As a Pueblo Magico with quaint streets, impressive colonial architecture, and arich cultural heritage, Atlixco is a popular tourist destination if you are based in Puebla. And being only a 1-hour bus ride away, it is a convenient trip.
Atlixco is known for its flower production industry, which is why it is called the “city of flowers”. This is due to its proximity to Volcan Popocatépetl, a stable climate, and soil with nutrient-rich ash, making the area ideal for agriculture.
Word on the street is that the greatest hits of Atlixco could be done in one afternoon, so we decided to get an early start and check out the town!
Getting To Atlixco
It was pretty easy to get to Atlixco from the city of Puebla and no planning was needed. All we did was go to CAPU – Central de Autobuses de Puebla (the main city bus station) and buy bus tickets on the spot.
Specifically, we went to the ticket booth for the ORO bus line and purchased one-way tickets for $45 MEX ($2.71 USD) each. Buses leave for Atlixco every 30 minutes (at the top of each hour and half hour), so there is no real worry about getting to Atlixco.
The ORO bus drops you off at the ORO/ERCO bus station, and this is where we bought tickets for our return trip to Puebla. The return ticket cost and departure schedule were exactly the same.
Getting off the bus.
For us, the next bus to Atlixco was leaving at 8 am. So the plan was to arrive around 9 am and hang out at a coffee shop for 1 hour to allow the town to open up fully.
Morning Coffee In Atlixco
We arrived in Atlixco without any problems at all, just after 9 am.
And we immediately made a beeline to the Zocalo de Atlixco (the town’s central park) to get some caffeine to start the day.
We actually had a cafe in mind before we arrived, The Italian Coffee Company. It is located in a gorgeous tiled building with a second-story terrace right in the middle of the Zocalo!
Yes, The Italian Coffee Company is basically the Mexican corporate equivalent of Starbucks. But the view from the terrace was fantastic for sipping coffee in the shade and people-watching!
The Zocalo is gorgeous. And our cafe looks so inviting!
Our seats were pretty sweet!
But after about an hour we decided to hit the streets and take in some of the greatest tourist hits near the historic town center.
Our Climb To Capilla San Miguel Arcángel
The first thing we wanted to do before it got hot was to tackle the most challenging part of the day – climb to Capilla San Miguel Arcángel at the highest point in Atlixco!
Getting there would require us to walk through some of the prettiest parts of town, as well as pass by a number of landmarks on the way.
Our goal is in the upper right frame!
Walking through the quaint streets of Atlixco was not a chore.
And further upward until we reached the Netotiloyan amphitheater area where some festivals are held. Several miradors are found in this complex, as well as stairs leading to Capilla San Miguel Arcángel.
We took a selfie break first!
Before reaching our goal, we stopped at this mirador to enjoy the city view.
You can see the Zocalo very well from here!
Finally we reached Capilla San Miguel Arcángel! Sadly, closed to entry. 🤣
It was weird that every church or chapel we stopped at was closed, but at least the walk was enjoyable. As were the views from Capilla San Miguel Arcángel!
But now we were a little tired, a little hungry, and a little thirsty.
Time for lunch!
Lunch Time
One of the greatest advantages of knowing functional Spanish is the ability to eat at some wonderful places that non-communicative tourists would fear to tread.
And in this case, it meant checking out lunch at the local market – Mercado Benito Juarez.
As always seems to be the case in markets like this, we were the only non-Latinos there. But one of the food stall vendors took a chance on our language skills to get us to eat at their establishment, so we gave them a try!
A cecina meal for two, Latin America style. Cost = $170 MEX ($10.23 USD).
It was delicious.
For dessert, we decided to backtrack to Helados Oaxaca, a stand that sold Oaxaca-style ice cream like we fell in love with during our time there.
And we were not disappointed!
A 4-scoop basket (canasta) for $45 MEX ($2.71 USD). So tasty!
Visiting Jardin Magico
Once we finished our food, we decided to burn much of it off by walking 45 minutes to our next planned destination – Jardin Magico.
Jardin Magico is a privately owned garden featuring beautiful landscaping and topiaries which we thought would be a nice change of pace.
Admission was $55 MEX ($3.32 USD) per person, which we thought was reasonable.
We spent about an hour exploring the maze of well-landscaped pathways and botanical installations.
It was a lovely place, and we imagined that it would have been even more pretty if we visited when it was less dry!
Visiting Museo de Arte Bonsái
By the time we were done with Jardin Magico, we had put in quite a few miles and were getting a little tired.
And we still had a 3-mile walk back to the bus station!
So we decided to optimize our return trip by taking a different route back to town that took us by another interesting place – Museo de Arte Bonsai.
Yes, a bonsai museum!
And at $20 MEX ($1.20 USD) per person, it was an absolute bargain to visit.
The facility featured hundreds of bonsai, some of which were over 100 years old. And they offer classes on establishing and keeping bonsai, as well as other plants, which we thought was pretty cool.
One of several bonsai display areas.
Here are some of our favorites.
We probably spent around 30 minutes checking out the collection, which was plenty of time.
But it was getting late in the day and we were getting pretty beat, so we decided to head back to the bus station, and then home for dinner.
Closing Thoughts On Our Trip to Atlixco
What a lovely little town!
Sadly there weren’t many flowers on display when we were there, probably due to us visiting during a drought.
Still, Atlixco is worth checking out if you are in Puebla and have the time to get out of the city for a spell. Keep in mind though that it probably isn’t worth staying more than a day or two unless you like to shop! You will probably run out of things to do.
Bottom line, Atlixco is a pretty place worth the time and small expense to visit for the day.
Highly recommended, especially for Puebla slow travelers!
Until next time…
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