Mayan ruins tour companies

[elifnena]

I will be docking at Costa Maya and wanted to do a Mayan tour.. and needed suggestions on Tour company that are affordable!! Please HELP!! J

[fabnfortysomething]

I will be docking at Costa Maya and wanted to do a Mayan tour.. and needed suggestions on Tour company that are affordable!! Please HELP!! J

 

native choice are widely praised on these boards-we used them ourselves this year

you will share a minivan with 14 people have driver and guide and I believe the cost was 40-50$

[TCG AJG]

DW and I cruised in February and were among those who had our Belize city port-of-call switched for Costa Maya on the Legend. We knew ahead of time and were able to book the Dzibanche/Kinichna ruins tour through a large cruise excursion company before departure. The company, of course re-sells clients to local tour providers and we ended up with Toucan Tours.

 

I can't say enough good things about Toucan tours. Our guide and driver were both great. They clearly went out of their way to provide a special experience for everyone on our tour (it was us and another (large) family.) Our guide was certified by the INAH (she had worked for them at one time) and she provided lots of great information about Mayan history and culture during our very long day together. The driver was careful and helpful and the van air conditioned. The trip was long, but we took bathroom breaks and stopped to see interesting things along the way (a pretty graveyard in a village, a pet monkey.)

 

The ruins were breathtaking, we had the place essentially to ourselves and climbed all over the temples (except one that INAH had roped off). We could have spent much more time. Our guide took us from location to location showing us features of the structures like carvings, stucco, etc. and describing what the INAH knows about the uses of the structures. The Kunichna temple sits apart from the others and is huge and dramatic. The view from the top is fantastic.

 

The tour was not supposed to include lunch, but the driver stopped at multiple places and bought us food. Yes, we knew that we were taking a risk, but the tamales she bought from a road side stand were the best I have ever eaten and the fresh pineapple with habanero powder the the locals in Bacalar eat is also surprisingly good. We did not end up regretting it.

 

I have looked on the Toucan Tours website since we returned and I noticed that they feature tours specifically for members of the LDS Church. As I do not belong to this faith, I might have been turned off by the way this is featured on the website and concerned that the whole excursion operation is geared in this way (to each her/his own but I want my history/archeology completely free of dogma.) Our experience was that such fears would be unfounded.

 

We booked excursions at each port on our cruise and enjoyed each. Toucan was, by far the best excursion provider.

[elifnena]

Thanks for your reply's think I will be using native choice. Did you see any others from cruises taking cabs to the ruins? what is the entrance fee and taxi?

[beachluver9]

We took a ruins tour combined with an afternoon at the "Blue Lagoon" (Bacalar) through Native Choice in June, 2010. It was a great day. Nice quality air-conditioned van, informative energetic guide (Katrine from Quebec). Our van group was small (around 8 people). Native Choice combined us with another group that wasn't going to the Blue Lagoon for the narrative at the ruins. Our group was still half the size as the tour bus groups from the cruise excursions.