A half day on foot across the center of Mexico City, from the church where thousands line up on the 28th of every month to petition the patron saint of lost causes, past the excavated Mexica temple the colonial city was built on top of, through the market that supplies the candles and herbs for every kind of devotion in this city, and out to the sidewalk shrine on Alfarería where a life-size Santa Muerte has stood since Halloween 2001.
The largest church in Latin America dedicated to San Judas Tadeo, patron of lost and desperate causes, standing on the ground where Hernán Cortés ordered a monument to the Spanish soldiers killed fleeing Tenochtitlan. Devotees fill Avenida Hidalgo on the 28th of every month, and on October 28 the city closes the surrounding streets.
Start on Avenida Hidalgo. The church was built to commemorate a Spanish military defeat and is now the largest temple in Latin America dedicated to San Judas Tadeo.
Address
Av. Hidalgo 107, Centro Histórico, Cuauhtémoc, 06300 Mexico City, Mexico
The main temple of Tenochtitlan, buried under Mexico City for four and a half centuries and found in 1978 when electricity workers laying cable hit a carved monolith over 10 feet across. Excavation has run continuously ever since, and in March 2026 archaeologists announced that six offerings recovered across three different decades had all been buried in a single ceremony.
About 25 minutes on foot east along Avenida Hidalgo and Tacuba to the Zócalo. One ticket covers the excavation and the museum, and most visitors spend about 2 hours there.
Address
Seminario 8, Centro Histórico, Cuauhtémoc, 06060 Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City's main public market for traditional medicine and folk religion, a municipal market hall opened in 1957 whose back aisles grew into the country's largest working trade in herbal remedies, Santa Muerte devotion, Santería offerings, and limpias. Roughly two thousand people a week come for that section specifically, and they come to buy and to consult rather than to look.
Another 20 minutes on foot southeast to the market hall on Fray Servando. The esoteric aisles are at the back, and this is where the candles, herbs, and figures for the devotions at either end of this route are bought.
Address
Av. Fray Servando Teresa de Mier 419, Merced Balbuena, Venustiano Carranza, 15810 Mexico City, Mexico
A life-size Santa Muerte has stood in a glass case on the sidewalk outside Alfarería 12 since Halloween 2001, when Enriqueta Romero moved the figure out of her house and made a private devotion public. The Catholic Church calls the devotion blasphemy and the army has bulldozed shrines in other cities. This one was left alone.
The last stop sits north of the center and is the one leg worth taking on the Metro rather than walking. Mornings are best. Go on the 1st of the month and the street will be full.
Address
Alfarería 12, Colonia Morelos, Cuauhtémoc, 06200 Mexico City, Mexico
