Hotels near Palenque Ruins, Palenque

This ruined temple was never quite finished. It was going to be the largest Doric temple in existence, but Sicily was overrun by the Carthaginians, who sacked it – and a series of earthquakes toppled the rest. What’s left is a tantalising succession of columns and a couple of enormous, cracked figures of Atlas that lie on the floor. It takes a leap of imagination to envisage it in its heyday, though its ruins possess a mystique that a pristine monument simply can’t.