Monte Albán
A Zapotec capital levelled off the top of a mountain, looking down three valleys.
Duration
2 hrs 30 min – 3 hrs 30 min
Best time
At opening
Open
Every day
Entry price
210 MXN
The Zapotecs levelled a mountaintop around 500 BC to build their capital — a colossal earthmoving job, without metal or the wheel, standing four hundred metres above the three valleys of Oaxaca.
The great plaza is three hundred metres long. Building J, arrowhead-shaped, is set at an angle to everything else: its astronomical orientation probably makes it an observatory. The slabs known as the Dancers in fact show mutilated captives, not dancers — the first reading stuck in the name.
Getting there
Ten kilometres west of Oaxaca, twenty minutes by road. Regular shuttles from the city centre, with fixed return times.
What the price covers
paid entry, rate to confirm
What to bring
- Cap
- Sunscreen
Rules on site
The site is at nineteen hundred metres and completely open: hat, water and sunscreen — the ultraviolet is strong even under cloud. Return shuttles leave at fixed times; note yours as you get off.
Checked on 29 August 2026 at INAH — Monte Albán archaeological zone
Other places in Oaxaca
Zócalo and Santo DomingoThe arcaded square, and Mexico's most gilded baroque church two streets away.Hierve el AguaPetrified waterfalls and natural pools at the edge of a cliff.
Benito Juárez and 20 de Noviembre marketsMoles, toasted grasshoppers, and the smoke-filled grill corridor where you pick your own meat.
MitlaGeometric stone mosaics cut without mortar, unique in Mesoamerica.