Daytrip is a private car service platform that connects you with local drivers who will transport you door-to-door. We also give you the opportunity to explore sights/attractions along the way. We drive, you discover.
Daytrip offers private door-to-door transfers with optional sightseeing stops, hourly driver hire, and curated day trips — all with local English-speaking drivers and operating across 130+ countries.
The cancellation policy may vary depending on your trip. The cancellation conditions available for your booking will always be shown before confirming your trip. Depending on eligibility, Daytrip offers different cancellation options:
Non-refundable: If your trip is canceled after confirmation, the amount paid will not be refunded.
Standard: If your trip is canceled at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time, the amount paid will be refunded in full. Cancellations made less than 24 hours before departure are not eligible for a refund.
Flexible: If your trip is canceled at least 1 hour before the scheduled departure time, the amount paid will be refunded in full. Cancellations made less than 1 hour before departure are not eligible for a refund.
Trips booked less than 24 hours before departure may not be eligible for free cancellation unless stated otherwise during the booking process.
Yes! Book a private, door-to-door airport transfer with a local English-speaking driver. Enjoy fixed and transparent pricing, no hidden fees, and the option to pay in advance without the hassle of exchanging cash at a foreign airport.
You will receive the vehicle that best fits the number of travelers in your group, ranging from a sedan to a van for groups of up to 7. Depending where you travel, you can book anything from a sedan comparable to a Toyota Corolla to a Mercedes V-Class to a Classic Cuban Car. While the exact model may vary, we always ensure that the vehicle provided meets your needs in terms of safety, reliability, and comfort. You may be upgraded to a larger vehicle class free of charge depending on availability. Since our largest vehicle seats 7, for groups larger a combination of vehicles will be used. We will send you the exact vehicle details a few days before your trip.
Everywhere except the USA, drivers will supply appropriate child seats (just let us know during booking). In the USA, certain states require you to supply your own child seats.
The road into Malinalco involves mountain driving that is more demanding than a standard highway route, and parking in the town center can be limited on weekends when the market draws larger crowds. A Daytrip driver handles both, dropping you at the right point for each site and managing the vehicle while you explore. Beyond the logistics, drivers familiar with the route can offer context on the sites and the surrounding region — useful in a place like Malinalco where the history of the temple and the convent is richer with background. For travelers coming from Mexico City, it also means the return journey does not depend on finding a seat on a bus after a full day on foot.
Malinalco is approximately 115 km (71 miles) southwest of Mexico City. The drive typically takes around 2 to 2.5 hours depending on traffic and your exact departure point within the city. The route passes through the Estado de México, and the final stretch winds through mountain terrain before dropping into the warmer valley where Malinalco sits — a landscape that makes the journey itself feel like a transition to somewhere genuinely different. Traveling by private transfer means leaving on your schedule, with no bus connections or shared transport stops to work around.
Yes, the distance and pace of the town are well-matched for a day trip. The two main sites — the rock-cut temple and the Augustinian convent — are both within the town's walkable core, so there is no need for additional transport once you arrive. A morning departure from Mexico City gets you to Malinalco in time to climb to the temple before the midday heat, spend time in the convent and around the market, and have a relaxed lunch before heading back. With a private transfer, your driver waits while you explore and departs when you are ready, so you are not watching a clock to catch a return bus. The day is full without being rushed.
The Ex-Convent of the Divine Savior of the World is the town's second anchor. Built by Augustinian friars in the mid-16th century, it contains some of the best-preserved colonial murals in Mexico — detailed paintings covering the cloister walls that have survived remarkably intact. The town center is unhurried and well-suited to walking, with artisan stalls and small shops selling locally made textiles and crafts. The subtropical climate means the streets and surrounding hills are noticeably greener than the central plateau, and the town has the kind of Saturday market atmosphere that rewards wandering without a fixed plan. A few hours at each site, with time for lunch in the plaza, fills a day comfortably.
The Cuauhtinchán temple — commonly called the Temple of the Eagles — is the only known Aztec ceremonial structure carved directly from a living rock face rather than built from separate stone. Commissioned by the ruler Ahuizotl and completed under Moctezuma II in the early 16th century, it sits on a hillside above the town and required its builders to cut the entire structure, including the entrance in the form of a serpent's open mouth, out of the mountain itself. Inside, stone jaguar and eagle figures remain where they were carved centuries ago. The short hike up to the site adds to the experience — the views over the valley are substantial, and the setting gives a clear sense of why this location was chosen.
Malinalco punches well above its size. The town is one of Mexico's designated Pueblos Mágicos, recognized for its cultural depth and preservation, but its most extraordinary asset is singular in all of Mesoamerica: an Aztec temple carved entirely from a single living rock face rather than assembled from quarried stone. That alone would justify the journey, but the town adds a 16th-century Augustinian convent with its original murals still intact, a subtropical climate that feels like a deliberate relief from Mexico City's altitude, and a compact artisan scene concentrated around handwoven textiles and crafts. For a day trip, the combination of pre-Hispanic history, colonial heritage, and easy pace is difficult to match anywhere within this distance of the capital.
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