The 12 Best Pyramids That Aren’t in Egypt

This pyramid is proof that one of the first Roman tourists to Egypt came back so impressed with a pyramid-shaped tomb as an everlasting status symbol that he built one for himself. Roman magistrate Caius Cestius, who lived and died sometime around 18 to 12 BCE, built himself a rather impressive mausoleum pyramid, which can still be found in Rome’s only non-Catholic cemetery next to the old city gate Porta San Paolo.

The most popular pyramid sight in North America is Teotihuacan, some 30 miles outside of Mexico City, where you can not only find one pyramid but an entire complex of them. That said, there are three main pyramids: the Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon, and the Temple of Quetzalcóatl, also called the Pyramid of the Feather Serpent. Built in around 300 CE, the sacred complex was designated UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Tikal is an ancient Mayan city and ceremonial center with several pyramids built around 300 BCE to 100 CE and was designated a UNESCO site in 1979. Like other Mayan sites, there are grand plazas where often gruesome ceremonies took place, a large Temple of the Jaguar, and smaller pyramids. What is particularly interesting is that the structures have fine examples of hieroglyphs and inscriptions carved into them, just like in the Pyramids of Giza.

These pointy pyramids in Sudan are even more impressive than those in Giza. Built by the rulers of the Kushite kingdom, which stretched between Aswan and present-day Sudan in around 700 BCE, these pyramids might be smaller and younger than those in Giza, but they are much steeper and more numerous. There are around 200 pyramids (compared to some 180 pyramids found across the whole of Egypt) within a smaller area in the middle of the desert, making the site truly remarkable.

Six-stepped pyramids stand on the island of Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands off the coast of northwestern Africa. A national park has been built around them, and the structures are very much part of the island’s tourism industry today. While not much is known about their origin, they seem to date back to the 1800s, and speculations are that they were built by farmers who dug up their fields searching for cochineal insects, exploited for their part in dye making. The farmers found a rather pretty and effective way to store all the rocks found in the fields and unwittingly created a tourism site.

At more than 4,000 years old, the Ziggurat of Ur is only slightly younger than the oldest pyramids of Giza, give or take a century. This incredible feat of engineering once stood in the bustling center of Ur, then the capital of Mesopotamia, and was only one of many stunning structures. In their day, Mesopotamians were keen on building ziggurats–rectangular, stepped towers–many of which predated the pyramids of Giza. Sadly, today, the Ziggurat of Ur stands alone in the desert, miles from anywhere, with very few people venturing this far.

When it comes to Chinese emperor’s tombs, they don’t come much grander than the one that housed the terracotta army in Xian. But a mere 22 miles outside of Xian, are the legendary pyramids of China. Spread across the region, these pyramids are emperors’ tombs, looking from afar like ordinary hills but pyramidical in shape, especially when seen from above. Underneath the earth, though, there lies a stone structure, and while still very little is known about these pyramids, it is believed that the Great Pyramid of Xian could be around 8,000 years old and nearly twice the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The state of Queensland seems to have it all: endless beaches, the Great Barrier Reef, the ancient Daintree rainforest, and, yes, even pyramids. Well, one pyramid, to be precise. Inland from Byron Bay, in southern Queensland, within the Giraween National Park, is a stunning 60-foot-tall structure located on the aptly named Pyramid Walk on a vine estate in Ballandean. It does not house the tomb of an emperor or a pharaoh, but instead, it was built when a stretch of farmland was excavated in 2006. Just as in Tenerife, workers wondered what to do with all the rocks–when life gives you rocks, build a pyramid.

Many temples in Thailand and neighboring countries have pyramidal shapes but are, on the whole, still tending more toward a temple rather than pyramid shapes. But the temple complex of Khao Klang Nok in central Thailand has one temple ruin that could certainly be taken for a pyramid. Dating from the Dvaravati era (which lasted from the 6th to the 11th centuries), the pyramid itself dating from the 8th or 9th century, making for a superb historical site.

And just when you thought the U.S.A. did not have any pyramids, think again. In and around Cahokia, near Collinsville, Illinois, is a pre-Columbian city by the Mississippi River, built by the Mississippian peoples. There are roughly 80 man-made earthen mounds, the largest and highest is 100-feet tall, and certainly the most pyramidal-shaped of which is Monk’s Mound. It was constructed between 900 to 955 CE, and its base is roughly the same size as that of the Great Pyramid of Giza, making it the largest pyramid north of Mesoamerica. The mounds were used as bases for larger public buildings but also as burial mounds.

When the glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei was built outside of the Louvre in Paris, the reception was mixed, but today, not only does the pyramid provide the main access to the museum, but it also offers a great juxtaposition of modern and historic architecture. And even more special? There are a couple of further, smaller pyramids nearby, plus an inverted pyramid underneath, which is eminently Instagrammable. Can’t make it to Paris? There are other glass pyramids designed by the same architect, for example, at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Not quite the youngest pyramid in this round-up, having been built in 1993, but certainly the most unusual one, is the Pyramid of the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. Absolutely enormous, an incredible 75% to scale of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the 30-floor black glass and steel pyramid is a hotel with more than 2,500 rooms. So, if you ever wanted to stay in a pyramid, this is pretty much your best chance.