Xochimilco eco tour with chinampas, axolotls and bird watching
A 3 hour 15 minute route through working canals, with a stop on a chinampa, breakfast grown on it and time with the axolotl.
Updated 3 November 2026
In shortThis Xochimilco eco tour sails from one of the quieter docks for 3 hours 15 minutes: an hour out through the canals with bird watching, 30 minutes on a working chinampa, 30 minutes over an agroecological breakfast harvested there, 15 minutes with the axolotl and an hour back. The local guide works in English, Spanish, French or German. It suits travellers who want the farming and ecology side of the canals instead of music and drinking on board.
3 h 15 mintour length
from MXN 3000per person
★ 5.025 reviews
What this xochimilco eco tour covers
The tour lasts 3 hours 15 minutes and nearly all of it happens on the water or on a chinampa: 60 minutes sailing out, 30 minutes walking a chinampa, 30 minutes over breakfast, 15 minutes with the axolotl and 60 minutes sailing back. Boarding is at one of the less touristy docks, so the opening stretch is canal, farmland and birds rather than boats tied three deep.
Included are a local guide, the trajinera ride, the visit to the chinampas and a brunch of local products. Tips are not included. On the chinampa the guide covers the planting technique the Xochimilcas developed and still use, the eco-technologies that keep the plots and water working, and the crops as they stand that day; breakfast is harvested there and eaten there.
The axolotl stop is short, 15 minutes, and it is the one part of the route most people come for. The amphibian is endemic to these canals, and seeing it in a conservation setting rather than a tank in a souvenir shop is the difference the operator is selling.
Pick this one if you want ecology, chinampa farming and birds, with nothing attached in Coyoacan and no museum entry to fit around. From 3,000 pesos per person, rated 5.0 ★ (25 reviews).
A trajinera from a quieter dock, a visit to a chinampa and its eco-technologies, a brunch of local products and the axolotl stop, with a local guide. From 3,000 pesos per person, rated 5.0 ★ (25 reviews).
Canales de Xochimilco60 min Boarding a trajinera (traditional flat-bottomed canal boat) at one of the less touristy docks and sailing out, with the history of the canals, how the chinampas were built, and native and migratory birds along the way.
Canales de Xochimilco30 min A stop on a chinampa (hand-built farming plot): the ancient planting technique of the Xochimilcas, still in use, the eco-technologies that protect the ecosystem, and a walk through the crops.
Canales de Xochimilco30 min Harvesting on the chinampa, then an agroecological breakfast made from its produce.
Canales de Xochimilco15 min Time with the axolotl, the prehistoric amphibian endemic to this stretch of canals.
Canales de Xochimilco60 min The sail back to the pier along the same canals.
Photos: ours and the tour operator's
What is included
Included
Brunch made with local products
Local guide
Traditional trajinera ride
Visit to the chinampas
Not included
Tips
Meeting point and pickup
Booked without round transport, the tour meets at the pier Fernando Celada, at the entrance of the centre of Xochimilco.
Fernando Celada opens Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and is about ten minutes on foot from the Xochimilco or Francisco Goitia light rail stations.
Routes leaving Fernando Celada run through the protected natural zone, where migratory and endemic birds can be spotted.
Age bands as the operator lists them: infant 0-4, child 5-12, youth 13-18, adult 19+, senior 46+.
Other Xochimilco eco tours compared
The kayak option puts you in your own boat for 3-4 hours with an English-speaking guide, from 1,349 pesos. The axolotl sanctuary tour is the shortest nature route at 2 hours, and Xochimilco without Traps for Tourists is one hour from 500 pesos, the lowest entry price of the four, for people who want time on the water and nothing else. Of the four, only the tour on this page includes a chinampa brunch and a 30 minute walk through the crops.
