Best ruins

[arms4]

O.k. not sure if anyone can answer this question but would love any feedback. On our NCL cruise we are going to Belize, Santo de Tomas, Cozumel and Costa Maya and want to know which place has the best ruins to visit. We want to see some, but not at every place, and want to know where they are the best and which ones? so would love some feedback and thanks!:confused:

[cb at sea]

Best Ruin---an oxymoron? (Jumbo shrimp..baby grand....)

[navybankerteacher]

Costa Maya is probably best bet -access to both Tulum (maybe an hour)

and Chichen Itza (perhaps two hours away).

[fann1sh]

I don't want to split hairs, NavyBankTeacher, but I believe Chichen Itza is further than that from Majahual (the town nearest the port of Costa Maya). When I've visited Cozumel/Playa del Carmen, it was considered too long an excursion for the time I had in port - and Playa del Carmen is closer than Majahual/Costa Maya.

 

Altun Ha is 30 miles from Belize City, and is a smaller site.

[erkevin]

Having done Tulum, Chichen, Tikal, and Altun Ha. I would vote for Altun Ha (Belize). It is a fun river ride (lots of wildlife) up to the ruins. I am not sure if that would be offered as a cruise excursion. Tulum, 2nd. You are on the water, with a beautiful beach, so you can cool off. Chichen is magnificent, but a loooong day. Another good one is on the border of Belize and Guatamala (Tikal). Very little of it has even been uncovered/excavated. I doubt that this would be feasible from a cruise ship, however

Cozumel has 1 teenie ruin that I visited on a scooter years ago. Tour took 3-5 minutes!

[DonMar]

I think the best ruins will be different for everyone. It all depends upon what you like, want etc. We have been to

 

Lamanai (Belize) - very remote, fun boat ride through the mangroves, outstanding setting, can interact with the ruins (climb to the top of structures walk through the ball court), not visited by many tourists, spectacular structures.

 

Ek Balam - Mexico/Yucatan - much like Lamanai but no boat ride. It is closer than Chitzen Itza from Costa Maya. It have some of the newest and important archaeological discoveries.

 

Tulum - beautiful setting on the coast. Very touristy. Many people. You cannot interact with the ruins. OK structures.

 

Cozumel Ruins - very, very small.

 

I would say that Lamanai and EkBalam are the best that are do-able, but I like more remote and less touristy places.

 

It is all about what interests you.

[spongerob]

Belize has fantastic ruins. There are some really good sites near San Ignacio, which is close to the Guatemalan border. It's a long ride there and back but the sites are worth the trip.

[gumbolady]

We did a 2 ruin excursion from Costa Maya. It was a long day, but very worth it. We saw both Kohunlich & Dzibanche. See this website for info http://www.locogringo.com/research/dzibanche.html and I have attached a few of my own pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm thinking the ride was about two hours to the first ruin and about 30 minutes between the two. The masks were so great that I would gladly do it again.

[knbcruisers]

Our trip to Lamanai/New River last April was wonderful. A long day but beautiful, tour guide was corny, but funny and was very educational about Belize. The boat ride is great, and the ruins are amazing, you can hear the howler monkeys in the jungle. You could still climb 2 of the ruins, and the view from the top looking at the jungle and river is awe-inspiring. I highly recommend doing this through the ship. It is too far to risk any problems. You will be first off/last on, and if there were any transportaion problems, you would miss the ship.

[katmu]

I would highly recommend if you are only going to do 1, that you do Tikal from Santo de Tomas (it should be about an hour away). I also disagree that Ek Balam is close to Costa Maya as it is about 1/2 hour north of Valladolid, so that's quite a drive. It is slightly closer than Chichen Itza but it's still a long way.

 

My 2nd choice would be one of the sites in Brazil already mentioned.

[arms4]

thanks for all responses to my question, it helped a great deal!