The Yagul ruins are finely sited on a cactus-covered hill, about 1.5km north of the Oaxaca−Mitla road, 34km from Oaxaca. Unless you have a vehicle you’ll have to walk the 1.5km: caution is advised on this isolated road.
Yagul was a leading Valles Centrales settlement after the decline of Monte Albán, and most of what’s visible was built between AD 750 and 950. The beautiful Juego de Pelota (Ball Court) is the second biggest in Mesoamerica (after one at Chichén Itzá).
Patio 4 , down to the left as you enter the main part of the site from the ticket office, was surrounded by four temples. On its east side is a carved-stone animal, probably a jaguar. Next to the central platform is the entrance to one of several multi-chambered underground tombs .
The labyrinthine Palacio de los Seis Patios (Palace of the Six Patios), above it, was probably the leader’s residence. Its now creamy-yellow walls were originally plastered and painted red.
It’s well worth climbing the Fortaleza (Fortress), the rocky hill towering above Yagul. It's topped by several ruins, and the views are marvelous.
Approaching Yagul from the main road, you can make out a large white rock painting of a person/deity/tree/sun on a cliff-face on the Caballito Blanco rock outcrop to your right. This is the most obvious feature of a Unesco World Heritage site, the Prehistoric Caves of Yagul and Mitla , which stretches about 6km east from here. Caves here have yielded evidence of the earliest plant domestication in North America, about 10,000 years ago, and other valuable details about the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture over a period of several thousand years. The Unesco-protected caves have been closed to the public to prevent vandalism and other damage − but Tierraventura runs trips to interesting caves just outside the Unesco area with paintings 10,000 years old.
