Actopan to Tula travel guide

Actopan (89 km southeast of Ixmiquilpan on Route 85 at Km 119 from Mexico City), a pre-Conquest city in southern Hidalgo state, has another fine 16th-century Augustinian church, an impressive open chapel with paintings by Fray Martín de Acevedo and the astonishing Convent of St Nicholas Tolentino (1550-1560), considered one of the finest examples of viceregal architecture in all of Mexico. The town also has accommodation: Hotel Rira ($$). The Wednesday market here is popular with visitors.

From Actopan, Route 17 runs west for 56 km to one of Mexico’s great archaeological sites: Tula, capital of the Toltecs . On the way to Tula there is an interesting co-operative village, Cruz Azul, where there are free Sunday morning concerts at 1000 in front of main market. At Colonia (Km 85), a road runs left for 8 km to Pachuca.