How to arrive / About Tlaxcala

How to arrive

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About Tlaxcala

Tlaxcala All Saints Folk Fair (Fiesta de Todos los Santos)

This is a great time to be in Tlaxcala. The fair is held each year in honour of All Saints and the dead. Is marked with all kinds of festivities, fun and games. There are a whole range of activities and attractions for visitors of all ages, including sporting contests, music performances, traditional dances, bullfighting, cockfighting and a traditional Mexican rodeo, which includes a female choreographed horse-riding show. The crowning of the “Miss Feria de Tlaxcala” (the carnival queen) adds a little ceremony and pomp to the occasion. There are also plenty of opportunities to try out some of the regional culinary specialities.

The Fiesta de Todos los Santos, which takes place from October to November (Date Pending), honors the deceased with prayers, offerings at altars, food left for departed loved ones, and thousands of flowers to adorn the processions. Finally, the Tlaxcala Fair is held in October and November, which has crafts, livestock, tourism and food exhibits, as well as a running of the bulls and cock fights.

This fair will be celebrated during the LANMR09 conference, making it an attractive visit for all the participants of the event. Distance: A 30 minute drive.

Cacaxtla Land of Cacaxtlis (100 to 1100 a.C.) Town of Nativitas, Tlaxcala

Located 19 km south west from the city of Tlacala, the ancient city of Cacaxtla is one of the most important archeological findings of the XX century, this because of its impressive set of wall paintings, one of the most extensive and in better conditions in all Latin America. In these painting we can appreciate a clear influence of Mayan, Teotihuacan, Mixteca Zapotecan and Nahuatlacan cultures.

The ancient residents, the mysterious Olmeca Xicalanca, whose origin is not yet clear, are quite an enigma and confirms an intensive cultural exchange on the prehispanic period. It's really impressive to see in Tlaxcala so extraordinary paintings of mayan figures and nahuatl writtings, ideas and shapes from two distant and different places that merged into an extraordinary pictorical creations, by the richness of its simbols that tells us epic and mythical histories that are a challenge for our comprehension.

Besides the impressive painting from the "Red Temple" that appears on the top of this page, we present some of the beautiful and enigmatic paintings that you can admire in Cacaxtla:

Where you can appreciate a Jaguar Man, a Bird Man and a Scorpion Man, mithological characters from the Olmeca Xicalanca's mithology. You can't miss to see the painting called "The Battle" of more than 25 squared meters, which is the most extensive in ancient Mexico, and it will surely amaze you. Don't miss to visit the Cacaxtla museum, just outside the archeological site where you can see more beautiful pieces, and also buy some hand-made replicas of the wall paintings. There's a great site about Cacaxtla from George And Audrey DeLange, that also shows the Cacaxtla Museum and Xochitecatl, other ruins in front of Cacaxtla Ruins.

MALINCHE NATIONAL PARK

A road trip inside the woods will lead you to the first refuge in the beginning of this extinct volcano, called by the prehispanic people “Matlalcueyetl”. This place was declarated national park on October 6th, 1938. It is also possible to get there from other roads that rise from small villages located at the bottom of the volcano.

The ascent to the top of this volcano of 4461 km takes approximately four hours from the refuge located at the end of the access road. Once on top, the sight is indescribable and in clear days it is possible to see the Popocatepetl, the Iztaccihuatl, and the Pico de Orizaba (Orizaba's Peak).

Letrero en letras grandes: "Camping and Hiking"

This volcano called Matlalcueyetl, goddess of the water, most commonly known today as La Malintzi, offers spectacular natural scenarios, such as the San Juan Cliff, in addition to the thousands of square meters of forests and unforgettable landscapes. In the winter, the temperature is very low in this place, and sometimes there can be snow, adding with this a special attraction.

Inside the National Park, we can find the recreational center La Malintzi, a recreational paradise that includes all the attractions and comforts.

On the side of this recreational center we can find a different concept: "The Track of Challenges", constructed inside a forest zone, where the place’s shrub environment serves as a support and scenario to practice adventure activities; the track of challenges offers the participants situations in where the physical condition, the ability to work as a team, and decisions taking are tested. There are also a lot of roads for hiking, which lead the visitors inside the forest of the national park.

Due to the beautiful scenarios that La Malintzi Volcano offers, it is possible to enjoy the nature and also practice sports, camping, bicycle, hiking, and horse back riding. La Malintzi unmistakable shape can be appreciated at any point inside the state of Tlaxcala, due to its elevation of more than 4000 meters.

La Trinidad

Location: Carretera Tlaxcala-Apizaco, In the town of Santa Cruz, Tlaxcala.

An English style architectonic conjunct of buildings is located on the side of the Beautiful State of Tlaxcala. The recreational center La Trinidad invites you to see its modern and beautiful scenarios that reflect the most pure Mexican Tradition, enjoying a traditional and Mexican environment.

The famous recreational center La Trinidad is located in the Santa Cruz town. La Trinidad was originally a textile factory that had more than one thousand workers. Its architecture shows a great influence of a neo-gothic style. At the present time, it operates as a recreational center operated by the Mexican Institute of Social Insurance (IMSS).

The recreational center has extensive green areas, outdoors swimming pools, covered swimming pools, gotcha, motorcycles, Go-Karts, tennis courts, an artificial lake, restaurants, coffee shops, and a great number of hotel rooms.

Atlihuetzia

Atlihuetzia is located 10 km from Tlaxcala City on federal highway 136 in the State of Tlaxcala, Mexico.

Atlihuetzia main attraction is a waterfall (30 meters high), surrounded by a beautiful scenery and an important Resort which has a hotel, a swimming pool and beautiful gardens.

Seven hundred meters away Atlihuetzia, across the river, you can admire some rupestrian paintings (5000 and 8000 b.C).

Another interesting place you can also visit in Atlihuetzia is the Church and Ex-Convent, built in the XVI century, where you can see the first bell made in the Americas.

Ex-Convento de San Francisco

A leafy causeway, lined with gnarled ash trees, leads southwest out of the main square of Tlaxcala to the Convento de San Francisco de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, built between 1537 and 1540.

The former monastery houses the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Aunción reminiscent of the monastery-fortresses of the Middle Ages with its austere facade but great historical and artistic value.

The monastery has a pitched roof, unusual for Mexico, and no dome. It consists of a single nave and its only tower is separated from the church. Its wooden Mudéjar caissoned ceiling, of incalculable artistic value, is regarded as the finest in Mexico. The baroque main altar dates from the 17th century and contains major paintings, sculptures and carved wooden columns, including an oil painting depicting the baptism of a Tlaxcalan noble with Hernán Cortés and La Malinche as godparents. The baptismal font is located in the recently-restored chapel of the Third Order.

What was formerly the Casa Conventual now houses the State Regional Museum. Also worth mentioning are the Capilla de la Preciosa Sangre, with an ancient Christ figure made from corn stalks, the hexagonal open chapel and the pink chapel.

The Convento de San Francisco is one of the most outstanding monuments of the vice-royalty. It has been recovered and preserved thanks to the efforts of the Tlaxcalans, who are justly proud of both their indigenous and colonial past.