Best ruins for children ages 5-13?

[familycruising4us]

Hello. We will be in Belize in January 2009 via the Carnival Valor.

We have three children ages 5,7 and 13. My 7 yr Dd loves this kind of stuff, not too sure about the other two.

Which ruins would be the most interesting, do you think, for children?

I'd love to do the Lamanai, but the timing makes me too nervous, plus they have an age limit of 6 yrs.

I was thinking about the trip offered thru Carnival for Altun Ha and river tour. Or the Altun Ha and adding the rainforest exploration thru BCE. Unless you think the Xanantunich ruins are better-? :confused:

Thank you for any help offered!

[EBallgrl]

I asked myself this same question...

 

My mother and I really wanted to go see ruins but we will have my 8 yr old neice with us. She likes watching stuff on the Discovery, Travel Channel, etc. But we werent sure if actually GOING somewhere would interest her. We ended up choosing Lamanai (even with the time crunch)because it has the river portion. Hopefully we will see some wildlife to keep her interest! I have not read any reviews that anyone has been left behind using the company we booked with, so we will give it a go!

 

So if you are uncomfortable with the time thing, I would try Altun Ha with the River Wallace tour. At least the boat ride will break things up and make it maybe a little more exciting for them. Also the bus ride is less than half that of Xanantunich (but Xanantunich is a much larger complex). Good luck with whatever you choose! I hope someone else can be more helpful!

[dgack1]

hey trish,

 

We just got back from the BCE Lamanai tour and it was great!! Our boys are 12 and 13 and they loved climbing the temple. Watching them climb the temple almost caused me to have a panic attack. (it is high/steep) I don't think that I would let them climb it if they were younger. Our tour guide told us that elementary aged kids climb it on tours, so maybe I just was just being over protective.:rolleyes: Anyway if your kids are anything like mine, I would probably pick Altua Ha. It is closer to the pier, so they are not stuck in the van as long. The ruins are interesting to see just not as big as lamanai. Hope this helps...

 

Denise...btw if you are going to costa maya check out chacchobenruins .com this is a great tour for all age groups!!!!

[Toyz711]

lamanai is (about) a 40 min to hour drive just to the river boats, then an hour on the boats...yes, you should see some wildlife but it's not a given (we saw some unusual birds, a baby croco, some very tiny bats)

once they got past where they find the wildlife, they zoom to lamani. the boat is fun!

lamanai is great, if with a full tour...you need to stay with the tour, they don't allow wandering off on your own. there is wildlife, howler monkeys in the trees. it is a jungle, there are other critters around..some you may not want to see. the tour can get very hot, take the bug spray.

lunch is a local chicken dish, cole slaw, beans and rice...all served outdoors. the drinks were local sodas (ours were fruit flavored)

then return boat ride is very fast, they know time is limited and they need to get you back. still close to an hour for the boat ride and another hour for the bus ride.

everyone was exhausted on the bus ride. take extra bottles of water, you get a bottle at the rest stop (between the bus and boat) and another bottle at lamanai. some of the busses don't have working toilets (ours did, but only #1). the restrooms, at the rest stops, were OK..not really clean, but everything works. same for the restrooms at lamanai..they are open air: meaning they are either screens or open at the top of the 7ft floor walls to the ceiling. think camping at a national park...no hot water, but they do have running water and flush toilets.

Xanantunich was cancelled on our cruise, they said it was because of the travel time, too many tours were late getting back.

altun ha is not the distance/time that lamanai and xanantunich are.

http://www.belizeexplorer.com/cgi-local/explorer.cgi?db=explorer&uid=default&Category=Mayan+Sites&view_records=1&nh=1

[familycruising4us]

Thank you all so much for the help and info!!

We will discuss our options and make a decision. :)

[vmom]

I wouldn't do Xanantunich with younger age children. The ride there and back is long and they would be bored.

 

I would think the Altun Ha with the river boat would be nice.

 

If you want to get a better idea of the two ruins sites, do a google search of both and you can get a better description and some pics to help you make a decision.