Monte Alban
Oaxaca, Mexico
Monte Alban is the hilltop capital of the Zapotecs above Oaxaca City in southern Mexico, founded around 500 BC on an…
32 tickets & tours
North America
Best ancient sites in North America
12 ancient sites in North America, ranked by why it makes the list from the catalogue data. Each page tells you what to see, which ticket or tour to book and when to go.
| # | Site | Country | Why it makes the list |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monte Alban | Mexico | The Zapotec capital on a levelled ridge above Oaxaca, with a vast plaza, a ball court and the carved captives called the Danzantes. |
| 2 | Calakmul | Mexico | Structure 2 rises above an unbroken rainforest canopy at the capital of the Snake Kingdom, Tikal's great rival, with monkeys and few visitors. |
| 3 | Mesa Verde | United States | Around six hundred Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings in canyon alcoves, with ranger-led ladder tours into Cliff Palace, the largest of them. |
| 4 | Bonampak | Mexico | Three painted rooms show a royal ceremony, a battle and its aftermath with some 280 figures, the best-preserved Maya wall paintings known. |
| 5 | El Tajin | Mexico | The Pyramid of the Niches is unlike any other building in Mexico, in a city of about twenty ballcourts with voladores at the gate. |
| 6 | Yaxchilan | Mexico | Reached only by boat on the Usumacinta River, a Maya city of temples and carved lintels in the forest, with howler monkeys overhead. |
| 7 | Mitla | Mexico | Palace walls covered in geometric fretwork made of thousands of small cut stones, and cross-shaped tombs beneath, in the Tlacolula Valley. |
| 8 | Great Pyramid of Cholula | Mexico | The largest pyramid in the world by volume, now a hill crowned by a colonial church, with tunnels and the excavated Patio of the Altars. |
| 9 | Kabah | Mexico | The Codz Poop palace, faced with hundreds of stone masks of the rain god Chaac, on the Puuc route an easy add-on to Uxmal. |
| 10 | Cacaxtla | Mexico | Life-size warriors, a bird man and a jaguar man in vivid colour, murals mixing central Mexican and Maya styles under a modern roof. |
| 11 | Tula Archaeological Site | Mexico | Four basalt Toltec warrior columns stand on top of Pyramid B at the ancient Tollan, an easy day trip north of Mexico City. |
| 12 | Montezuma Castle | United States | A five-storey Sinagua cliff dwelling set high in a limestone alcove above Beaver Creek, one of the best preserved in North America. |
Calakmul
Calakmul, Mexico
Calakmul is the great Maya capital of the Snake Kingdom, deep in the rainforest of southern Campeche, 35 km from the…
9 tickets & tours
Mesa Verde
Cortez, United States
Mesa Verde National Park in south-western Colorado protects more than 5,000 Ancestral Puebloan sites, including about…
7 tickets & tours
Bonampak
Palenque, Mexico
Bonampak is a small Classic Maya city in the Lacandon rainforest of Chiapas, famous for the painted rooms of its Temple…
13 tickets & tours
El Tajin
Papantla, Mexico
El Tajin is the great city of the Classic Veracruz culture, near Papantla in the hills of northern Veracruz, which…
5 tickets & tours
Yaxchilan
Palenque, Mexico
Yaxchilan is a Classic Maya city in the rainforest of Chiapas, reached only by boat along the Usumacinta River on the…
9 tickets & tours
Mitla
Mitla, Mexico
Mitla is the Zapotec religious centre in the Tlacolula Valley, 44 km south-east of Oaxaca city, known for walls covered…
17 tickets & tours
Great Pyramid of Cholula
Cholula, Mexico
Cholula, just west of Puebla, holds the Tlachihualtepetl, the largest pyramid in the world by volume at about 4.45…
23 tickets & tours
Kabah
Santa Elena, Mexico
Kabah is the second-largest Maya city of the Puuc hills in Yucatan, Mexico, about 140 km south of Merida and joined to…
5 tickets & tours
Cacaxtla
Nativitas, Mexico
Cacaxtla is a hilltop palace city in the state of Tlaxcala, near Puebla in central Mexico, famous for murals painted…
2 tickets & tours
Tula Archaeological Site
Tula de Allende, Mexico
Tula, the ancient Tollan in the Mexican state of Hidalgo, was the capital of the Toltecs and reached its height between…
No online ticket
Montezuma Castle
Camp Verde, United States
Montezuma Castle is a five-storey cliff dwelling built by the Southern Sinagua people in a limestone alcove about 27…
2 tickets & tours