Mayan ruin, which one?

[BOUDREAUX]

Which is the best ruin to go see? I'm going to belize in dec on the legend and i want to know from my fellow sailors which mayan ruin is the bes to see???????????????? Plus if it happens to be the altun ha can one climb on the ruins or just walk the grounds and view from the ground floor???????????????

 

Thank you for all who respond,

 

b

[crewsweeper]

I'd say "best " is relative to what you want or are looking to see. IIRC, you can climb around on either AltunHa or Xunantunich. The difference is in getting there. Altun Ha is only about 50 km from the port and some excursions give you a tour of Belize City as well. The site as a whole is very scenic. Xunantunich is a long bus ride from port and can typically take up most of your time in port. Often ship excursions barely make it back in time for the last tender. The view from the top of the temple is fantastic. Some people like Lamani because it is a large ceremonial site. But it is more difficult to get to and not all cruise lines have excursions there. I would not suggest trying to go in a private excursion unless your ship is in port for a long period of time.

 

I believe other Maya sites in Belize are not as accessible as these three. This is a nice overview of all the mayan sites in Belize and could help in deciding which may be of most interest.

 

http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/mayan/mayasites.html

[tomg55]

I was in Belize in April and visited Lamanai, Altun Ha, and Xunantuncih. Any of the three would be worthwhile. All have nice structures to climb.

 

As the previous poster said, Altun Ha is very nice, and is the closest and easiest to get to, but because of this it can also get crowded. If you know there are going to be several ships in port that day, you might want to consider another site.

 

Xunantunich is the furthest away (close to the Guatemala border). The main pyramid – “El Castillo” – has some particularly well preserved friezes, and is the second tallest structure in all of Belize. You can see Guatemala from the top. Also, San Ignacio, the nearby town (which is probably where you would have lunch), is a nice little town – much nicer than Belize City.

 

Getting to Lamanai requires a boat ride through the jungle, which is fun in itself, because there’s a lot of wildlife in the area. (We saw crocs and a lot of interesting birds.) The “High Temple” at Lamanai is a very steep climb, but the view from the top is quite impressive, and when we were there we could hear dozens of howler monkeys all around. Unfortunately Carnival does not appear to offer this trip, so you’d have to go with an independent tour.

 

You really can’t go wrong with any of them. Have a great trip!