Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
Tikal and Flores
Guatemala's vast northern department of Petén is a treasure trove of
spectacular nature reserves and hundreds of Maya ruins, many completely
buried in the jungle. The jewel of the region is Tikal, arguably the most
magnificent of all Maya sites. Towering over the rainforest less than two
hours from the Belize border, it makes an accessible - and unmissable -
side-trip, which can either be done independently or on an organized tour.
Tikal's monumental temple-pyramids testify to Petén's role as the heartland
of ancient Maya civilization during the Preclassic and Classic periods (around
300 BC-900 AD). It was here that Maya culture reached the height of its
architectural achievement.
En route to Tikal, as you head west along the road from the bustling border town of
Melchor de Mencos
, you'll see signs for several other Maya sites. Both
Yaxhá
and the
much smaller
Topoxté
occupy beautiful settings on opposite shores of Laguna Yaxhá,
nineteen miles from the border, with camping and
cabaña
accommodation nearby. If
you're travelling to Tikal by bus from the Belizean border, you'll need to change buses
27 miles along at the village of
Ixlú
, just a mile from the peaceful community of
El Remate
, set beside the large
Lago Petén Itzá
. Anyone with time for a more extended
trip could head for the village and ruins of
Uaxactún
, north of Tikal, which also serves
as a jumping-off point for expeditions to El Zotz and the remote northern sites of Río
Azul and El Mirador. It's also well worth allowing enough time to spend a night or two
in the departmental capital,
Flores
, a picturesque town set on an island at the western
end of Lago Petén Itzá.
Archaeology is not the only reason to cross the border. Petén is a huge, rolling
expanse of tropical forest, swamps, lakes and dry savannahs, stretching into the
Lacandón forest of southern Mexico. Tikal itself lies at the centre of a large national
park, which forms part of the
Maya Biosphere Reserve
, covering six thousand square
miles of northern Petén. As one of the largest forest reserves in Central America, it's
extraordinarily rich in
wildlife
, particularly birds, though you're also virtually
guaranteed to see
howler
or
spider monkeys
Laguna Yaxhá
Two beautiful lakes,
Laguna Yaxhá
and
Laguna Sacnab
, stand surrounded by dense
rainforest five miles north of the main road along a spur road that branches off
nineteen miles west of Melchor. Laguna Yaxhá is home to two Maya ruins that are well
worth visiting:
Yaxhá
, on a hill overlooking the northern shore, and
Topoxté
, on an
island near the southern shore. If you don't have your own vehicle, the easiest way to
get here is on a tour from Flores or El Remate.
Yaxhá
Open daily, no fixed hours • Q80
The enormous Classic-period city of
Yaxhá
, the third largest Maya ruin in Guatemala,
stretches for a couple of miles along a ridge overlooking Laguna Yaxhá. More than five
hundred structures have been mapped here, spread out over nine plazas and including
