King Moon Double Comb, the builder of this temple is represented in stelae 16 here. The temple was build in the 8th century AD and is a representative of the late classic period. Amazing.
Went to Tikal National Park from San Ignacio and stayed at the tikal Inn. We visited during the day, and the following morning on the sunrise tour (about 8 hours total between two days). Our self guided day tour was neat, and allowed us to walk all over the park and take pictures according at our own pace. Highly recommend good shoes, as you'll probably walk 7-10 kms if you want to see the majority of the park. Next morning at 4 am we left Tikal Inn for sunrise tour. According to our guide, a clear sunrise is not typical, so keep your hopes neutral if your hoping to catch a non clouded sunrise photo. However, the experience is still phenomenal, as you walk through the park in the early morning and see the animal night life. We saw wolf spiders, night hawks, and some crazy poison bull frog.Tips for prospective visitors:The fee schedule is funky. You will pay 150 Q ($22 us) for entry. Tours usually include this, but if you go on your own expect to pay it. Sunrise tour prices vary from hotel to hotel. Park related sunrise tour fee will be another 100 Q ($15 us) for entry before 6 am. However it will be valid for the whole day if you don't leave the gate. If you leave the gate they will get you for another 150 Q upon return. We didnt re-enter as 4:30 am to 10 am on the second day was plenty of time. Sunrise tours that came from Flores did not make it early enough to catch first light. Definitely enough light to see the stairs without a Headlamp, and I would have been pissed if I scheduled one to get some first light pictures (assuming no clouds). All in all, we spent about $300 US on this 2 day excursion from San Ignacio, and it was totally worth it. Highly recommend.
Lots of steps up. We were up there with a VERY noisy group which was a pity. it should be a serene experience.
It takes a bit of energy to reach to the top, but it is well worth it.Just don't forget to bring insect repellent.
Truly impressive! The majority of the excavation here was done by the University of Pennsylvania in the 1950s and 1960s. From what our guide told us, only about 15 percent of the total site has been excavated. This will help you appreciate the enormity of the entire settlement, which was abandoned around 950 AD due to the Mayan's unsustainable jungle clearing and farming practices. There is one pyramid (stairs on 4 sides) which you can climb. The temples, which are much taller and larger than pyramids and have stairs only on one side, are the most dramatic structures. You cannot actually climb on the temples themselves; however wooden staircases go up the back of a few of these. Views from the top are awesome. There one can see the tops of so many more temples and can clearly distinguish the many mounds enveloped by the jungle, which hide pyramids and other temples underneath their thick, green canopy. I have to say that I was hesitant about booking a 12 hour day trip from San Ignacio, Belize to go to Tikal. However, given the magnificence of this site and that it is the largest Mayan ruin site in Central America, I highly recommend seeing it. We went through Cayo Adventure Tours. The guide and transfers were good. The trip there and crossing the border to Guatemala, is an adventure with all of the Guatemalan border guards and police check points on the road. There are lots of drugs being smuggled from Guatemala over the border. Surprisingly, the roads in Guatemala are much better than those in Belize, and the countryside is beautiful, lush and green. We also went to the Mayan ruins at Coba, about 1 hour east of Tulum in Mexico. These were pretty good, and you can rent bikes there to get around the park more easily. However, if you go to one Mayan ruin, go to Tikal.
My wife and I visited Tikal for 2 days and explored most of the park during our stay. This attraction involves a lot of hiking and climbing but the provided map states that it is also handicap accessible with advance notice. We took the Sunrise tour through The Jaguar Inn on the morning of the 2nd day and it was well worth it! We climbed to the top of Temple IV at approximately 5:00 a.m. to watch the Jungle come alive. The sounds of the birds and Howler Monkeys was amazing (dress warmly)!
We had a really informative local Mayan guide called Miguel who has worked on the park for over 40 years. He was able to lead us through the park, taking short cuts through well worn jungle paths. He was extremely informative, telling us about the history of the ruins and pointing out different areas of interest. He showed us the air conditioned bedroom with a double bed which was amazing engineering ingenuity for that time. He was a keen bird enthusiast and was able to find two different types of local toucans, as well as other local birds. The heat and humidity is intense, wear lots of sunscreen and light clothing! Don't miss these ruins and try and find Miguel or another local guide for an amazing experience.
It's not really fair to divide the Park into individual sites, if you're going that far to get there you need to see them all and they're all fantastic. Staying the night would probably be best be we did a day trip with a great guide and I feel we saw enough to make the trip more than worthwhile.
You might have to get up at 3:00 am but it's worth it. I recommend sunrise - after 11pm it starts to get really crowded with visitors. Although, it was cloudy when I was there - it was still worth it.
Tikal was a fantastic experience made even more special by our guide, Elmer, who is a Mayan studying tourism in Guatemala. His enthusiasm for his country, his heritage was contagious and his knowledge of Tikal second-to-none.We visited the Great Plaza, a smaller temple site, Temple IV and Temple V (which I didn't see on Trip Advisor - but you should make the effort to go there. Less crowded and at the top it feels like you are sitting on top of the jungle). If you have any interest in Mayan history - Tikal is a must visit.We also saw lots of wildlife in the park.