Head to the magnificent Tulum site, where ruins stand on a cliff above the waves. Want to visit a historic Mayan site but be back in town for nightfall? Park, Ruins. The stories of what happened here are moving, but also notable is the surrounding terrain, which is pockmarked with cenotes sinkholes and home to an ecopark. Just a huddle of stone today, the ruins — thought to be from a lighthouse, not a temple — sit at the end of a trail overlooking the turquoise sea at Punta Sur, in the far south of the island.
Quintana Roo, Mexico. Archaeological site. Thought to have been the ritual center for a small fishing community, it was only cleared in the late 20th century and opened to the public in the s. Immersed in scrubby woodland, it comprises a handful of platforms and one main pyramid, El Castillo, with views over the Caribbean from the summit. These recommendations were updated on September 3, to keep your travel plans fresh. Read Next View. Cookies Policy We and our partners use cookies to better understand your needs, improve performance and provide you with personalised content and advertisements.
The central structure likely served a lighthouse-like function. You can look out the windows over the barrier reef, which archaeologists suspect helped sailors navigate into the port — they would align their ships with the windows to avoid hitting the reef. Tulum is unique not just because for its beachfront ruins, but because it also happens to be a popular travel destination! The ruins are walking distance of the adorable beach town, which makes for a great day trip or overnight stop for those exploring the Riviera Maya.
The beachfront area of Tulum is increasingly trendy, with clothing boutiques, high-end restaurants and chic accommodations. Smaller than all the other ruins on this list, Copan is especially worth a visit because of one particular feature — the stelae.
These incredible and detailed stone reliefs depict Maya royal ancestors dating back to the 6th century. They are some of the best in all of Central America!
Although Honduras is increasingly safe for tourists hence why Intrepid offer tours there , its less-than-stellar reputation makes it more of an off-the-beaten-path destination. If you venture to Copan and you should! The white adobe architecture and cobblestone streets add to the charm of this friendly town. Read more: 7 awesome foods you should try in Central America. Thought to be a capital city during the Maya times, Tikal is perhaps the most naturally breathtaking ruin on this list.
Situated in a dense rainforest, you walk nearly a mile just to enter the site! At its peak in the AD, Tikal may have been home to , Maya people. Situated in the Peten region of Guatemala, the island city of Flores will be your homebase while visiting Tikal.
Popular with backpackers, it is easy to walk the cobblestone streets of this small, quiet city. Be sure to find a restaurant where you can enjoy Pepian, the famous Maya dish indigenous to this region. Read more: 8 reasons why Guatemala should be on your bucket list. But with six plazas and more than 26 structures, it would be a shame to miss this massive complex.
The name Stone Woman comes from folklore stories where people describe seeing a female ghost at the site. The story claims that she is dressed in white with glowing eyes, walking from El Castillo down the stairs and through a stone wall into the temple.
See if you can feel her presence on your visit! Although Xuanatunich is one of the lesser-visited Maya ruins, it is easily accessible from Belize City as a day trip. There are regular and cheap! Better yet, make Xuanatunich a stop on a longer trip through Central America. It is a perfect overnight stop for travelers traversing the Belizean-Guatemalan border, which is only a mile away.
Look for accommodation in the jungle town of San Ignacio where you can soak in pristine rivers and waterfalls. They produced incredible pyramids comparable to those in Egypt. They were great decipherers of the stars. They created their own written language— the only one known of the pre-Columbian Americas.
They even gave us hot chocolate! In , many spiritual travelers went batty because the Mayan calendar predicted a new age which some perceived as an apocalypse of some sort starting on December 21 st.
Luckily for us all, it turned out that the ancient text might have been misinterpreted. The Maya had a large, diverse civilization, with dozens of languages, regional distinctions, and elaborate rituals.
With each new site you visit, there is more of this history waiting to be discovered. Best of all, modern Mayan people still occupy these areas, preserving the customs of old and creating new ones to boot. The Maya civilization was beginning to form, via hunter-gatherer groups, as early as BCE. The civilization never exactly unified cohesively, but was more like an assembly of small states. Each had a king, with the stronger cities dominating the weaker ones.
Then, the Ancient Maya cities were dramatically and somewhat inexplicably abandoned. In the Pre-classic period, the Maya mastered agriculture. This was likely due to the cultivation of more productive maize crops and the development of nixtamal , a process that drastically increased its nutritive value. The corn was grouped with beans, squash, peppers, avocados, and tomatoes, to create fields with valuable symbiotic relationships.
Thanks in part to more reliable, stationary nutrition, cities gradually developed during the Classic period. As the civilization hit its stride, people had more time for intellectual pursuits. Science, art, and architecture advanced during this era, as did trade, religion, and social hierarchies. They developed a calendar and writing systems.
They built huge pyramids, vaulted ceilings, and elaborate ball courts. They used advanced techniques with ceramics, mathematics, and astronomy. At this time, these thriving cities grew considerably, both in size and population. Some historians believe that this growth is what ultimately caused the demise of the ancient Maya civilization.
What we do know is that the fall of the great Maya cities was not an immediate occurrence, as would happen with something like a pandemic or natural disaster. The gradual decline took around years. Scholars have cited three factors in the demise, with each having some influence.
There was increased warfare, both within the civilization and possibly from outside. Overpopulation was straining their available resources. And that strain may have exacerbated by a series of droughts, starting around CE. However, it is extremely important to note that this collapse was not the end of the Mayan culture.
In these places, millions of Mayans continue to live in small villages, speak their indigenous languages, and uphold ancient religious and agricultural customs. The civilizations of the Ancient Maya covered a huge sprawl of the Americas, including shrubby drylands, murky swamps, picturesque coastlines, and lush tropical mountains.
This means that many different ecologies and landscapes were at play. This, in turn, led to ruins in overgrown jungles, massive pyramids towering over desert-like expanses, and coastal cities overlooking the Caribbean. These are ten of the most revered Mayan sites to visit…. Caracol Spanish for snail was named by the colonial explorers, who noted the number of snails at the site. Whatever we call it, the site dates back to around AD. But it peaked in the Mayan sweet spot of AD, by which time it had become one of the most important regional political centers of the Maya Lowlands.
It was completely empty by Caracol is located less than 50 miles from Tikal of whom it was once a client state, and eventually an enemy and swaddled in centuries of jungle. At the site, there are several plazas, a couple of ball courts, incredible art, and over tombs. These are the largest ancient Mayan ruins in Belize, covering nearly 34 square miles.
Caracol is now part of the Chiquibil Forest Reserve, and has not been overly excavated. In other words, there will be plenty of wildlife to spot on this journey. Where to Stay near Caracol. The site is located along the Mopan River, near the border with Guatemala.
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