Uxmal lies about 80km south of Merida in the Puuc hills of the Yucatan, and it is the finest surviving example of Puuc architecture: long low horizontal facades, plain lower walls and dense geometric mosaic above, assembled from thousands of pre-cut stones. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, it is far less visited than Chichen Itza, and the single most useful fact about it is about water.
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What Is Here
THE PUUC REGION HAS NO CENOTES AND NO SURFACE WATER, AND EVERYTHING ABOUT UXMAL FOLLOWS FROM THAT. Across most of the Yucatan the limestone shelf is punctured by cenotes, natural sinkholes reaching the water table, which is why the great Maya cities grew where they did. Here the water table is far too deep to reach. Uxmal survived on CHULTUNES, bottle-shaped cisterns cut into the rock and plastered, collecting rainwater from paved catchment floors, with hundreds of them across the site. So the city depended entirely on rain falling where it was caught, which is why CHAC, the rain god, appears on wall after wall: the hook-nosed mask repeated in rows across the Nunnery and the Codz Poop at nearby Kabah is not decoration, it is the thing the city was praying about. Nobody built here out of convenience.
THE PYRAMID OF THE MAGICIAN IS UNIQUE IN THE MAYA WORLD AND IT IS THE IMAGE AT THE TOP OF THIS POST. About 35 metres high and ROUNDED AT THE CORNERS, with an elliptical base, which no other Maya pyramid has. It was built in at least five phases, one over another, and the staircase on the west side is extraordinarily steep. The name comes from a legend about a dwarf magician hatched from an egg who built it in a single night, which the guides will tell you and which is better than most origin stories.
The steps in the second image are the problem and the pleasure of this site. Puuc stairways are steep, high-rise, worn smooth and almost entirely without handrails, and what is climbable changes: THE GREAT PYRAMID IS GENERALLY OPEN AND THE MAGICIAN IS NOT, but access across Mexican archaeological sites has been opened and closed repeatedly for conservation, so CHECK THE CURRENT INAH NOTICE in the week you travel rather than planning around a photograph.
THE NUNNERY QUADRANGLE IS THE BEST BUILDING HERE and the Spanish name is a misnomer. Four long ranges around a courtyard, each on a different level and each with a different mosaic scheme, probably a palace or an administrative complex rather than anything residential for women. The north range carries the Chac masks and the serpent lattices.
THE GOVERNOR'S PALACE HAS THE LONGEST FACADE IN MESOAMERICA, about 100 metres, set on an enormous artificial platform, and it is deliberately rotated away from the rest of the site's alignment to face the point on the horizon where VENUS RISES at its southern extreme. The frieze above it holds something close to twenty thousand cut stones.
The House of the Turtles is small, plain and perfect, with a cornice of carved turtles, and it is the building most visitors walk straight past.
The Puuc Route continues south: Kabah with its wall of nearly 300 Chac masks, then Sayil, Xlapak and Labna, and the Loltun caves. All of them together make a long day from Merida and almost nobody is at any of them.
There is an evening light-and-sound show, which runs seasonally and is worth checking rather than assuming.
ONE HONEST NOTE ON THE PHOTOGRAPHS, AND IT IS A REAL LIMITATION. Uxmal is extraordinarily thinly photographed in the stock libraries for a site of its importance: four usable frames in total. What we have is the Pyramid of the Magician, a stairway, and the ruins in black and white. The Nunnery Quadrangle, the Governor's Palace and the rows of Chac masks, which are three of the four reasons to come here, are absent from what is available to us. The pictures in this post cannot show you the thing that makes Uxmal better than its famous neighbour.
When to Go
November to March is the season: dry, with daytime temperatures in the high twenties and bearable humidity.
Be at the gate when it opens, around eight. The coach parties from Merida and from the coast arrive from mid-morning, and the stone starts radiating by ten.
April and May are the hottest months of the Yucatecan year, regularly over 35 degrees with high humidity and no sea breeze this far inland. Uxmal in May is genuinely punishing.
June to October is the rainy season, overlapping the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs June to November. Uxmal is well inland, so the consequence here is heavy rain, flooded roads and disrupted travel rather than storm surge.
THE RAIN IS ALSO THE POINT, if you can take it. A Puuc site in a downpour, with the water running off the catchment floors the way it was designed to, explains the whole place in a way a dry morning cannot.
Getting There
By car from Merida, about an hour and a quarter on good road, which is how most independent visitors come.
By organised tour from Merida, commonly combined with Kabah or with a cenote further north, and from the Riviera Maya as a very long day.
By bus, there are a small number of services from Merida's second-class terminal, and they are sparse enough that you should check the return time before you commit to them rather than after.
THERE IS ALMOST NOTHING AT UXMAL EXCEPT UXMAL. A visitor centre with a shop and a restaurant, a couple of hotels immediately outside the gate, and then scrub. There is no town, no ATM, no pharmacy and no general shop. Whatever you need for the day, bring it.
The site is compact by Teotihuacan standards, a comfortable two to three hours, and the walking is up and down rather than along.
Is Uxmal Safe for Women?
Uxmal is a staffed, ticketed archaeological site in one of the safest states in Mexico. The FCDO does publish advised-against areas for Mexico, and being precise about them matters more here than almost anywhere, because the country is large and the restrictions are specific rather than general. It advises against all but essential travel to the cities of Tijuana and Tecate in Baja California, to the areas of Guanajuato south-west of road 45D, to most of the state of Michoacan with named exceptions for Morelia and Patzcuaro reached by toll road, to the parts of Jalisco south and south-west of Lake Chapala and eleven northern municipalities, to the state of Colima except Manzanillo reached by air or sea, to the state of Guerrero except Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa reached by air, to a 40km strip of the Guatemalan border in Chiapas, to one stretch of Federal Highway 199, and to the city of Acapulco. That last one appears on the safety and security subpage rather than in the landing page list, which is exactly why you should read both. None of those areas includes this destination. Read the current advice yourself before you travel, because the list is revised regularly.
YUCATAN CARRIES NO FCDO ADVISED-AGAINST AREA AND IS CONSISTENTLY AMONG THE LOWEST-CRIME STATES IN MEXICO, and that is worth stating plainly, because Mexico's advisory is long and specific and skimming it leaves a wrong impression of the peninsula. The named restrictions are in other states entirely.
THE STAIRWAYS ARE THE HAZARD AND IT IS NOT A SMALL ONE. Puuc stairways are steeper than they photograph, the treads are narrow and the risers high, eight centuries of feet have worn them round and smooth, and there are no handrails on most of them. The platform edges are unfenced above real drops onto stone. Falls are, by a wide margin, the injury visitors suffer here, and the descent is worse than the climb: come down facing the way you went up rather than turning to look out.
Heat is the other, and inland Yucatan heat is a different animal from coastal heat. There is no sea breeze, the humidity is high, the limestone reflects and holds the warmth, and the shade on the site is a handful of trees. People get into trouble here in the late morning rather than at any dramatic moment.
Mosquitoes carry dengue in the Yucatan, and the Puuc scrub at dusk is worse than the coast.
Snakes are present in the scrub around the margins, which is a reason to stay on the cleared paths rather than to be nervous, and the same goes for the ticks.
The Uxmal Packing List
Heavy inland heat, high humidity, little shade and a lot of steep unrailed stone.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is a better choice here than most people expect in this climate, for a reason that is specific to the site: you need your arms and shoulders covered for three hours of reflected limestone glare where reapplying sunscreen is awkward and your hands are busy on stone, and fine wool does that while moving sweat off you rather than holding it the way cotton does. It also survives several days of Yucatecan humidity without turning.
A wide brim UPF 50 sun hat, which on an unshaded limestone site is the most important thing you bring, and a long sun hoodie as the alternative in the hottest months.
Walking shoes with real grip and Darn Tough merino socks. THIS IS THE ITEM THAT PREVENTS THE INJURY THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS HERE. Smooth soles on worn Puuc stairways with no handrail is how people fall.
A large insulated water bottle, because there is no shop between the gate and the far end of the site and the heat takes more out of you than you plan for, and DEET insect repellent for the scrub and the dusk, since dengue is present.
Not linked and worth packing: SUNGLASSES, which on pale limestone are not optional; CASH IN PESOS, because there is no cash machine at Uxmal and card acceptance at the gate is not guaranteed; A SMALL DAYPACK for your own water; ORAL REHYDRATION SALTS, which are cheap, sold in every Mexican pharmacy and are the right answer to a hot morning on stone; and A LIGHT RAIN SHELL in the wet season, because the storms arrive fast and there is nowhere to stand.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Uxmal
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, the single national number, free from any phone. English-speaking operators are available in the tourist states but are not guaranteed everywhere.
The fact that explains the whole site is that THE PUUC REGION HAS NO CENOTES AND NO SURFACE WATER: Uxmal ran on chultunes, plastered rock cisterns fed from paved catchment floors, which is why Chac the rain god is carved on wall after wall. THERE IS ALMOST NOTHING HERE BUT THE SITE: a visitor centre, a restaurant, two hotels and then scrub, with no town, no cash machine, no pharmacy and no shop, so bring what you need and bring pesos. THE PUUC STAIRWAYS ARE STEEP, WORN SMOOTH AND WITHOUT HANDRAILS and platform edges are unfenced above stone: falls are the injury that happens here, and the descent is the dangerous half. WHAT IS CLIMBABLE CHANGES, so check the current INAH notice in the week you travel. INLAND YUCATAN HEAT HAS NO SEA BREEZE and April and May regularly exceed 35 degrees with high humidity. BE AT THE GATE AT OPENING. DENGUE IS PRESENT and the scrub at dusk is worse than the coast. HURRICANE SEASON RUNS JUNE TO NOVEMBER and inland the effect is rain and flooded roads rather than surge.
US State Department travel advisory: the Mexico advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mexico, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital or clinic: there is first aid at the visitor centre and nothing else at Uxmal. The nearest clinics are in the small towns along the road, Santa Elena and Ticul, for routine matters. ANYTHING SERIOUS MEANS MERIDA, an hour and a quarter north, which has the best hospitals on the peninsula including large private facilities used to treating visitors. That distance, on a site whose main risk is a fall from a stairway with no handrail, is the reason to take the stone seriously rather than to worry about anything else. Private facilities expect payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front. Dial 911, and report an incident on the site to the staff at the entrance, who can bring an ambulance to the right gate. Private hospitals in the large Mexican cities are good and expect payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front, so carry your policy number where you can reach it rather than in the bottom of a bag. Public clinics will treat an emergency. Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in the country: drink bottled or purified water, which every hotel and restaurant supplies as a matter of course, and take the same care with ice and raw salad that you would with the water itself.
Official health authority: the Secretaria de Salud, Mexico's federal health ministry. covers the Yucatan state health services and publishes the dengue situation
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Mexico City.
Official tourism authority: the Secretaria de Turismo, Mexico's federal tourism ministry. with the site's opening hours, ticket prices, climbing restrictions and light-and-sound show times published by INAH, the national institute of anthropology and history, and state information from the Yucatan tourism secretariat
Takeaways
No cenotes, no surface water. That is why Chac is on every wall.
The Pyramid of the Magician has rounded corners. Nothing else in the Maya world does.
Grip on your feet. The stairways have no handrails and the descent is the risk.
There is no town, no ATM and no shop. Bring water, pesos and a hat.
Solo women safety assessment: Uxmal is an easy and unthreatening place to visit alone. It is a staffed, ticketed, fenced archaeological site with a visitor centre, a restaurant and a shop at the gate, in Yucatan state, which carries no FCDO advised-against designation and is consistently among the lowest-crime states in Mexico. It is also much quieter than Chichen Itza, which cuts both ways: fewer people and fewer vendors, and also longer stretches where you are out of sight of anyone, so tell the staff roughly what you are doing if you plan to walk the far end of the site. The realistic crime risk is opportunistic theft from a bag set down while you photograph something. 911 IS THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY NUMBER, with English unlikely out here, and the fastest route to help is the entrance staff rather than your phone. THE MEDICAL DISTANCE IS WHAT SHOULD CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOUR: first aid at the visitor centre, small clinics at Santa Elena and Ticul for routine matters, and anything real an hour and a quarter away in Merida. THE INJURY THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS HERE IS A FALL ON STONE. Puuc stairways are steeper than any photograph conveys, the treads are narrow and the risers tall, eight centuries of visitors have polished them, and almost none of them has a handrail, while platform edges sit unfenced above several metres of drop. Climb in shoes with grip, never in the wet, and come down facing the way you came up rather than turning to admire the view, which is how ankles and wrists get broken an hour from a hospital. THE SECOND REAL FACTOR IS HEAT, and inland Yucatan heat is harder than the coastal kind because there is no sea breeze, the humidity is high and the limestone reflects and stores the warmth: there is almost no shade on this site, April and May routinely pass 35 degrees, and the trouble comes quietly in the late morning. Be at the gate at eight, carry your own water because there is nothing out in the site, cover your arms and wear the wide hat. Use repellent at dusk for dengue, stay on cleared paths in the surrounding scrub, and arrive with pesos because there is no cash machine anywhere near here.
Reading On
Uxmal is the quiet half of the Yucatan's Maya circuit. The Merida packing list covers the regional capital an hour north that most visitors base in, with the Izamal packing list and Valladolid packing list on the colonial route east and the Campeche packing list on the Gulf coast west. On the Caribbean side, the Tulum packing list, Bacalar packing list and Mahahual packing list cover the coast and the reef. For the other great pre-Hispanic cities in this library, the Palenque packing list covers the Maya city in the Chiapas jungle, the Teotihuacan packing list the enormous city north of Mexico City and the Monte Alban packing list the Zapotec capital above Oaxaca, with the Cholula packing list covering the largest pyramid in the world by volume. West into Chiapas, the San Cristobal de las Casas packing list. For the country, the Mexico travel guide for women and the Mexico packing list carry the transport and the advisory geography in full. For why fine wool works in heat and humidity rather than against it, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
