DAY 1 SAT.  ARRIVAL.  Meet and greet at Mexico City International Airport and transfer to hotel.  Overnight in Mexico City. 

DAY 2 SUN.  MEXICO CITY.  Important areas of the modern city of Mexico were built on top of the former Capital of the Aztecs:  Tenochtitlan.  The Templo Mayor Archaeological Site and Museum right in downtown is the best examples of that.  Cuicuilco, an archaeological site in today’s southern part of Mexico City, was the dominant site in the Valley of Mexico for 400 years from BC 600 to 200.  Mexico City also hosts the Mesoamerican cultures best museum by far:  The Museum of Anthropology.   Downtown Mexico City is an UNESCO World Heritage Site for its Spanish Colonial architecture. Overnight in Mexico City.  (B) 

DAY 3 MON.  TENAYUCA and TULA.  Tenayuca is located in the outskirts of Mexico City to the North West and en route to Tula.  It was founded by a Chichimec Lord in AD 1224 and it was the most important city in the Valley of Mexico between the fall of Tula and rise of Tenochtitlan.  Tula Archaeological Site is an important site famous for the “Atlantes” Pillars, ball courts, pyramids and friezes.  Tula reached its apogee between AD 900 and 1100, peak of the Toltec Culture.  Overnight in Teotihuacan. (B) 

DAY 4.  TUE.  TEOTIHUACAN.  An UNESCO World Heritage Site, Teotihuacan is one of the most important archaeological sites in Mesoamerica.  Cuicuilco successor as dominant polity in the Valley of Mexico, Teotihuacan became the largest city in the Americas and its political influence reached as far south as Honduras in Central America, today famous for its impressive Pyramids of the Sun and Moon.  Even after Teotihuacan collapse in the 7th Century, it was never forgotten by the Toltec and Aztec that called it “the place where the Gods were conceived”.  Afternoon transfer to Xalapa, the Capital City of the State of Veracruz.  Overnight in Xalapa.  (B) 

DAY 5.  WED.  EL TAJIN.  Also an UNESCO World Heritage Site, El Tajin was Eastern Mexico most important city during the Classic Era, between the fall of Teotihuacan and the rise of Zempoala.  Its Pyramid of the Niches, with one recess for every day of the year is El Tajin best known picture.   Overnight in Xalapa.  (B) 

DAY 6.  THU.  LAS HIGUERAS, QUIAHUIZTLAN, ZEMPOALA and XALAPA MUSEUM.  In Veracruz State, near the Gulf of Mexico, 3 sites are located nearby.  First, Las Higueras, interesting small site with a very nice site museum.  Then comes Quiahuiztlan with a defensive wall and a unique “cemetery” with little pyramids as mausoleums. And third en route, Zempoala, for a brief time the largest city in the area until it was destroyed by the Spanish Conquistadores.  Back to Xalapa, visit to its Museum of Anthropology, a world class museum with Olmec, Totonac and Huaxtec cultures rooms.   Overnight in Xalapa.  (B) 

DAY 7.  FRI.  CANTONA, CACAXTLA, XOCHITECATL and CHOLULA.  Four sites en route to Puebla.  Cantona is a bit off-the-beaten-track even though is considered one of the most urbanized ancient cities of Mesoamerica and the one with the largest number of ball courts:  24!, making the 17 ball courts of El Tajin insignificant.  It is in the limit of the highlands, at 8,200 feet above sea level, in the “corridor” that connected the High Plateau with the Gulf Coast.    Cacaxtla and Xochitecatl are very close just 4 miles apart and both share the fact that both flourished during the Late Classic and its inhabitants where from a group that scholars have called Olmeca-Xicalanca People.  Cacaxtla is famous for its murals.  In the outskirts of Puebla City, Cholula is well known for its massive pyramid, on top of which a Catholic Church was built during the end Spanish Colonial Days.  Overnight in Puebla.  Downtown Puebla is also an UNESCO World Heritage Site for its Spanish Colonial architecture.  (B) 

DAY 8.  SAT.  CHALCATZINGO and XOCHICALCO.  If this itinerary was arranged visiting sites beginning with the oldest one, Chalcatzingo should had been the first.  It is a Pre-Classic site for excellence and shows Olmec influence in splendid bas-relief in several boulders.  En route back to Mexico City to close the Central Mexico Archaeology Tour, Xochicalco is a perfect site.  An UNESCO World Heritage Site, Xochicalco shows influence from the Maya, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec and Mixtec and, by the end of its history, from the Aztecs.  Overnight in Mexico City. (B) 

DAY 9.  SUN.  DEPARTURE.  Transfer to Mexico City International Airport. (B)