8 Ruins near Puebla, Mexico: Map & Photos

8 archaeological sites · within 60 km

There are 8 archaeological sites within 60 km of Puebla in a straight line, an hour or a little more by road. The closest is Hueyatlaco, 14 km away; the farthest, Tlalancaleca (zona arqueológica), is 47 km. They are all listed under Huejotzingo, a Pueblo Mágico that makes a good base.

Most archaeological sites are run by INAH and open from about 8 or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a small fee. Midday is the hottest and busiest time, so go early.

Best months, when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons: Jan, Feb, Mar, Nov.

The Ruins 8

Hueyatlaco · Archaeological site · 14 km from Puebla · Puebla
Dig site at Valsequillo south of Puebla whose stone tools were dated to about 250,000 years ago, one of archaeology's great controversies.
Cacaxtla-Xochitécatl · Archaeological site · 27 km from Puebla · Near Huejotzingo
Twin hilltop sites across the Tlaxcala line, famous for vivid Maya-style murals of a battle, preserved under a huge roof.
Xochitécatl · Archaeological site · 27 km from Puebla · Tlaxcala
A ceremonial centre begun about 800 BC on an extinct volcano's summit, with the Pyramid of the Flowers and the round Spiral Building, facing Cacaxtla.
Ocotelulco · Archaeological site · 32 km from Puebla · Tlaxcala
Temple and painted altar of Maxixcatzin's lordship, with a site museum, in San Francisco Ocotelulco, 3 km from Tlaxcala city. Free entry.
Zona Arqueológica de Tizatlán · Archaeological site · 33 km from Puebla · Near Huejotzingo
Seat of a Tlaxcalan lordship where the alliance with Cortés was sealed, with painted altars beside a 16th-century open chapel.
Tepeticpac · Archaeological site · 34 km from Puebla · Tlaxcala
Pre-Hispanic hilltop fortress above Santiago Tepeticpac, 5 km north of Tlaxcala city: walls, terraces, watchtowers and views over the valley.
Los Cerritos de Tepatlaxco · Archaeological site · 40 km from Puebla · Puebla
Nine pyramid bases on the rims of ravines on the slopes of Cerro Totolqueme, inhabited from 300 BC to 600 AD, just outside Texmelucan.
Tlalancaleca (zona arqueológica) · Archaeological site · 47 km from Puebla · Puebla
Formative-period city at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, among central Mexico's largest before Teotihuacan; it outlived a Popocatépetl eruption.