Mayapan: The Last Great Mayan Capital City

Origins are important, but so are endings. With about 12,000 residents within its city walls, Mayapan is thought to be the last Mayan capital, still active when the Spanish arrived. 4,000 structures have been found here, as well as 26 cenotes, freshwater sinkholes used in agriculture. No doubt, at one point, this was a living, breathing capital city.

Mayapan’s Structures

If you send a Mayapan postcard to your friends and loved ones, they might think you’re in Chichen Itza. The bigger city’s influence is palpable, especially when you lay eyes on Mayapan’s main building: an exact, smaller replica of Chichen Itza’s Kukulkan’s castle.

Right, that’s one structure; 3,999 to go.

Not surprisingly, the main square seems to be the zone where the most powerful and influential citizens liked to hang out. It is surrounded by buildings dedicated to the ruling classes; government and administrative buildings, as well as their residences.

Another part of the city features several temples, shrines, and ceremonial platforms. And if you’ve ever wanted to see an observatory, those round buildings the Mayans built, you’ll find a few examples here, too.

Outside the Mayapan city walls

The 5.5 mile-long defensive wall, with its 12 entrances and gates, surrounds the entire city. Outside, you’ll find another kind of existence for the average Mayapanian. Around the 26 cenotes scattered around the city, you’ll find the residential areas of the common folk.

Art in Mayapan

The walls of the most important buildings in Mayapan, like those in the Frescoes Chamber, inside the Kukulkan Castle, are decorated with epic murals. We don’t mean they’re super cool, although they are; we mean they depict battle scenes. A few others are devoted to the death cult, painted in bright reds and yellows.

Where is it?

Mayapan is only 25 miles south of Yucatan’s capital city, Merida. This is northern Yucatan, so to get here from the Riviera Maya you’ll have to cross two whole states, way too much for a one-day trip. It’s better to stay here a few days.