Backpacking in Mexico: Visiting The Archaeological Site of Mitla

​Posted: April 23 2021 | Tagged: Mexico
After you have backpacked, Monte Alban and been on a Mezcal tour in Oaxaca, why not take a bus east and backpack the Mitla Archeological Site. It's an easy half-day trip and you can get there using public transportation. No need to take a tour!
The Mitla Archeological site, located in the modern municipality of San Pablo Villa de Mitla is the second most important archaeological site in Oaxaca State after Monte Alban and the most important site of the Zapotec culture.

The Zapotec name is Lyobáa, identified as 'resting place' or 'grave'. In Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica, it means 'place of the dead'.
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The Templo Católico de San Pablo Villa de Mitla built in the late 16th Century on a pre-Hispanic platform using materials from the temples they destroyed:
Patio de las Grecas (images 1, 2 & 3):
Patio de las Columnas (images 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8):
Entrance to the tombs, sadly off limits just now:
Patio de las Tumbas (images 10, 11 & 12 exterior view):

How to get from Oaxaca to Mitla by bus:

It is very easy to get to Mitla from Oaxaca by bus. There is no need to take a tour.

There is one blog post I found, that even before I visited, I could see that the blogger did not actually go there.

The site is NOT as they quoted, 3 miles to the west of the town, nor near the junction with the main highway and said blogger enclosed no photos. What a twat! Why do they even bother? Anyone with a pea-sized brain can see they wrote bollocks by just having a look at Google Maps.

NomadicBackpacker is the site you need to be using. I only blog about places I have visited. Period.

The place to catch the bus to Mitla in Oaxaca is on the highway, about 500 metres east of the ADO Bus terminal, just before McDs.
Here is my Oaxaca - Mitla Bus:
Fare @April 2021, 20MXN. Journey time, 54 minutes. Pay the driver. Distance is 40km +/-.

Exact location of the ​Zona Arqueológica de Mitla:

So best ignore all the other blogs with their bullshit intel. On the map below you can clearly see the location of the Zona Arqueológica de Mitla in relation to the rest of the town of Mitla.

I got off at the spot marked on the map below and walked the short distance north to the Zona Arqueológica de Mitla:
On the way in, there is a sanitiser control point just after you turn off the highway:

Is ​the Zona Arqueológica de Mitla open?

Yes, but currently only from Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and Sunday from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Entrance fee is 75MXN:
If you are good with logistics, you could combine your trip to Mitla with a visit to The Arbol de Tule, where I visited and blogged about back in January.

​But be warned, the Oaxaca Mitla bus uses the highway thus by passing the town of Tule, so you'd need to walk a bit.

If you need a place to stay in Oaxaca, I stayed a month at The Andaina Hostel. ​

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