Cacaxtla

Cacaxtla solved a mystery archaeologists are still arguing about: why do murals in the Maya style, painted with Maya blue, appear on a hilltop palace in highland Tlaxcala, a thousand kilometres from the Maya world? The Olmeca-Xicalanca people who ruled here between roughly 650 and 900 left the answer on their walls - trading and warring across Mesoamerica, they painted like no one else in the highlands. Under one of the largest archaeological shelters in the Americas, the Gran Basamento palace keeps its colors almost intact: the Battle Mural, a twenty-two-metre melee of jaguar-clad warriors overwhelming bird-costumed enemies, unflinching in its wounds; the Bird Man and Jaguar Man framing a doorway in turquoise and ochre; a merchant god with his cacao-laden pack. The reds and blues remain shockingly fresh after thirteen centuries. Neighboring Xochitecatl, a ridge away, adds a circular pyramid and mother-goddess figurines. Few sites this important stay this quiet.

What you actually see

• The Battle Mural - a full-color war scene unmatched in Mesoamerica.
• Bird Man and Jaguar Man - the painted portico figures in Maya blue.
• The great shelter - the palace mound protected under one vast roof.
• Xochitecatl - the circular-pyramid sister site next door.

When to go

Dry-season mornings give cool walking and the clearest volcano views from the ramparts - Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl and La Malinche all show. Weekdays are near-empty.

Honest expectations

Photography without flash is usually permitted, but the murals are behind rails at viewing distance - binoculars help the detail. The site involves stairs and ramps around the shelter. Services are rural-basic.

Nearby

Xochitecatl shares the ticket window; Tlaxcala city's arcades and Val Quirico's Tuscan streets are each half an hour away.