Explore a pre-Hispanic site

Head to Zona Arqueológica El Cerrito, just 20 minutes from Querétaro City’s Historic Center. The first thing you’ll notice at this archeological site is the elevated, 13-level stepped pyramid that’s over 82 feet high.

As you make your way around the site, you’ll find split-level squares, altars made of craniums, remnants of palaces, a carved stele, ceramic items, and a Chac-Mool figure. A battlement featuring a sun and two crisscrossed darts (an iconographic allusion to war) is one of the most emblematic items here.

According to archeological research, El Cerrito was inhabited by various peoples over the course of its history. Evidence of Toltec, Teotihuacan, Otomí, Chichimec, and Chupícuaro cultures has been found at the site.