The site is the most important representative of the Puuc architectural style, which flourished in the Late Classic Period (AD 600–900). Characteristics of the Puuc style include limestone construction, often with smooth wall surfaces; plaster (stucco) finishes; masks and other representations of the rain god Chac (Chaac) (Chac); and the prevalence of styling along horizontal lines. Quite probably this style and the northern Maya lowland culture continued in full vigour for a century or so after the decline and abandonment of the southern Maya lowland centres such as Tikal, Palenque, and Uaxactún. After about 1000, when Toltec (or Toltec-inspired) invaders arrived in Yucatán and established their capital at Chichén Itzá, major construction in the city ceased. According to Maya hieroglyphic records (Mayan hieroglyphic writing), however, Uxmal continued to be occupied and was a participant in the political League of Mayapán. When the league ended, Uxmal, like the other great cities of the north, was abandoned (c. 1450). Before abandonment, the ruling family of the city, like the Itzá of Chichén or the Cocom of Mayapán, was the Tutul Xiu.

The site of Uxmal is a dry grass savanna area, but the surrounding region is heavily forested. Water was furnished by cenotes (wells formed by sinkholes in limestone understrata) within the city or by rain-collecting pools to the west. Rainfall and the supply of water were a constant preoccupation for the city's inhabitants, who frequently invoked the assistance of Chac in their architectural symbolism, hieroglyphs, and human sacrifices. Hieroglyphs reveal that an Uxmal ruler took the name “Lord Chac” about 900.

The Governor's Palace (“Palacio del Gobernador”), standing farther south, is one of the most admired of pre-Columbian structures, and it is the finest example of the Puuc style. Its three sections stand atop a wide terrace (29 feet 【8.8 metres】 high). It is accessed by a stairway with three landings. The middle section rises to 65 feet (19.8 metres) and is joined to the two lower, flanking sections by vaulted corridors. Also on the terrace, just northwest of the Governor's Palace, is the House of Turtles, a smaller building so called from its frieze of sculptured turtles.

Just west of the Governor's Palace are the Great Pyramid, measuring 260 feet (79 metres) on each side; the House of the Pigeons, with a pigeonhole-style upper section; and the South Temple. Other notable complexes are the Cemetery Group, the House of the Old Woman (“Casa de la Vieja”), and the series of ruins called the North Group. (See also pre-Columbian civilizations: Major sites (pre-Columbian civilizations).)