El Tajín
Patrimonio Mundial / Zona ArqueolóGica (INAH) · Papantla, Veracruz
El Tajin is a Classic Veracruz city in the green hills behind the Gulf coast, abandoned around 1200 and swallowed by forest until a surveyor walked into it in 1785. Its centrepiece is the Pyramid of the Niches, six stepped levels faced with 365 square recesses, one for each day of the solar year, throwing a grid of black shadows across the stone all afternoon. Nothing else in Mesoamerica looks like it. The site has seventeen ballcourts, more than almost anywhere, and the reliefs on the South Ballcourt show a player being cut open after the game. At the entrance, Totonac voladores climb a thirty-metre pole and throw themselves off it, upside down, spinning to the ground, a rite UNESCO lists in its own right. The site is inscribed on the World Heritage list, sits 12 kilometres from the vanilla town of Papantla, and is best seen with a morning start, since the heat, humidity and afternoon rain make the open plazas hard going. Check current Veracruz travel advice and drive by day.
Zona Arqueológica El Tajín, Papantla, Papantla, Veracruz, 93400, Mexico
The archaeological zone keeps INAH daytime hours and closes mid to late afternoon; INAH Sunday free admission applies to Mexican nationals and residents only. ⚠ THE VOLADORES PERFORM SEVERAL TIMES A DAY AT THE SITE ENTRANCE - ask for the times at the gate, as visitors routinely miss them. The performance is free to watch and a hat is passed afterwards; ⚠ GIVE PROPERLY, as five men are risking a thirty-metre fall. ⚠ CLIMBING ON THE STRUCTURES IS PROHIBITED, including the Pyramid of the Niches. ⚠ THERE IS ALMOST NO SHADE and the Gulf humidity is heavy - go at opening and carry water. ⚠ VERACRUZ STATE CARRIES A TRAVEL ADVISORY; check current advice and do not drive highways after dark. ⚠ HOURS AND PRICES NOT VERIFIED FOR THIS FILE.