The El Caracol or Observatory is the ruin of a building south of the Great Pyramid. These guys who built this piece knew exactly what they were doing. It is constructed at the same time that people in Europe still believed that the earth was flat as a pancake. The construction is aimed at 27.5 degrees north of west which is not in line with the other buildings on the site but an almost perfect direction for Venus northernmost position in the sky. In addition, a diagonal formed by the northeast and southwest corners of the building is in line with both sunrise at summer solstice and sunset at winter solstice.

I visited Chichen Itza 25 years ago when there were no vendors and you could climb on the ruins. The spiral staircase is no longer accessible at the Caracol.

This is really cool. The Maya were fascinated with the stars and watched them closely with the belief that they could predict events and shed light on the past. Seeing what they built in order to do that is impressive to say the least. If you're in the area, you can't miss a visit to Chichen Itza, it's an amazing site!

Amazing Archaeological Site. This area was an astronomical observation site. The whole building suggests that it was used to look upon the sky and for ceremonial purposes. Really beautiful and well preserved.

El Caracol, 'the Observatory', was for the Mayan people to observe changes in the sky through the openings at the top of the tower. El Caracol means 'snail' in Spanish, is due to the spiral staircase inside the tower. Beautiful archaeological site, definitely deserve a visit to appreciate the historical remains

Cool, can view from a few feet away

This round structure inside Chichen Itza was an observatory. It is named “El Caracol” (“the Snail”) because it has a spiral staircase inside. It is believed that the building dates to 906 AD. Part of the Observatory’s platform and a portion of the tower resting on El Caracol has been lost, but it is believed that Mayans used this to observe Venus and many other astronomical events important to them. This is a major structure and is definitely worth viewing while here.

The Caracol astronomical observatory is located away from the main plaza of Chichén Itza so make sure that you don't miss it. There is no access to the upper levels of the structure so it must be viewed from some distance and the interior of the observatory is sadly, off limits. Still, it is a unique building and one of the most famous structures built by the Maya.

Has a wide area around it with few stalls and doesn’t get crowded easily.

Easily one of the most significant ruins I have seen in Mexico. Not the only observatory on the peninsula (Coba also has one), but el caracol is much more architecturally unique. Worth the trip even though Cichén Itzá is completely overrun with people. Go here regardless.

We arrived at 8 AM at Chichen Itza and already a long waiting line. We hadn't booked tickets online :( If we booked a tour with an official guide, we could bypass the waiting line; so we did. We visited with Alex an official guide the complete area of Chichen Itza. El Caracol was part of the tour. Alex told about the history, knew how to make the best shots.

This place was wonderful. Rich of history!

We arrived early morning before the heat kicked in. What an amazing place, the history, the science and the stunning scenery a must see for any visit to the Yuchatan peninsula

El Caracol is a spectacular example of Mayan engineering, science and spacial understanding of our solar system, our planet and its neighbors. The civilization that incorporated the use of zero as did the Cambodians, Indians (of India) Arabs, and finally the Europeans starting in the 13th century. That led to the European scientific revolution of the 17th century.