Mexico: Oaxaca – Monte Albán

A Morning Exploration of Monte Albán: Visiting the Ancient City in the Hills of Oaxaca

Today was all about Monte Albán, one of Mexico’s most important archaeological sites and once the great city of the Zapotec civilisation. High up in the hills just west of Oaxaca City, the site is both a historical landmark and a striking viewpoint over the valley below. I had arranged to join a guided tour leaving from the Zócalo, the central square right across from the cathedral. The meeting time was a punctual 8 o’clock in the morning, which meant setting off from my apartment rather early.

Rather than flagging down a taxi or squeezing onto public transport, I opted to walk the three and a half kilometres into the centre. The hope was that the quiet of the early morning streets and the cool air would make it a pleasant way to start the day. I had dressed for what I expected to be a warm outing under the Mexican sun. What I hadn’t prepared for was the unexpected chill that hangs in the mountain air before the sun has risen fully. The cold hit me almost immediately on stepping outside, a dry and bracing sharpness to the air. Still, once I got moving, the chill began to lift. The city was slowly waking up around me. I passed familiar sights along the way and noticed that the young man I’d seen outside the sports complex the day before wasn’t in his usual spot. A short while later, I spotted him walking alongside an older woman—his mother, perhaps—heading in the same direction. There was something quietly reassuring about seeing them again, as if their steady daily rhythm helped ground the newness of my own.

I reached the Zócalo with time to spare and, being the first to arrive, decided to step inside the cathedral. It was calm and still, the morning light just beginning to filter through its high windows. The quiet interior, with its echoing silence and cool stone, offered a welcome moment of peace before the day’s activities. When I returned to the meeting point, the rest of the group had gathered and we were soon loaded into a minivan, heading up and out of the city. Monte Albán lies only about half an hour away but its setting in the hills makes it feel much more remote.

Discovering the Ancient Capital of the Zapotecs

Our guide, Miguel, introduced himself as we approached the site. He spoke fluent English and had that rare gift of making detailed information accessible without drifting into the overenthusiastic. As we climbed the final stretch to the entrance, he began to explain the origins of Monte Albán. The name translates as “White Mountain”, although the precise origin is debated. One suggestion is that the hills were once covered in white-blossoming shrubs, which gave the mountaintop a pale hue at certain times of the year.

Monte Albán spans over eight square miles and includes not only the main plateau but also nearby hills such as El Gallo and Atzompa. Contrary to popular assumptions, the site has nothing to do with the Aztecs or the Mayans. It was the Zapotec people who first built and occupied it, more than a thousand years before the Aztec Empire rose to prominence. The Zapotecs held sway over the Oaxaca Valley for more than a millennium before the Mixtecs displaced them and later continued to use Monte Albán as a sacred and administrative centre. Today, the legacy of both groups is still evident in the region, and according to the 2010 census, nearly 400,000 people in Oaxaca still speak Zapotec languages.

Monte Albán reached its peak around 500 CE and supported a population of roughly 25,000. The city itself sits atop what was originally a natural hilltop, flattened through sheer human effort before building began. The feat of levelling such an expanse without modern tools is impressive in itself. We were led through the site by Miguel, who brought our attention to the remnants of grand residences and ceremonial spaces. Living on a mountaintop, the Zapotecs needed a reliable water supply and they built an advanced network of canals and reservoirs—some of which remain visible today.