The Pyramids You Can Climb in Mexico

Mexico has more ancient pyramids than a cantina has empty bottles of Victoria, but with tens of millions of foreign tourists adding to the throngs of domestic visitors each year, some of these structures can’t support the crowds. So the pyramids you can climb in Mexico aren’t so well-known or popular, with the famous ones’ steps increasingly off-limits. 

The biggest pyramid to join the “not anymore” list is Teotihuacan, the huge archaeological complex outside of Mexico City. Until this decade you could scale the steps, but now it’s not allowed. 

If you want to get a high view of Teotihuacan now, you’ll have to book a hot air balloon ride. 

I have been there twice and both times I got a panoramic view from the top of the Temple of the Sun. Here’s me looking a little younger back in 2009, in promotion mode for one of my websites: 

I did the same at Chichen Itza the first time I visited, back in the early ’00s. That opportunity disappeared in 2008 though and if you try to climb to the top now, you’ll get arrested and maybe attacked by an angry mob. 

You used to be able to climb to the top of Coba Mayan pyramid in the Yucatan and many others that are now off-limits too. If you really must have that selfie from atop a pyramid built by the Maya or other ancestors, get to one of these Mexican pyramids that you can still climb before it’s too late. 

Ek Balam – Yucatan State

This interesting set of structures is about an hour away from Chichen Itza but gets about 1/200th of the visitors, mostly day-trippers from the lovely town of Valladolid. Sometimes you’ll have the place to yourself, especially if you come early or late, and it’s easy to get a photo here without other people in it. 

You can still climb to the top of the largest pyramid here and get a great viewpoint to see the whole layout, with some buildings dating back 1,200 years. See hotel rates for Valladolid here, which are a fraction of what you’ll pay in Cancun. 

Kinich Kakmo – Yucatan State

Also sometimes written as Kinich Kak Moo, this pyramid is hidden away right in Izamal, the yellow city where a famous monastery from the Spanish Colonial days is a big draw. The first time I went to Izamal with my family I didn’t even know it was there. The second time a guide led me there, down a city street and behind a bunch of buildings, walking distance from the center. 

So yes, it’s rather hemmed-in by modern construction, meaning you’ll be rewarded with a view of water tanks on roofs when you climb to the top rather than thinking you’ve gone back in time to the year 1,000. 

A bonus for this Mayan pyramid you can climb: there’s no entrance fee.

Edzna – Campeche State

The new Maya Train has a stop marked as Edzna, so in theory you can get to these ruins by rail, but that’s assuming you can find transportation to them when you disembark in the afternoon heat of the day. Plus you’ll need to stay at one of the limited lodging options nearby since there’s not another train after that to keep rolling. 

The other option is to get on a tour from Campeche or rent a car from there to explore on your own time. You’ll be able to stretch your legs once you’ve entered since you can still climb to the top of the main pyramid here. 

Calakmul – Campeche State

Calakmul Photo by Viator

Calakmul is also on the Maya Train route, but on the (so far) little-used section completed last that goes between Chetumal and Escarcega. As with all the other stops, the train doesn’t really bring you to where you want to go, so you have to then get transportation from the station to the actual archaeological site. 

Otherwise you need to get here by road from Chetumal or Bacalar and that’s several hours away. As the crow flies, Calakmul is closer to the borders of Belize and Guatemala than any city in Mexico. Here’s a Viator tour from Bacalar that looks to be a 12-hour affair. If you drove there you could stay at a spanking new hotel built by the government, but I don’t know anything about what it’s like. 

This is one of the oldest Maya sites on the peninsula, founded sometime between the years 250 and 300, in use for about 700 years before it was abandoned. It was a major rival of Tikal at its peak in the 6th century. Since it gets very few visitors, you can still climb to the top of the pyramid. 

Cañada de la Virgen – Guanajuato State

This strange cosmic pyramid near San Miguel de Allende is well outside the Maya world, built by other indigenous people like the Otomi. While there were some people living on site at this temple, it was mostly a religious and astronomical facility, more of a pilgrimage center than a city. 

One other unique aspect of Cañada de la Virgen is that it’s like a little archaeological donut hole in the middle of private land. The hacienda land owner eventually had to provide access to the public, rather than having the land confiscated as the government threatened, but she negotiated multiple conditions. One of those is that the whole area is fenced off and locked, with the visitors’ vans you have to arrive in parked way downhill from the entrance.

This is not a site for those with limited mobility, but hey, if that’s you then you’re free to climb to the top of the largest pyramid. Just be advised that you have to go with the official guide and group and departures are on a set schedule each day from the visitors center near the highway. 

Search hotels in San Miguel de Allende nearby. 

Maybe: Mayapan – Yucatan State

This site is surprisingly unknown, even though it’s closer to Merida than Uxmal is. When I visited a few years ago there was only one other group there besides the one I came with. 

Now zero people are visiting because the local indigenous people are demanding payment from the government to allow access, even though the constitution says no private group can own the country’s archaeological sites. Until the stalemate is solved, the site is closed until further notice (meaning nobody is eating at the nearby restaurants or taking the Camino del Mayab bike trip that benefitted the community villages either.)

Maybe: Uxmal – Yucatan State

Uxmal is my favorite Maya site in the Yucatan Peninsula because it’s kind of a “Goldilocks” place to visit. Loads of interesting structures that don’t look like sites in other places, with some massive imposing buildings, but without the massive crowds you get at Chichen Itza. I’ve been there four times I think and it’s still awe-inspiring. 

You can only get here on a tour from Merida or by driving. That keeps the crowds down, especially on weekdays. It’ll only cost you about five bucks to enter though, a great value. There are some hotels with restaurants nearby if you want to make a day of it or you can spend the night and catch the cool evening light show. 

You could never climb the steep Pyramid of the Magician smoothed-off one in the middle, but you could climb the second-highest one called The Great Pyramid. I can’t find anything definitive or official saying you can’t climb it anymore, but there are anecdotal reports online saying it’s not allowed anymore. I hope you still can because you get the awesome view of the whole complex you see above. If not, sorry!

What about Tikal? Well that’s in Guatemala, not Mexico, but you are able to climb most of the pyramids there. While the ones in Mexico can feel hazardous and not for the faint-hearted, with stone steps built for squat Maya people, some of the ones in Tikal have wooden stairs with railings on top to make it easier. 

Otherwise, if you go down sideways or in a zig-zag pattern, that’s usually safer than trying to walk down in a straight line. Or wear thick pants and come down on your butt. 

By the way, I left one photo out of this post on pyramids you can climb because there are so many photographs in here already. But I have one from Teotihuacan on a Sunday that has about 200 people in it climbing the largest pyramid at the same time. Besides the damage that would do to the stones after a few decades of pounding, if one person had taken a fall backwards, then half of those below them would have tumbled down the steps as well. 

All photos by Tim Leffel except where indicated. Since an AI tool I consulted got half the information wrong on this subject (with great confidence though), this post was compiled with good ole human research from a travel journalist. It may contain affiliate links that earn a commission because that’s what pays the bills around here.