Please help! Which Mayan ruins to visit?!!!

[Loveasunnyday!]

Our ship stops in Cozumel and Belize. Would anyone give advice on whether we should see Xunantunich, Altun Ha, or Tulum? We kind of like the idea of the river ride to Altun Ha but would be open to any of them. Which one do you like best and why? Thanks for your time!

[bruce-r]

I'd pick one of the tours from Belize just because of logisicts. It is along trip to/from Tulum from Cozumel. You have to take a ferry to the mainland, then a fairly long bus ride to get there. Besides, Cozumel has some many easy, fun things to do on your own.

[Toyz711]

check on the belize board...many reviews of lamanai and the river safari. you get a bus tour of the area, a boat ride with wildlife/bird sighting and great mayan ruins. but it's a long day's tour.

[Loveasunnyday!]

Thanks for the help. I guess we'll have to go to Altun Ha as we are on Carnival and they don't offer the trip to Lamanai. Since any of the trips are long I guess I feel safer booikng with the cruise company.

 

Thanks again!

[sillylizzie]

I was just talking to friend last night about this. She's big into the whole Mayan thing, and even publishes a Mayan calendar every year.

In any case, she just got back from Mexico and we were talking about Mayan ruins in general.

She was just in Tulum a few weeks ago. From the photos she showed us, a lot has changed. I was there in '04 and you could still get fairly close to some of the ruins. Not so much now. They have a sand path that you need to stay on, and are apparently fairly strict about it.

El Rey is in Cancun, oddly enough near the Hilton. This looks like real ruins, from the photos, and you are able to climb and explore them.

She's also been to Chichen Itza and ALtun Ha. She told me that Altun Ha, is a sight to see. And definitely recommended that, if it was a possibility on our next cruise.

I also don't know what cruise you'r going on, though I suspect if you're stopping in Cozumel that Costa Maya isn't a stop. However, if it is in the future, or if things change - the CHaccoben ruins are amazing. They're in the middle of the jungle and are mostly restored. Very cool.

Hope this helped in some way. Have fun with whatever you choose! :)

[Loveasunnyday!]

Wow! Thank you, SillieLizzie. You are right that we are not stopping in Costa Maya. But I am glad to get the thumbs up on Altun Ha. We will see when we get there but it does seem that they have certain areas where you can climb the steps. Even if we can't it is perfectly understandable that they need to protect the ruins. Thank you for taking the time to answer and share your friend's expertise. Sorry for the delayed thank you but there was not a lot of response to my question so I have not checked back in a while.

[Branwyn]

From what I understand, the Costa Maya port is still closed due to damage from one of the Hurricaines a few years ago.

[cruisnpat]

Thanks for the information, we are also looking into going to some ruins.

[sarahsema]

I am also on a Carnival Cruise that goes to Belize and Cozumel and we were looking for Mayan Ruins as well.

 

After reading MANY pages of posts about both, here is what I heard (for the most part):

 

Tulum is a long, hot day as it is all out in the open (even in the winter) and very commercial (many vendors, etc) and somewhat losing authenticity, i.e., less climbing, etc.

 

There are also some amazing beaches to visit in Cozumel so we have opted for that!

 

Belize has a few Mayan options:

 

Xunatech (sp?) is a recreation, not authentic

 

Altun Ha is available through the cruise or other vendors, but it is a difficult ride and somewhat smaller than other sites.

 

Lamanai has been described by many on cruise critic as the highlight of their cruising experience! If you do a thread search for the word Lamanai, you will find incredible information. While Carnival does not offer an excursion there, there are many outfitters who do (and do so reasonably). We are going to visit Lamanai on our Carnival Cruise in July and have booked with a company (email me if you want the name) who is very reputable and is charging $85 for a 6 hour trip including lunch and drinks. It is a beautiful river ride with apparantly much wildlife to see and a shaded walk to the ruins.

 

Just one person's opinion....

Email me if you want the outfitters name: realgirlsride@yahoo.com