Tenayuca

Lonely Planet review

Settled by Chichimecs in about the 13th century, Tenayuca was later ruled by the Aztecs, and the double-staircase pyramid they left is a smaller version of the now-ruined one that stood in the Templo Mayor. As at the Templo Mayor, each staircase was topped by a temple - one dedicated to the water god Tláloc, the other probably dedicated to the Aztec tribal god Huizilopochtli.

Striking serpent sculptures, possibly pre-Aztec, surround three sides of its base (imagine what they looked like when they were painted bright red, yellow and green!). If you just want to admire the pyramid there's no need to go in, other than to visit the small museum and read the explanatory signs, since the site is perfectly visible from the outside.Tenayuca is 11km north-northwest of the Zócalo. To get there you can take a northbound 'Tenayuca' pesero on the Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas at Donceles (one block north of the Palacio de Bellas Artes), or from the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. You need to get off at the intersection of Av Acueducto de Tenayuca and Cuauhtémoc, half an hour from the Bellas Artes in moderate traffic (there are traffic signals at the corner; if in doubt ask the driver or fellow passengers for the pirámide de Tenayuca ). Walk north (to the right) along Cuauhtémoc and you'll see the pyramid beside a park after a couple of blocks.