Temples: In downtown Toluca, you will find beautiful religious temples of a great historical value, such as the Carmen Temple, built in the eighteenth century. It features an imposing facade, decorated with shields of the Carmelita Order. Now home to the Museum of Fine Arts, it has one of the most comprehensive collections of colonial, modern and contemporary paintings. Also in the downtown area, you will find the Merced Temple that has a splendid baroque design from the seventeenth century.
Furthermore, the most important temple is probably the Toluca Cathedral, which was built on top of the remains of the San Francisco Convent that dates back to the sixteenth century. It features three naves, each adorned with a baroque style altarpiece, and other touches typical of neoclassical times.

Calixtlahuaca: In Toluca's surrounding area, there are several archeological sites that take us way back into the past, to a time long before the Spanish conquest. One of the best sites is Calixtlahuaca, where even though this area was mainly occupied by the Matlazincas, there are also buildings, built by the Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc tribes, and architectural elements that prove that this site was also inhabited by the Teotihuacan and Toltec cultures. This is now known due to the architectural elements shown on these buildings. Calixtlahuaca is one of the most important pre-Hispanic religious centers in the region and it is located just 10 kilometers northwest of Toluca.

The "Cosmovitral": is a spectacular construction, built in Toluca at the beginning of 1900 to serve as a venue for a renowned market. It was remodeled in the seventies, into an art nouveau building that features 65 stained glass windows, made of 1500 pieces of glass brought from Europe. The work was done by a famous artist called Leopoldo Flores Valdes, who was a native of Toluca. The Cosmovitral has some of some the greatest artistic work in the whole country and it is one of the largest of its type in the world. It is home to a stunning botanical garden where you can admire over a thousand species of plants, all in an incredibly tranquil environment surrounded by three thousand pieces of glass in 28 different colors.

Teotenango: also called "the city of the sacred wall", is another important pre Hispanic site built by the mazatlincas. If you walk through this site, you will discover the grandeur of this ancient indigenous culture. This city was an important military and religious center. This site is located on the peak of the Tetepetl Mountain. On the mountain side, you will find the Roman Pina Chan Archeological Museum that features archeological pieces from every corner of the state. Teotenango is situated 20 kilometers southeast of Toluca.

Señor de Chalma Temple: About 45 minutes from Toluca, you will find the village of Chalma, famous for people devoted to the Senor de Chalma and considered by many as a miraculous area. The legend says that in 1537 the Spanish monks found out that the indigenous people worshipped Oxtoteotl (god of the caves) with human sacrifices inside a cave not far from town.
The Spanish priests forced the indigenous people to destroy their idol, then mysteriously three days later appeared a statue of Christ in its place, whose image remained inside the cave for another 125 years until the Senor de Chalma Temple was built. A pilgrimage with music and dance is carried out in his honor every year.

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