10 Great UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Mexico

Chichén Itzá was the largest pre-Columbian Mayan city in the Yucatán Peninsula. The ancient city is filled with sacred temples, grand pyramids, and ceremonial cenotes. Its centrepiece is the El Castillo step-pyramid, also known as the Temple of Kukulkan. 

This temple is dedicated to the Mayan serpent deity who ‘snakes down’ the temple’s stone staircase at dusk during the spring or autumn equinoxes. The magnificent snake heads at the base enhance the shadow play. It takes about 2 hours to drive to Chichén Itzá from Cancun.

Teotihuacan is a vast pre-Columbian ‘holy city’ that’s filled with geometric pyramids which predate the Aztecs. The great Avenue of the Dead runs through it, lined with sacred monuments such as the Temple of Quetzalcoatl (a feathered serpent deity resembling the Mayan Kukulkan). 

There’s also the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun, from the tops of which you can take in panoramic views. Drop into the onsite cultural museum to learn more about Teotihuacan artefacts. You can reach the site in around an hour’s drive northeast of Mexico City.

El Tajín is a Mesoamerican city ruin with stone pyramids and large monuments peppering a lush, green valley. The most prominent among them is the 18-metre-tall Pyramid of the Niches, with its 7 tiers of small window-like niches (hence its name). 

There’s a total of 365 niches, representing the number of days in the solar calendar. You can search the site for some remarkable wall paintings inside the ruins, some of which bear well-preserved colours.

Uxmal is one of the largest Mayan cities in the Yucatán peninsula. It’s made up of a complex of ceremonial ruins whose layout and architecture are widely considered to be the pinnacle of Mayan culture. At the complex’s centre is the 35-metre-tall Pyramid of the Soothsayer, which is adorned with a blend of symbolic motifs and sculptures that depict Chaac, the Mayan rain deity. 

Unlike other ancient Mesoamerican cities, Uxmal isn’t laid out geometrically. Rather, it’s spatially organised following astronomical phenomena, such as the rise and setting of certain planets.

Zacatecas is a sovereign state in North-Central Mexico that dates to the 16th century and is known for its rich silver deposits. Its historical centre is cradled in a breathtakingly gorgeous small valley, with its clusters of old buildings that combine European and indigenous elements. 

Among the grand structures to check out are the 18th-century Mala Noche (which interestingly translates as the ‘Bad Night Palace’), the beautiful Calderón Theatre, and the pink stone-walled cathedral with its soaring towers.

Querétaro is an old colonial town in central Mexico, with a historical centre that serves as a special zone of historical monuments built by Spanish conquerors. The city dates to the 17th and 18th centuries and boasts a geometric street plan that was established by the Spanish conquerors alongside a network of pre-Columbian alleyways – testament to a somewhat good-termed relationship between the Spanish and natives at the time. 

Among the legacies are cisterns and reservoirs around the town, as well as the magnificent pillars and arches of the aqueducts that tower around 23 metres above the city streets.

The 16th-century city of Morelia is a fine example of urban planning that was laid out by the Spanish, combining Spanish Renaissance and local Mesoamerican styles and elements. The city was known as Valladolid before being named in honour of the half-Spanish and half-native Mexican hero José María Morelos.

Morelia’s historical centre has over 200 grand landmarks and colonial buildings, all of which were built using the region's iconic pink stone. These include palatial cathedrals and townhalls, whose unique architectural styling were to become known as Morelian Baroque.

Old Spanish towns in Mexico are known for their neat urban planning, but the old town of Guanajuato is a kind of exception. It traces its development back to the mining rush following the discovery of silver back in 1548, when settlers rapidly flocked here. 

The closely huddled whitewashed houses are all beautifully painted with splashes of colours, making it quite a sight, and some still house silversmithing families even centuries on. Looking around, you can admire a heritage that, to a certain extent, is directly connected to world economic history.

Palenque is a complex of Mayan city ruins in southern Mexico which dates back to the 7th century. Magnificent stone temples with well-preserved sculptural remains grace the city, hidden away in the lush rainforests of Chiapas. 

The discovered area is thought to be only a fraction of the ancient city’s total area, which means a lot of it and its secrets are still to be revealed. Its urban planning and intricately adorned monuments make it one of the most significant human achievements in Central American history.

The slopes of the snow-capped stratovolcano of Popocatépetl in Central Mexico are home to 14 16th-century monasteries, which show great examples of the architectural styles adopted by some of the early Spanish missionaries. 

Most of the chapels were built to face open courtyards, to ease evangelising the natives who were accustomed to performing religious activities out in the open. Even the sculptures of Christian figures on its walls, including Jesus himself, were carved to bear native features. Some monasteries look more like fortified castles with their towering bastions.