​Backpacking in Mexico: Monte Albán UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE Site

​January 21 2021 | Tagged: Mexico
Visiting Monte Albán, UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE site in Oaxaca, Mexico during the Coronavirus pandemic, January 2021. One of the greatest ancient archaeological sites in Latin America.
Basing myself at the Andaina Hostel in Oaxaca, I made a day trip to Monte Albán, a pre-Columbian archaeological UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE site 10km out of town.
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Inhabited for over 1,500 years by the Olmecs, Zapotecs and Mixtecs it was one of the most important cities in Mesoamerica.

​Sistema IV:
Gran Plaza:
El Patio Hundido:
El Patio Hundido:
View from the Platform Sur looking down on the Gran Plaza:
Gran Plaza:

Entrance fees and opening hours for Monte Alban:

The entrance fee @January 2021 is 80MXN (4US$):
​Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, only 400 tickets are issued daily. Sunday is free for Mexican citizens. Keen to avoid the Saturday rush too, I visited on a weekday. The site is open from 10 am until 4 pm.

How to get to from Oaxaca to Monte Alban:

​Autobuses Turísticos which is just 3 blocks from the Andaina Hostel, run a convenient shuttle bus to the site of Monte Albán:
I took the first bus at 9 am. They are going on the hour. The journey takes 25 minutes and leaves the site on the half hour. I had assumed that the ticket was an open return, but the cashier had written 1.30 pm on the ticket at my return time, which I did not notice until later. It just so happened that by the time I was ready to leave, I was in time for that bus. Confused!

Anyways, its 80MXN for the round trip. It is actually only 7.5km from town so you could walk but it is quite a climb.
Not 'the' bus, but I took one very similar:
Notes about backpacking during the Coronavirus pandemic:

Mexico is pretty much open for business, though CDMX (Mexico City) has a 'red-light' meaning essential things only!

Visiting the tourist sites of Monte Albán and Teotihuacán was strictly controlled. To take the bus, you are given sanitiser before boarding, you are temperature zapped before entering, you sanitised before and after purchasing your entrance ticket. Tickets on the day are limited!

In Oaxaca city, you wear your mask! In larger shops, stores and even the mercados, there are different entrance and exit points and again you are temperature zapped and given hand sanitiser before you enter. It is not optional!

​Travel during the pandemic is possible. Just be respectful. Of course, there are the non-believers, mostly the gringos! Well there's a surprise!