Central America is filled with ancient Mayan ruins and sites — Tikal being one of the best to visit. Tikal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is located in northern Guatemala, where its pyramid temples rise above the jungle canopy. This site signifies a once powerful Mayan city, with a clan of high importance. Today, travelers visit Tikal hoping to understand how these temples were built and what Mayan life might have been like. Many walk away with even more wonder and mysteries than when they arrived.
There are a few cities to choose from for travelers looking to visit Tikal. Flores and Santa Elena are two popular choices, though El Remate is another option. There are also a few lodging options directly in the park itself. My boyfriend and I stayed in Flores, a small island-like city with a Mediterranean feel, situated in Lake Peten Itza. It’s connected to land by a causeway that you can drive over to get into the city. We stayed in the Los Amigos youth hostel and took a day tour to Tikal from there.
We hesitantly decided to take one of the earliest tours available to see Tikal. It meant a 4:30am departure from the hostel and arriving at Tikal around 6am. Once we arrived, we had the option of paying to go with a guide or freely going solo without a guide. Being broke backpackers, we took a map and went alone.
Just as we began to wander through the dense pathways, still a bit groggy and swatting at mosquitos, we heard the jungle begin to wake up with us! Birds began chirping, the monkeys were screeching, insects started buzzing, leaves were rustling — PLEASE don’t be a jaguar coming to eat us. And in that moment, as everything came to life, we stumbled (Literally. I tripped on a root) into a clearing with a massive temple overrun with various plant life. Nobody else was around, and it felt as if we ourselves were the first to discover this magical place. I’m kicking myself for not bringing along my trusty Nikon now!
We climbed a few temples and wandered past altars, burial sites and ceremonial buildings. We hilariously tried our hand at deciphering the symbolism of hieroglyphics carved in the stone. I’m pretty sure the Mayans would not have been impressed with the new meanings we created, had they been there to see.
Rarely anyone else was seen throughout our entire exploration of Tikal. I loved the fact that we were free to go our own pace without a guide, and take silly photos of each other without a crowd of onlookers. The one thing we missed out on by not going with a guide though, was all the additional knowledge provided — all the facts they give and questions they answer. Still, it was an excellent tour and well worth the early wake-up. We were back at the hostel in time for lunch and continued exploration of Flores.
Have you ever visited a Mayan ruin?
Which one and how was your experience?
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Comments
Looks like a fantastic place !
Wish I can go there one day.
Thank you for the inspiration
♡♡
x
Inna (www.innagram.com)
You should totally go! Guatemala is wicked cheap and Tikal is just incredibly magical. :)
Amazing photos! I loved visiting Tikal. The temples were all so impressive and sitting on top of Temple IV listening to the sounds of the howler monkeys with views overlooking the jungle canopy was incredible. Thanks for sharing!
Your description is taking me back again! I’d love to go back and revisit!
I just stumbled upon this post and I love it! My first time in Guatemala we arrived to Flores after 12 hours on a bus through Belize and we… well, I’ve got a blog post telling about it, I’ll link it on my username! It was a semiscam but in the end we enjoyed it SO MUCH and it’s such a pleasure to see your pictures and hear about your adventure!!♥
Aw I’m so glad you liked this post! Your semiscam sounds like typical Central America hahaha Luckily, the only problem we ran into on our 3 month backpacking trip through C.A. was someone stealing my boyfriends phone off him on a chicken bus in El Salvador, and a roommate of ours in a hostel searching through our backpacks while we were out and stealing fake credit cards that my bf planted in his wallet LOL.