pyramid you see today is actually the 7th pyramid in the same spot.
The people of Teotihuacan built a small first version around 100 CE, and then every time they rebuilt it they covered the old pyramid with a bigger new one. Archaeologists call them Building 1 to Building 7. Building 4 was finished around 250 CE, Building 6 around 350 CE, and Building 7, the one you climb, around 400 CE.
And this is all before the city reached its peak around 500 CE. If you want the full story of who built the city and what happened to it, I explain it in Teotihuacan history.
From 1998 to 2004, archaeologist Saburo Sugiyama and INAH archaeologist Rubén Cabrera dug tunnels into the pyramid and found 5 burials, each one placed as an offering when they started a new stage.
In 2002 they found 3 men, all about 50 years old, buried with jade pieces that came from the Maya area, probably from Guatemala. So we know Teotihuacan had contact with the Maya, all the way down in Guatemala.
In 2004 they found 12 people with their hands tied behind their backs, and 10 of them had been decapitated. Next to them were wolves or coyotes, pumas or jaguars, and 13 birds, a lot of them eagles. In the middle there was a small human figure made of stone pieces, sitting on 18 obsidian knives.
I know it sounds scary... but don't worry, there's nothing like that you can see on the visit. The tunnels are closed to the public. If you like this part of the history, the Temple of the Feathered Serpent has an even bigger story, with more than 200 burials.
Yes! Right now you can climb the Pyramid of the Moon up to the first section.
Me and my team climb the first section with our groups on tour. You can't go all the way to the top, and the Pyramid of the Sun is still closed to climbing.
The steps are steep and they're not all the same size, so wear good shoes with grip and take your time. We're very high up here, more than 2,000 meters above sea level, so you WILL get out of breath faster than at home. Just go slow and you'll be okay.
I recommend to climb it in the morning before the sun gets strong, because there's no shade on the steps. I keep the climbing rules for both pyramids updated in can you climb the Teotihuacan pyramids.
In front of the pyramid is the Plaza of the Moon. It's a big open square with an altar in the middle and smaller platforms all around it, and this is where the Avenue of the Dead ends.
INAH archaeologists are still finding things here. Under a building in the plaza called Structure A they found pits about 3 meters deep, and some of them had green stone blocks standing up inside, a few of them over half a ton.
Also, at the southwest corner of the plaza there's the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl. The name means quetzal butterfly, and the stone pillars in the courtyard are carved with that bird-butterfly, so it's one of the best places at Teotihuacan to see carvings up close. A lot of people walk right past it, so ask your guide to bring you in.
If you want to see where everything is before you go, check my Teotihuacan map.
Every time I'm up on the first section with a group, someone asks me why the Moon looks as tall as the Sun. So I tell them to look down the Avenue of the Dead. From up there you can see the whole avenue going south, and the Pyramid of the Sun on your left.
Then I explain that the people of Teotihuacan planned the whole city around this line, with the Moon at the end and the mountain behind it. Standing there is the best way to understand how big the city was. At its peak 125,000 to 200,000 people lived here :)
And I always save a few minutes to say hi to the dogs at the pyramids. 10% of everything we make goes to their food and medical care.
Teotihuacan is open every day from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and the last entry is at 4:30 PM. The ticket is $210 MXN (about $12 USD) for foreigners, and it's included on all our tours. See the full breakdown in how much it costs to go to Teotihuacan.
I recommend to get there right when it opens, and to bring a hat, sunscreen and water because the sun is really strong and there's no shade. Here's my list of what to wear to Teotihuacan, and if you're not sure how long to stay, read how much time you need at Teotihuacan.
All 3 of our group tours go to the Moon. The EXPRESS tour is $1,000 MXN per person and covers the Sun and the Moon in 2 hours. The No Crowds tour is from $1,000 MXN and is 4 hours, so you also see the Feathered Serpent temple, and the Tour With Me, Angela! is $1,299 MXN. If you want your own schedule, our private tour is $2,800 MXN per person.
If you want a Teotihuacan tour or a sunrise hot air balloon above the pyramids... that's what me and my team do. We pick you up at your hotel or Airbnb, and every tour has our 100% money back guarantee. For everything else about planning your day, go to Plan Your Visit.
