Cultures and periods
INAH, the national institute founded in 1939, has more than 50,000 sites on its register and about 190 of them open to visitors. Almost all lie in Mesoamerica, the belt of settled farming societies that ran from the Pánuco river south into Central America; the deserts north of it produced fewer and smaller sites. The sequence is conventionally split into the Preclassic, when the Olmec carved colossal heads on the Gulf coast between 1200 and 400 BCE; the Classic, from about 250 to 900 CE, which built Teotihuacan, Monte Albán, Palenque and El Tajín; and the Postclassic, from 900 to the Spanish arrival in 1519, which produced Tula, Chichén Itzá, Mitla, Tulum and finally Tenochtitlan. Twelve pre-Hispanic sites carry UNESCO World Heritage status, among them Teotihuacan and Palenque, both inscribed in 1987, Chichén Itzá in 1988, El Tajín in 1992, Uxmal in 1996, Paquimé in 1998 and Calakmul in 2002.
Where the main sites are
| Site | State | Culture | Peak | Nearest city | km |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teotihuacan | State of Mexico | Teotihuacan | 100–550 CE | Mexico City | 50 |
| Templo Mayor | Mexico City | Mexica (Aztec) | 1325–1521 | Mexico City | 0 |
| Tula | Hidalgo | Toltec | 900–1150 | Pachuca | 80 |
| Cholula | Puebla | Cholulteca | 200–1200 | Puebla | 10 |
| Cantona | Puebla | Classic Veracruz | 600–1000 | Puebla | 110 |
| Xochicalco | Morelos | Epiclassic | 650–900 | Cuernavaca | 38 |
| Monte Albán | Oaxaca | Zapotec | 500 BCE–800 CE | Oaxaca City | 9 |
| Mitla | Oaxaca | Zapotec, later Mixtec | 750–1500 | Oaxaca City | 44 |
| El Tajín | Veracruz | Classic Veracruz | 600–1200 | Xalapa | 200 |
| San Lorenzo | Veracruz | Olmec | 1200–900 BCE | Coatzacoalcos | 70 |
| La Venta | Tabasco | Olmec | 900–400 BCE | Villahermosa | 130 |
| Palenque | Chiapas | Maya | 226–799 CE | Palenque | 8 |
| Yaxchilán | Chiapas | Maya | 350–800 | Palenque | 175 |
| Toniná | Chiapas | Maya | 400–900 | San Cristóbal | 105 |
| Calakmul | Campeche | Maya | 250–900 | Chetumal | 240 |
| Edzná | Campeche | Maya | 400–1000 | Campeche | 60 |
| Uxmal | Yucatán | Maya (Puuc) | 600–1000 | Mérida | 78 |
| Chichén Itzá | Yucatán | Maya, later Toltec | 600–1200 | Valladolid | 40 |
| Ek Balam | Yucatán | Maya | 300–900 | Valladolid | 25 |
| Tulum | Quintana Roo | Maya | 1200–1500 | Tulum | 4 |
| Cobá | Quintana Roo | Maya | 500–900 | Tulum | 47 |
| Guachimontones | Jalisco | Teuchitlán | 300 BCE–400 CE | Guadalajara | 60 |
| Tzintzuntzan | Michoacán | Purépecha | 1350–1530 | Morelia | 55 |
| Paquimé | Chihuahua | Casas Grandes | 1200–1450 | Chihuahua | 300 |
The Maya lowlands
The Maya area covers Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco and eastern Chiapas, and the ruins in it differ mainly by rainfall. In the dry northern plain, Chichén Itzá grew around two large cenotes; its stepped pyramid, El Castillo, is 30 m high and carries 91 steps on each of four stairways, which with the top platform make 365. Uxmal and the Puuc towns south of Mérida are drier still and depended on cisterns. In the rainforest to the south, Palenque produced the finest Classic Maya sculpture and the tomb of K'inich Janaab' Pakal, who ruled from 615 to 683 and whose sarcophagus was opened in 1952 under the Temple of the Inscriptions. Calakmul, 35 km from the Guatemalan border inside a biosphere reserve, was Tikal's great rival and has a main pyramid 45 m tall. On the Caribbean, Tulum is a small walled port on a 12 m cliff, and Cobá inland has a 42 m pyramid and a raised stone road running 100 km west.
The highlands, Oaxaca and the Gulf
Teotihuacan, 50 km north-east of Mexico City, was the largest city in the Americas at its height around 400 CE, covering some 20 km² with perhaps 100,000 people. Its Pyramid of the Sun stands 65 m high on a 225 m base, and the Avenue of the Dead runs 4 km through the grid. Nobody knows what language its builders spoke. Tula in Hidalgo followed, with 4.6 m basalt warrior columns on its main temple, and Tenochtitlan last of all: the Templo Mayor was found under Mexico City in 1978 when electricity workers struck the carved Coyolxauhqui stone. In Oaxaca, Monte Albán occupies a levelled ridge 400 m above the valley floor and was the Zapotec capital for more than a thousand years; Mitla, 44 km away, is covered in geometric stone mosaic. On the Gulf, the Olmec of San Lorenzo and La Venta carved seventeen known colossal heads, the largest about 3.4 m tall and 25 tonnes, from basalt hauled roughly 60 km from the Tuxtlas.
Bases and routes
Most sites are day trips from a handful of cities. Mérida reaches Uxmal, the Puuc route and Dzibilchaltún; Valladolid is the closest base to both Chichén Itzá and Ek Balam and gets there before the coach parties from the coast. Oaxaca City covers Monte Albán, Mitla and Yagul within an hour. Villahermosa holds the La Venta sculpture park, where the Olmec heads were moved in 1958 after oil drilling reached the original site. For Calakmul the road base is Xpujil, 60 km from the turn-off and a further 60 km of forest road. The Maya Train, opened in stages from December 2023, has stations at Palenque, Chichén Itzá and Tulum, and the toll roads 180D and 307 link the Yucatán sites; elsewhere second-class buses and hired cars are the practical options, and the nearest airports are Mérida, Cancún, Oaxaca, Villahermosa and Mexico City.
Questions about the ruins
Which archaeological site in Mexico is the most visited?
Chichén Itzá and Teotihuacan trade places at the top, each drawing around two million visitors in a normal year, with Tulum close behind. Chichén Itzá was named one of the New7Wonders of the World in 2007.
Are Chichén Itzá and Teotihuacan Aztec?
No. Chichén Itzá is a Maya city in Yucatán with later Toltec-style architecture; Teotihuacan was abandoned around 550 CE, some 700 years before the Aztecs arrived and named it. The Aztec capital itself lies under Mexico City, at the Templo Mayor beside the cathedral.
Which ruins are closest to Cancún?
Tulum is 130 km south, Cobá about 175 km, and Chichén Itzá 200 km west on the 180D toll road. El Rey and El Meco are inside Cancún itself. See the Riviera Maya map.
What is the largest pyramid in Mexico?
The Great Pyramid of Cholula in Puebla, which at about 4.45 million m³ is the largest pyramid by volume anywhere. It is only 55 m tall but 400 m on each side, is largely overgrown, and carries a church built in 1594 on the summit.
Can you still climb the pyramids?
On most sites, no. Climbing El Castillo at Chichén Itzá was stopped in 2006 and Nohoch Mul at Cobá in 2020. Sites are run by INAH; Mexican nationals and residents enter free on Sundays.