Belize Lamanai or Altun Ha with river boat tour?

[MusicalBear]

I can't decide which Maya ruins tour to take, either Lamanai or Altun Ha with a river boat tour.  I have a lot of OBC so I am thinking of doing the tour with Princess because of the distance.  Both tours include a river cruise, Lamanai  is about a half hour and the Altun Ha is 2 hours.  Lamanai includes lunch.  I will also look into price matching with a private company.

 

Thank you for any help you can provide.

[crewsweeper]

First, I think you have the distances reversed.  Altun Ha is the closest.  Very "manicured", excavated.

You can do the ruins easy enough via private vendor or even a taxi and DIY.   The tour via River Wallace is an interesting way yo get there as you may see wildlife and certainly get to see countryside versus city side.

 

Lamanai is a lot further away. And can easily take up a whole day to get there and back, especially via water and then transfer to jeeps or ATVs to get to the ruins.  These are more "significant" than Altun Ha and are less excavated.  A bit more "Indian Jones" feel to go there.  If this interests you, then by all means do the Lamanai via a ship. There are posters here that have done it via private vendors for cheaper than the ship excursions and have made it back to the dock in time for the last tender.  But IMO it is a risk. 

[MusicalBear]

On 7/30/2019 at 8:05 AM, crewsweeper said:

First, I think you have the distances reversed.  Altun Ha is the closest.  Very "manicured", excavated.

You can do the ruins easy enough via private vendor or even a taxi and DIY.   The tour via River Wallace is an interesting way yo get there as you may see wildlife and certainly get to see countryside versus city side.

 

Lamanai is a lot further away. And can easily take up a whole day to get there and back, especially via water and then transfer to jeeps or ATVs to get to the ruins.  These are more "significant" than Altun Ha and are less excavated.  A bit more "Indian Jones" feel to go there.  If this interests you, then by all means do the Lamanai via a ship. There are posters here that have done it via private vendors for cheaper than the ship excursions and have made it back to the dock in time for the last tender.  But IMO it is a risk. 

Thank you for the info  I meant the cruise to Lamanai is about 30 minutes and the river cruise with Altun Ha is 2 hours.  

 

[crewsweeper]

2 hours RT maybe.  But via taxi, you can literally, drive to the Altun Ha ruins, walk around, climb a couple of the small temples, and be close to the  Travelers Liquors/1 Barrel Rum distillery on the return  or tucking into lunch in 2 hours.