• Yaxha - The tour begins with a pickup from your hotel or the airport. When booking, please select the time based on your pickup location. If you don’t yet know your hotel location, book the cheapest tour option and inform us later. Any price difference can be settled with our guide.

The walking tour starts at Gate 2 of the Yaxha Mayan Site.

TRANSFER DURATION BY PICKUP LOCATION:

a. Melchor de Mencos, the Belize Border: 01h: 00m

b. El Remate: 01h: 30m

c. Tikal, San Jose Peten, San Benito, Santa Elena Flores or Flores Island or Airport: 02h: 00m

d. San Ignacio Town, Belize: 02h: 00m

e. San Andres Peten and San Ignacio Out of Town, Belize: 02h: 30m

During the transfer, we’ll stop for an hour for a cultural lunch included at Portal de Yaxha.

• Yaxha North Acropolis - We’ll visit the Minor Astronomical Observatory, built by the ancient Mayans to mark the equinoxes and solstices. It includes an observation building and three reference buildings used to track the sunrise and seasonal changes, crucial for agriculture.

We’ll walk along the Causeway of the Quarry, a Mayan road built next to a quarry that supplied much of the city’s building materials.

We’ll also visit the North Acropolis, the city’s center, featuring a triadic plaza with three temples forming a triangle. The temples represent twin brothers from Mayan mythology and the god of corn, their father.

• Grupo Malher - A thousand years after Yaxha was abandoned, German explorer Teobert Malher discovered the lost city in 1904. The Malher Group was the first complex of buildings he found.

This group features a building with hybrid Mayan-Teotihuacan architecture, showcasing the cultural exchange between the Mayans and Central Mexico. We’ll walk along the causeway of the reservoirs, a 100-foot-wide road used to collect rainwater and as a sacred path for processions.

We’ll also have the chance to observe spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) and/or howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra).

• Yaxhá-Nakum-Naranjo National Park - Yaxhá, along with Nakum and Naranjo, was declared a national park in 2006, following its use as a setting for the reality show “Survivor.”

We’ll visit the Major Astronomical Observatory, a pyramid with a flat top offering views over the forest, lake, and other structures. In front of the observatory is a palace, possibly the residence of the city’s main astronomer.

We’ll pass by the causeway of the lake, the main access to the city, which functioned as a lake port.

We’ll explore the residential palace of the Yaxha royalty, consisting of five courtyards, one of which is restored. Inside, archaeologists found pre-Hispanic graffiti.

• Cultural Triangle Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park - Yaxha has a ball game court for the game Pok Ta Poc, popular in ancient Mesoamerica. We’ll explore this building and the surrounding structures used for observing sporting events.

We’ll walk through the Square of the Birds, likely the city’s market square, and the causeway of the residential area, where archaeologists found a middle-class housing complex.

As a relatively unknown national park, Yaxhá offers a unique experience, allowing visitors to feel immersed in a Mayan city. Many visitors consider Yaxhá their favorite Mayan site.

• Yaxha National Park - We’ll walk on rectangular platforms that once supported wooden structures, now only stone bases remain.

Around 900 AD, during the Mayan collapse, the city was abandoned and gradually buried by the jungle.

We’ll explore the complex of twin pyramids, a style unique to Tikal, built in Yaxha due to their diplomatic relationship.

Yaxha is distinct for its location between two lakes, Lake Yaxha and Lake Sacnab. It began in the Pre-Classical period (3000 BC to 300 AD) and peaked in the Classical period (300 AD to 900 AD) as an important lake port.

• Yaxha National Park - The Square of the Columns was a public square used for religious and government meetings. Mayan cities had a theocratic government system, with the government involved in all city activities, including astronomy.

Public squares like this were ideal for political propaganda monuments, such as stelae with sculptures. This square features a stele depicting a Teotihuacan general who arrived in 378 AD to conquer the Mayans.

• Yaxha National Park - We’ll visit the East Acropolis, home to Yaxha’s tallest structure, the Temple of the Red Hands. We’ll climb it for a panoramic view of the Mayan world and wait for sunset while enjoying the wildlife.

The earliest sunset is in November at 5:24 pm, and the latest is in July at 6:38 pm, related to our latitude of 17° North. We’ll adjust the tour to ensure we wait no more than 30 minutes for sunset, regardless of the month. A good sunset depends on the weather, with an 80% chance of a good view. The main attraction is the wildlife’s behavior at sunset.

The tour ends with a drop-off at your pickup location or a different location if arranged in advance. Any price difference will be settled accordingly.

• Mosquito Repellent Application
• Yaxha Map
• Lunch
• In-vehicle air conditioning
• Professional bilingual tour guide
• Water Refill in the Vehicle

• Entry fee of US$11 per person, only payable for guests 6 year old and on.