The Canals of Xochimilco

Rent a trajinera with your name on it, and take a ride through the canals of this ancient lake, all while eating great food and listening to mariachi music.

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Xochimilco: the Venice of Mexico? Not quite, but it is still an amazing place to visit.

Have you noticed the eagle devouring a serpent standing on a nopal on the Mexican flag? Have you heard that Mexico City was built on top of a lake, on top of the ruins of the ancient city of Tenochtitlan (the Aztec empire)? You’ll learn of this connection to Xochimilco shortly…

There is still a connection between that ancient city of Tenochtitlan and that mystical lake in which the pre-Hispanic people of the region decided to found one of the largest empires in the Americas.

Today, Xochimilco helps us remember those early beginning of pre-Hispanic Mexico by riding in its colorful trajineras (rafts), and enjoying today’s culture, food, and remnants of the historic lake of Texcoco.

You get to ride on the trajinera of your choice while eating, listening to mariachis, and enjoying the natural scenery. Pretty neat outing, right? 😉

Getting to Xochimilco

Xochimilco Lake is located about 25 km south of downtown Mexico City. That distance doesn’t sound like a lot, but in Mexico City traffic it can take up to an hour to get there if you are starting from the Centro Historico. It’s worth planning your trip ahead of time to avoid traffic as much as possible.

It’s important to note that Xochimilco is a large borough within Mexico City consisting of eighteen barrios or neighborhoods. When asking for information or directions, it may be a good idea to specify that you are interested in the trajineras and canals of Xochimilco.

Visiting Xochimilco is one of my top things to do in Mexico City.

Xochimilco’s History

Legend tells that the Mexicas (ancient Aztecs) were on a journey guided by Huitzilopochtli (the god of war) to find the location of where they would build their new, great city.

Huitzilopochtli told the Mexica that they would find a sign of where to start building their new empire: an eagle devouring a serpent. To their surprise, they found such a sign in the middle of Lake Texcoco.

Things got interesting for the Aztecs at this point. How to build a city in the middle of a lake?

The Aztecs found ways to build on the lake. In fact, they even found ways to cultivate by building structures on the lake itself called chinampas. These small floating rectangular areas of fertile land allowed the Aztecs to grow crops on the shallow beds of the lake.

Xochimilco Lake is what remains from the Mexico Valley in the 1500’s before the Spaniards’ arrival. After the Spanish conquest, the Spaniards engineered ways to help drain the water from the region to eliminate flooding. Today, you can still see some of the chinampas that are still maintained, and you can ride on colorful boats called trajineras to explore the remains of this lake.

Enjoying Xochimilco

Now that we’re done with the history lesson it’s time to figure out how to enjoy this colorful place.

Before jumping aboard the trajinera. We traveled with a local friend who gave us the inside scoop. We visited a local market near one of the piers, and bought some local food for us to take on board. The market is familiar with this move, as they will package your food ready to eat on board (they pack salsa, tortillas, etc.). Don’t feel like getting the food yourself? Don’t fret. There’s people selling food on the boats themselves as well. You’re also allowed to take a limited amount of alcohol on board.

Piers. There are 11 piers to choose from. Three of them, Nativitas, Zacapa, and las Flores Nativitas are the ones with the best infrastructure, where you’ll find more restaurants, craft markets, and parking.

Price. There is an established cost of $500 pesos (~$24 USD) to rent a full trajinera for an hour. Alternatively, you can ride with others for 30 pesos (~$1.50 USD) per person. Each trajinera (raft) has a max capacity of 20 people. We had a trajinera all to ourselves (3 adults and a one-year old).

Two journey options. There’s two primary options for your route: the traditional and the ecological route. The latter will allow you to visit the protected natural reserve (using Cuemanco pier), as well as the place where you can find some cultivation chinampas (remember our history lesson?). In the ecological route, as opposed to the traditional route, you will not find any mariachis, and there will be less boat traffic.

Xochimilco: Additional Considerations

During our visit, we basically went to the market, picked out some food, and drove to the pier. We didn’t do any previous reservation, and had no problem. If you rather take the planning route, there are a few online places that you can hire and chose a particular tour.

Places like Trajineras Xochimilco offer a few different tours, including the basic tour, the traditional, the ecological tour, and the Isla de las Muñecas tour. On this last one, legend tells the island is dedicated to the lost soul of a girl who drowned, and the dolls that you can find there are possessed by her spirit. You can see the dolls hanging from trees. Just what you needed to spice up your vacation! 😉

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Have you visited Xochimilco? What did you think? Did you visit any other sites in the area? Let me know, I’d love to hear about it!

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