Over 1500 years ago, Tikal was a thriving city of 7 million Maya people. Today, over 80% of it is buried under hundreds of years of vegetation. I can only imagine what archeologists exclaimed when they discovered the city about 80 years ago.

Tikal is an hour drive from Flores, Guatemala.

After visiting the Maya ruins in Tulum, I thought I had an idea of what to expect, but I quickly discovered that Tikal is very different from Tulum. Tulum is essentially a big field with a bunch of Maya buildings. Tikal, on the other hand, is a huge jungle with buildings scattered throughout. 

Much of the experience of Tikal involves hiking through the jungle looking for spider monkeys, howler monkeys, coati, toucans, squirrels, turkeys, and tarantulas. 

The buildings in Tikal are skyscrapers compared to the buildings in Tulum. Plus, in Tikal, you can climb the buildings! We climbed to the top of the pyramid pictured below for a picnic lunch. Not only was the view spectacular, but this pyramid was featured in the final scene of Star Wars Episode 4.

Like Tulum, Tikal has virtually no signs explaining the buildings. As a result of that fact and the massive size of the city, we hired a guide to bring us to the highlights and teach us about the Maya culture. 

Our tour group consisted of two Brits and three Guatemalans who were on vacation from the States. 

I learned so much about Maya culture!

Our guide, Jose, told us that in 900 AD, Tikal was abandoned because the Maya had used up all the land’s resources, primarily limestone. It was quite sad to hear how the Maya were so sophisticated in mathematics and astrology but couldn’t prevent their collapse. 

I particularly found the buildings that represented their yearly calendar fascinating. They built several buildings in a specific formation so that when the sun hit the southern building, it was the winter solstice and when it hit the northern building it was the summer solstice. Who needs Franklin Covey?

A lot of people like to go to Tikal in time to see the sunrise. While this would have been fun to see, it didn’t sound fun enough to get on a bus at 4:30 a.m. and pay an extra 200 quetzals to get into the park. Instead, we spent all day wandering around the abandoned city and collapsed in our bed when we returned to Flores.

Another option is to arrive at the park after 3:00 p.m. since your entrance ticket will be good for the next day too. That way you can break up the tour over two days and really get to see the entire city.

Tikal Logistics

Everyone in Flores is willing to bring you to Tikal. The easiest way is to ask your hotel to make the arrangements; this is what we did. Transportation and a guide was $150 quetzals per person; the park entrance fee was $150 quetzals per person. Our transportation picked us up at our hotel at 8 a.m. and dropped us off at 4:30 p.m. If possible, bring a picnic lunch since there are not a lot of food places at Tikal, and the ones that are there are expensive and not delicious.