Cholula is a town of about 120,000 just west of Puebla city, and it contains something easy to miss while looking straight at it: THE GREAT PYRAMID OF CHOLULA IS THE LARGEST PYRAMID BY VOLUME IN THE WORLD, larger than Giza, and it looks like a hill. The Spanish built a church on top of it in 1594.
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What Is Here
TLACHIHUALTEPETL MEANS MADE-BY-HAND MOUNTAIN AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS. The pyramid is about 450 metres on a side and 66 metres high, built in stages from roughly 300 BC, and it is mostly still buried under earth and vegetation. Excavated tunnels run into it, a small section of the stepped facade is exposed on the north side, and the rest is grass.
THE IGLESIA DE NUESTRA SENORA DE LOS REMEDIOS SITS ON THE SUMMIT, yellow and domed, reached by a stepped path, and the view from the churchyard takes in the town, the Puebla valley and POPOCATEPETL AND IZTACCIHUATL on a clear morning. It is the image at the top of this post.
The climb is the second image, and it is short, steep and stepped, perhaps fifteen minutes at an easy pace in thin air.
THE TUNNELS ARE OPEN AND THEY ARE THE INTERESTING PART. Archaeologists drove galleries into the structure in the twentieth century and a section is accessible: low, narrow, lit, and genuinely inside a pre-Hispanic pyramid.
Cholula claims 365 churches and does not have them, which is worth saying since every guide repeats it. The real figure across the municipality is around 37, which is still remarkable for a town this size. The Capilla Real with its 49 domes is the one to see.
The town is a university town, with the UDLAP campus and a young, lively centre, which gives it a different character from Puebla's colonial formality forty minutes away.
When to Go
October to May is the dry season. Mornings are clearest and the volcanoes are usually visible before the haze builds.
June to September brings afternoon storms, and the pyramid path is slippery when wet.
The Feria de Cholula in late August and early September and the equinox celebrations in March both fill the site.
At 2,150 metres days are mild and nights are cool all year, and buildings are unheated.
Getting There
By road from Puebla, about 25 minutes; from Mexico City, roughly two hours.
By bus, frequent colectivos and buses from Puebla take half an hour.
By air, Puebla's Hermanos Serdan is 45 minutes away and Mexico City International two hours.
Cholula is a natural half day from Puebla and a pleasant place to stay instead of it.
Is Cholula Safe for Women?
Cholula is a university town and is among the easier places in central Mexico. The FCDO does publish advised-against areas for Mexico, and being precise about them matters more here than almost anywhere, because the country is large and the restrictions are specific rather than general. It advises against all but essential travel to the cities of Tijuana and Tecate in Baja California, to the areas of Guanajuato south-west of road 45D, to most of the state of Michoacan with named exceptions for Morelia and Patzcuaro reached by toll road, to the parts of Jalisco south and south-west of Lake Chapala and eleven northern municipalities, to the state of Colima except Manzanillo reached by air or sea, to the state of Guerrero except Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa reached by air, to a 40km strip of the Guatemalan border in Chiapas, to one stretch of Federal Highway 199, and to the city of Acapulco. That last one appears on the safety and security subpage rather than in the landing page list, which is exactly why you should read both. None of those areas includes this destination. Read the current advice yourself before you travel, because the list is revised regularly.
PUEBLA STATE IS NAMED NOWHERE IN THE FCDO'S REGIONAL WARNINGS FOR MEXICO. The advised-against areas are Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Zacatecas, Guerrero, most of Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Colima, parts of Jalisco and Guanajuato, Tijuana and Tecate, and the Chiapas border strip. None of them is here, and saying so plainly matters more than repeating a national warning.
POPOCATEPETL IS ACTIVE AND IS 30KM AWAY. It emits gas and ash routinely, there is a permanent and enforced 12km exclusion zone, the volcano cannot be climbed, ash occasionally falls in this valley, and CENAPRED publishes an alert level daily. Check it rather than assume.
The tunnels are low, narrow and enclosed, which matters if you dislike confined spaces, and the floor is uneven.
The pyramid path is steep, stepped and unshaded, and at 2,150 metres the climb is harder than it looks.
The Cholula Packing List
Highland weather: mild bright days, cool nights, strong sun, unheated rooms.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women fits the central Mexican highlands better than anything else, because the daily range is large and constant: 24C and fierce sun at noon, 9C after dark, and nothing heated in between. It also covers your arms on an unshaded climb where the UV at 2,150 metres is stronger than the temperature suggests. A heavyweight merino base layer from November to February.
A Columbia Fast Trek II fleece for the evenings and a Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket from June to September.
Waterproof hiking shoes with Darn Tough merino socks: cobbles in town, stepped stone up the pyramid and an uneven tunnel floor.
A wide brim sun hat for the summit path and the churchyard.
Not linked and worth packing: SUNGLASSES and high-factor sun protection; A SMALL TORCH for the tunnels, which are lit but dim; A REFILLABLE BOTTLE plus purification, since tap water is not drinkable; and CASH for the market and the colectivos. Cards work in restaurants and hotels.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Cholula
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, the single national number, free from any phone. English-speaking operators are available in the tourist states but are not guaranteed everywhere.
Puebla state is named nowhere in the FCDO's regional warnings for Mexico, and the advised-against areas are Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Zacatecas, Guerrero, most of Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Colima, parts of Jalisco and Guanajuato, Tijuana and Tecate, and the Chiapas border strip. POPOCATEPETL IS AN ACTIVE VOLCANO 30KM AWAY with a permanent enforced 12km exclusion zone, routine gas and ash emission, occasional ashfall in this valley, and a daily alert level published by CENAPRED, the national civil protection centre. The volcano cannot be climbed. THE TUNNELS INTO THE PYRAMID ARE LOW, NARROW AND ENCLOSED with an uneven floor. THE SUMMIT PATH IS STEEP, STEPPED AND UNSHADED at 2,150 metres. CHOLULA DOES NOT HAVE 365 CHURCHES: the municipality has around 37, which is still remarkable. Tap water is not drinkable.
US State Department travel advisory: the Mexico advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mexico, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: Cholula has clinics, with the full public and private hospitals of Puebla city 25 minutes away and Mexico City two hours. Dial 911 for an ambulance. Private hospitals in the large Mexican cities are good and expect payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front, so carry your policy number where you can reach it rather than in the bottom of a bag. Public clinics will treat an emergency. Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in the country: drink bottled or purified water, which every hotel and restaurant supplies as a matter of course, and take the same care with ice and raw salad that you would with the water itself.
Official health authority: the Secretaria de Salud, Mexico's federal health ministry. the federal health ministry; CENAPRED is the authority for the Popocatepetl alert level
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Mexico City.
Official tourism authority: the Secretaria de Turismo, Mexico's federal tourism ministry. publishes the pyramid and tunnel opening hours, the Capilla Real arrangements and the Feria de Cholula dates
Takeaways
The hill is the pyramid. It is the largest on earth by volume.
Climb early for the volcanoes. The haze builds by midday.
Go into the tunnels. Most visitors do not.
Check the Popocatepetl alert level before you travel.
Solo women safety assessment: Cholula is an easy place to be alone, and the university is the reason: a young, mixed, visible student population means a woman on her own in a cafe or walking the zocalo at night is completely unremarkable, and the centre stays busy later than in most Mexican towns of this size. The standard Mexican practice is enough: authorised taxis or a ride app rather than a street cab, bag closed in the market, and no unlit outskirts after dark. 911 IS THE SINGLE NATIONAL EMERGENCY NUMBER, free from any phone, with English-speaking operators available in tourist states but not guaranteed here. THE ADVISORY POSITION IS WORTH STATING POSITIVELY, because Mexico's FCDO guidance is long and alarming if read without a map: PUEBLA STATE APPEARS NOWHERE IN IT. The advised-against areas are a specific list of states and districts and none of them is this one. THE REAL LOCAL HAZARD IS GEOLOGICAL AND IT IS MANAGED RATHER THAN CONCEALED: POPOCATEPETL IS 30 KILOMETRES AWAY AND ACTIVE, it emits gas and ash as a matter of routine, there is a permanent 12km exclusion zone that is enforced, the mountain cannot legally be climbed, and CENAPRED publishes an alert level every single day. Look at it before you travel; an ashfall day means staying indoors and covering your face, which is easier to do if you have thought about it in advance. THE TWO PHYSICAL THINGS are the tunnels, which are low, narrow, dimly lit and uneven and are not for anyone who dislikes enclosed spaces, and the summit climb, which is short and steep and unshaded at 2,150 metres where the air is thinner than visitors expect. Neither is dangerous with sensible shoes and water. Medical cover is good: clinics in town and a city's hospitals twenty five minutes away.
Reading On
Cholula is Puebla and the volcanoes are its horizon. The Puebla packing list covers the state capital 25 minutes east and the Atlixco packing list the flower town south, with the Mexico City packing list and the pyramids of Teotihuacan beyond it for the capital and its pyramids. Nearby the Cuernavaca packing list and Tepoztlan packing list cover Morelos, and the Cuetzalan packing list the Sierra Norte of Puebla. South, the Oaxaca packing list and San Cristobal de las Casas packing list continue into the highlands. For the country the Mexico travel guide for women and the Mexico packing list carry the transport, the regional advisories and the practical material in full. For why one wool layer covers a highland day and night, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
