Iximche is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Tecpán, and 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of Guatemala City, in the northwest of the Guatemalan department of Chimaltenango. The city was built at an altitude of 2,260 metres (7,410 ft) in an easily defensible position on a ridge surrounded by deep ravines, in order to defend the city from its hostile K'iche' and Tz'utujil neighbours. The ridge is called Ratzamut and is a promontory of Tecpán hill, a 3,075-metre (10,089 ft) high mountain to the northwest of the ruins, which sit at the southeastern end of this promontory. The ridge is flanked by two rivers flowing in deep ravines, Río El Molino and Río Los Chocoyos, which both join to flow southwest into the Madre Vieja River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean. Iximche is located among pine forests common to highland Guatemala
