Xunantunich, Altun Ha, or Lamanai..Help!!

[backheidi]

Okay, I have read and read these boards and searched the internet for pictures but I still cannot make up my mind which ruins to see in Belize. The only ruins I have ever been to have been at Tulum. I loved it there (just beautiful) but our time there was really short so could not actually explore the ruins much. Also, you could not go in the ruins at Tulum nor could you climb them.

 

Can anyone give me their opinion of which ruins in Belize you may be able to go in, see in, climb, etc? And I do not object to a ride down the river, but I prefer whichever excursion will give me the most time to actually explore. Also, do some of the ruins have a museum section?

 

Thanks!

[centerpoint]

I'll let you know in June, when I go to Xunantunich!

[ute_fan]

We've been to Tulum also, along with both Altun Ha and Lamanai. If we get to Belize again, we'll probably try Xunantunich, but can't offer you help at this point.

 

I'd actually have a very hard time choosing a favorite, as they're all very different. When we went to Altun Ha, we didn't go on a river ride, just a bus trip. The ruins at Altun Ha were probably smaller than the ones at Lamanai, and quite a bit more compact for lack of a better word -- there wasn't near as much walking in between the ruins, and I think we actually saw more ruins here than we did at Lamanai. When we were there (2 years ago), there was only one ruin that you were allowed to climb on, and you didn't go up the front of the ruin. They'd built steps around the side that allowed you to access the ruins.

 

Lamanai was about a 45 minutes bus ride through Belize, then about a one hour boat ride. We did see quite a bit of bird and wildlife on the river trip. There was a museum at Lamanai, but I didn't go inside and look around at all. Our excursion included lunch at a pavilion near the ruins site -- it was prepared by some Belizian natives and was very good. The ruins here were larger than the ones at either Altun Ha or Tulum, but more spread out than the ones at Altun Ha. It seems like we only saw 3 main building ruins, plus a ball court. My DH climbed to the top of 2 of the ruins here -- straight up the front of the pyramid.

 

If you're interested in doing any shopping in Belize, there was hardly any time after the Lamanai excursion, whereas we had quite a bit following the Altun Ha trip. We also had a more enjoyable trip to Altun Ha from a weather standpoint -- but I think that may have been due to the fact that we went to Altun Ha in January -- warm, but not too bad, and we went to Lamanai in May -- very hot and humid.

 

If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask and I'll see what I can remember.

[richtersl]

I've been to Lamanai and Altun Ha on two separate cruises. I totally agree with Ute_Fan's assessment of both of them. I really enjoyed them both and the boat rides that were included with the excursions were lots of fun. We had absolutely no time for shopping at the end of the day.

 

Altun Ha had a little souvenier shop and some bathrooms and that was about it. We were there in January and the weather was quite comfortable. No bug problems to report other than watch out for fire ants.

 

Lamanai had more of a visitors' center complete with a museum and shops. We were there in November. The weather was hot and humid. And lordy, if you didn't wear insect repellent you were in TROUBLE! :eek: My husband personally saw to it that several mosquitos did not go hungry. :p

 

Ute_fan posted some nice pictures of Altun Ha (they brought back memories, thanks :) ). I have some photos of Lamanai here that you can use for comparison: http://lrichters.smugmug.com/gallery/1252298

[kirbmeister]

Here is a link to an older thread with a video from Lamanai:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=64802

 

It helped me decide.

 

Here are my pictures:

http://community.webshots.com/album/401495012