Religious sites
Matamoros s/n, Col. Barrio San Antonio. 16000, Xochimilco
What it is. A small chapel in the Barrio de San Antonio Molotla, one of the old barrios of Xochimilco. Xochimilco is not a single town but a centre surrounded by fourteen barrios and villages, each with its own chapel, its own patron saint and its own festival —and this is one of them. The chapels are modest, often colonial in origin and much altered, and they are the real structure of community life out here.
When to come. The chapel is open morning and evening, 07:00–13:00 and 17:00–20:00, with a long midday closure —a pattern worth knowing, since turning up at three in the afternoon means a locked door. The time it is genuinely worth travelling for is the patron saint's festival, when the barrio decorates the chapel and the streets, and Xochimilco's festivals are among the most elaborate in the city.
Practical notes. Entry is free. Xochimilco has no metro: take the Tren Ligero from Tasqueña to Xochimilco and a short taxi from the centre of town. Combine it with the canals, which is why most people are in Xochimilco in the first place.
