Chacchoben
Mahahual, Mexico
Chacchoben is a Maya city in the jungle of southern Quintana Roo, an hour inland from the cruise port of Costa Maya,…
18 tickets & tours
By civilisation
Maya ruins and sites to visit
The Maya built city-states across the Yucatán Peninsula, the rainforest of Guatemala and Belize and the hills of Chiapas, Honduras and El Salvador from before 1000 BC, reaching their height in the Classic period, about AD 250 to 900. Their sites show stepped temple-pyramids, palaces round plazas, ball courts, carved stelae and lintels with hieroglyphic texts, and stucco masks; at Bonampak painted murals survive.
Roman Sites 105Greek Sites 63Egyptian Sites 15Near Eastern Sites 25Mesoamerican Sites 16Andean Sites 33Prehistoric Sites 35Asian Sites 13Other Ancient Sites 15
Yaxha
Flores, Guatemala
Yaxha is a large Maya city on a ridge above Lake Yaxha in northern Guatemala, about 30 km south-east of Tikal, with…
18 tickets & tours
Bonampak
Palenque, Mexico
Bonampak is a small Classic Maya city in the Lacandon rainforest of Chiapas, famous for the painted rooms of its Temple…
13 tickets & tours
Calakmul
Calakmul, Mexico
Calakmul is the great Maya capital of the Snake Kingdom, deep in the rainforest of southern Campeche, 35 km from the…
9 tickets & tours
Yaxchilan
Palenque, Mexico
Yaxchilan is a Classic Maya city in the rainforest of Chiapas, reached only by boat along the Usumacinta River on the…
9 tickets & tours
Muyil
Tulum, Mexico
Muyil is a quiet Maya site in the forest about 20 km south of Tulum, on the edge of the Sian Ka'an reserve in…
8 tickets & tours
Altun Ha
Rockstone Pond, Belize
Altun Ha is an ancient Maya city 50 km north of Belize City, occupied from about 900 BC to AD 1000.
6 tickets & tours
Xunantunich
San Ignacio, Belize
Xunantunich is a Maya ceremonial centre on a ridge above the Mopan River in western Belize, a kilometre from the…
6 tickets & tours
Iximche
Tecpán Guatemala, Guatemala
Iximche was the capital of the Kaqchikel Maya kingdom from 1470 until 1524, on a ridge between deep ravines just south…
5 tickets & tours
Kabah
Santa Elena, Mexico
Kabah is the second-largest Maya city of the Puuc hills in Yucatan, Mexico, about 140 km south of Merida and joined to…
5 tickets & tours
San Gervasio
Cozumel, Mexico
San Gervasio is the largest Maya site on the island of Cozumel, a group of small temples, palaces and plazas linked by…
5 tickets & tours
Copan
Copán Ruinas, Honduras
Copan, in western Honduras near the border with Guatemala, was the capital of a Classic Maya kingdom from the 5th to…
4 tickets & tours
Dzibilchaltun
Mérida, Mexico
Dzibilchaltun is a Maya city 16 km north of Merida in Yucatan, Mexico, lived in for thousands of years and best known…
4 tickets & tours
Kohunlich
Chetumal, Mexico
Kohunlich is a Maya city in the rainforest of southern Quintana Roo, about 65 km west of Chetumal, known above all for…
4 tickets & tours
Caracol
San Ignacio, Belize
Caracol is the largest Maya city in Belize, hidden in rainforest on the Vaca Plateau about 40 km south of San Ignacio.
3 tickets & tours
Dzibanche
Bacalar, Mexico
Dzibanche is a Maya city in the forest of southern Quintana Roo, west of Bacalar, that was the first capital of the…
3 tickets & tours
Edzna
Campeche, Mexico
Edzna is a Maya city in the valley south-east of Campeche, about an hour's drive from the walled port.
3 tickets & tours
Ichkabal
Bacalar, Mexico
Ichkabal is a vast Maya city in the forest west of Bacalar, in southern Quintana Roo, opened to visitors only recently.
3 tickets & tours
Lamanai
Orange Walk, Belize
Lamanai is a Maya city on the New River lagoon in northern Belize, reached by most visitors on a boat ride through the…
3 tickets & tours
Tazumal
Chalchuapa, El Salvador
Tazumal is the best known Maya site in El Salvador, a group of pyramids and platforms in the town of Chalchuapa, about…
3 tickets & tours
Tonina
Ocosingo, Mexico
Tonina is a Maya city in the highlands of Chiapas, 13 km east of Ocosingo, whose acropolis climbs seven terraces to…
3 tickets & tours
Xcambo
Dzemul, Mexico
Xcambo is a small Maya port town on the Gulf coast of Yucatan, about 30 km east of Progreso, that grew rich on salt…
3 tickets & tours
Mayapan
Tecoh, Mexico
Mayapan was the last great capital of the Maya in Yucatan, ruling much of the north of the peninsula from the 1220s…
2 tickets & tours
Becan
Xpujil, Mexico
Becan is a Maya city in the forests of southern Campeche, Mexico, surrounded by a dry moat almost 2 km long that is…
1 ticket or tour
Twenty-two of the 34 are in Mexico: seven in Yucatán state, including the Puuc cities of Kabah and Sayil, seven in Quintana Roo between Cancún and Chetumal, five in Campeche around Calakmul and three in Chiapas. Belize has six, four of them around San Ignacio; El Salvador has three, Guatemala two and Honduras one. Rainforest sites are hot and humid all year, so arrive at opening with water and insect repellent.
Calakmul is the first choice for a rainforest capital, with Structure 2 still climbable above the canopy. Copán has the finest Maya sculpture and a stairway carved with the longest known Maya text; Yaxchilan is reached by boat on the Usumacinta, and nearby Bonampak keeps the best-preserved Maya murals. In Belize the Caana at Caracol is still the country’s tallest building, and Joya de Cerén in El Salvador is a farming village buried in ash, its kitchens intact.