Archaeological Sites

Patzcuaro sits on the shores of a highland lake in Michoacan and is one of the most atmospheric small towns in Mexico. The Tarascan (Purepecha) civilization built their capital here, and the archaeological site of Tzintzuntzan nearby has the distinctive yacatas — circular step pyramids found nowhere else in Mexico. Tzintzuntzan Ruins The yacatas at … Read more

Yagul sits on a rocky outcrop in the Oaxaca valley, about 35km from the city on the road to Mitla. It was a Zapotec city that became important after Monte Alban declined, flourishing from around 750-1521 AD. The fortress on the hilltop above the main plaza has commanding views of the entire valley. The Site … Read more

Tikal is across the border in Guatemala, but it connects to the Mexico travel circuit and plenty of travelers visit it from Palenque. The journey from Palenque to Tikal — through Frontera Corozal or Tenosique, across the border, through Flores — is a classic overland route in its own right. Getting There From Mexico The … Read more

Bonampak is a small Maya site deep in the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas, but its murals make it one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Mexico. Three rooms of vivid paintings from around 790 AD show scenes of war, sacrifice, celebration and political ritual in detail that survives nowhere else in the Maya world. … Read more

Dainzu is a Zapotec site in the Oaxaca valley, about 20km southeast of Oaxaca city on the road to Mitla. It is small, rarely visited, and has some of the most interesting ball player carvings in Mesoamerica. If you are visiting Mitla or Hierve el Agua and pass the turnoff, stop for an hour. The … Read more

Paquime (Casas Grandes) is the most important archaeological site in northern Mexico, and it does not look like anything else in the country. Adobe walls, T-shaped doorways, and multi-story apartment buildings that feel more like the Southwest US pueblos than anything Aztec or Maya. That is because Paquime was a crossroads — connecting Mesoamerica with … Read more

La Quemada (also called Chicomostoc) perches on a rocky hillside between Zacatecas city and Guadalajara, visible from the highway. The terraced ruins climbing the slope look like a fortress — and it probably was one, guarding the northern frontier of Mesoamerican civilization against the nomadic Chichimec peoples to the north. The Site The ruins are … Read more

Alta Vista (Chalchihuites) is an archaeological site in the mountains of Zacatecas state that sits exactly on the Tropic of Cancer. This was not a coincidence — the builders designed the site so that the sun passes directly overhead on the summer solstice, casting no shadow. It is one of the most precise astronomical alignments … Read more

The Olmecs were the first major civilization in Mesoamerica — building cities, carving colossal stone heads, and laying the cultural foundations that every later Mexican civilization built upon. Their main sites are in the swampy lowlands of Veracruz and Tabasco, and getting to them takes some effort. But if you care about Mexican archaeology, these … Read more

Tapachula sits in the hot lowlands of Chiapas near the Guatemala border, and most travelers pass through quickly on their way to or from Central America. But the small archaeology museum here — the Museo Arqueologico del Soconusco — is worth a stop if you are interested in the pre-Olmec and early Mesoamerican cultures of … Read more