Watched over by the spectacular Pico de Orizaba, during the vice-regal period this city was a vital site of passage and stopover on the Veracruz-Mexico City reset, and home to an economically active population. Thanks to its climate and the many rivers running around and through it, it is known as the “city of happy waters” and “Pluviosilla”.

A small museum with three galleries features a sample of the 3,200-year-old sculptural masterpieces from San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan on the banks of the Coatzacoalcos River: the cultural legacy of the great Olmec city.

A Totonac city founded 800 years ago, its emergence coincides with the fall of El Tajín. Giving the impression of a fortified site, it was important in the region until it was conquered by Moctezuma Ilhuicamina around 1465. Its pyramid beside a cliff and its great ballcourt are models of austerity and strength.

A Totonac city with a 3,000 year history in a very damp location, where the buildings are very tall and the plazas and ballcourts are wide. The are indications of a cult to Tezcatlipoca, the smoky black mirror. It was a great exporter of colorful bird feathers.

This powerful Totonac capital once dominated a large area of present day Veracruz and the north of the state of Puebla. Temples, palaces, plazas and fortifications testify to its importance as a political and religious center. Subjugated by the Mexica empire, it allied itself with Hernán Cortés to defeat Moctezuma.

An ancient Huastec town, one of the most important sites on the Gulf of Mexico, its material remains show the influence of Maya, Toltec and Mexica cultures, at different stages of its history. It has a magnificent pyramid topped by a temple.

A majestic site with wide open spaces, numerous ballcourts and bas-reliefs, and particularly impressive for the Pyramid of the Niches, with its 365 niches, El Tajín has long been a source of fascination to specialists in Mesoamerican calendar systems and world view.

Mictlantecuhtli, the great lord of death (the other life), was the patron of this ancient Totonac city. The museum’s prized item is the sole unfired clay sculpture with stucco and the remains of paint in Mesoamerica. To this are added funerary offerings and ceramic figures of the very highest quality.

The city of the "Fat Cacique" was allied with the Spaniards against the Mexica. This small museum, surrounded by abundant coastal flora and fauna, displays the Totonac culture, including the remains of defensive walls, the gods of the underworld, mural painting, everyday utensils and figurines and statues of men and animals.

A rare pyramid which still has a complete great staircase and a temple on top. The museum tells the story of an important Huastec city which was influenced by the Toltecs and Mexica. It has an attractive collection of sculptures of the rain god Tlaloc and the corn god Xipe Totec.