Have you ever had that feeling when you didn't expect much from a "minor" site but for some reason, your experience visiting it was fun and satisfying? I would count visiting Zona Arqueologica de Yagul--which is part of the core zone of this WHS--as such. 

The Executive Summary indicates that the site contains pre-historic caves and rock shelters and a couple of pre-Hispanic archeological complexes, one of which is the archeological site of Yagul, commonly associated with the Zapotec civilization. The nomination text adds that this cultural landscape represents the interaction between "man and nature that gave origin to the domestication of plants...allowing the rise of Mesoamerican civilizations", which reminds me of one of the justifications/aspects of Tehuacan-Cuicatlan Valley WHS. If you haven't checked the map or the nomination file, you could probably make a mistake of thinking that you've ticked this one off by visiting the more popular archeological site of Mitla (which people said was excellent!).

My buddy and I drove to this site as a half-day trip from the city of Oaxaca on Holy Thursday, April 2019, chancing that it would be open during this important Catholic holiday. Getting there from Oaxaca is pretty straightforward, and the 40-minute drive through Hwy 190 is smooth despite the occasional pesky topes. For those taking public transportation, Lonely Planet says that there are buses that ply between Oaxaca and the town of Mitla, passing by the turnoff that leads to this site.

Sources indicate that the site opens at 8am and closes at 5pm. We left our hotel at 7.40am. Halfway through the journey I thought that I'd be very disappointed if the site was closed. Indeed, I got a little bit worried when we saw a closed gate as we approached the site. Right at the moment however, an old lady emerged out of a tricycle to open the gate. We were the first to visit the site and indeed the only people! I couldn't be any happier!

The lady who opened the gate happened to be the ticket seller as well. Her initial snobby countenance made me feel that she dreaded working on a holiday, but she turned out to be a sweet lady happy to sell us the first tickets of the day.

We checked the map and thought that the site was really compact and manageable to visit. We went straight to Patio 4, a quadrangle with a low square platform at the centre, which was considered a shrine. I went on to check the ball court (Juegos de Pelota). I spent some time here taking photos as I was not able to do so when I was in Xochicalco. After some time I went up to Palacios de los 6 patios, which was probably the highlight of this Zapotec site. Looking from atop of a mound right next to it, the Palacios delos 6 patios looked like a maze, with narrow passageways and several rooms of different sizes. The structure was thought to have dual function--as a residential area and as an administrative center. 

My buddy and I then went up a hill that led to La Fortaleza. Experts thought that it was used as a refuge during military attacks. The tourist in me thought that it was a good vantage point for picnics while enjoying the surrounding landscape.

After dozens of photos, my buddy and I went down to the parking lot and realized that no other visitor had arrived. No crowd + small site + early morning breeze = fun and satisfying visit! The ICOMOS evaluation indicates that its basis for inscription (criterion 3) focuses primarily on the prehistoric caves (eg Guila Naquitz, Cueva Blanca and Gheo Shih), which could be hard to visit unless you are on a specialty tour. However, I would say that visiting the Zona Arcqueologica de Yagul alone would satisfy this justification, although it is obviously not as grand or as impressive as the other pre-Hispanic sites in Mexico. Anyway, I am just happy to have a fun experience visiting this site, and having the caves inaccessible to most travellers is definitely ok with me.