Best ancient sites in Belize

Belize is Maya country: the catalogue’s six sites are all lowland Maya cities, from Cahal Pech, settled around 1200 BC, to Lamanai, lived in for some three thousand years. Four lie around San Ignacio in the west: Cahal Pech on the edge of town, Xunantunich across a hand-cranked ferry, El Pilar under forest on the Guatemalan border, and Caracol, the country’s largest Maya city, whose Caana pyramid is still Belize’s tallest building. In the north, Altun Ha is a half day from Belize City and Lamanai a boat ride up the New River from Orange Walk.