Getting to Tikal, Guatemala from Belize City

[Ayisha]

We are booked on the Belize Aggressor III in April 2019 and wondering about the best/cheapest way to get to and from the Tikal Mayan ruins in Guatemala from Belize City? Is there any taxi/guide that anyone could recommend?

I've been diving and touring through Belize back in 2006, but my friend hasn't, so the other land-based things that we'll likely be doing is the cave river tubing, maybe a jungle walk, and possibly Lamanai.

Any suggestions for a taxi/guide? Thanks!

 

[Downing]

I wouldn't take a taxi. Too expensive. The other things you're contemplating are all easy to accomplish from BZ City but a trip to Tikal and back would be a very long day so you might want to overnight it there. Plus, if you've ever seen a BZ City taxi you would probably think twice about taking it outside the city limits, lol.

When we went to Tikal, my wife and I used a tour guide based in San Ignacio, where we spent the night before and after and it was still a very long day leaving at 5 am and returning about 7 pm. We went through Max Caballeros of Maximum Adventure Tours (www.sanignaciobelizetours.com). Nice guy. Dropped by to say hi a few weeks ago when I was in SI, but he was out on a tour somewhere.

 

[Ayisha]

Thank you! We want to stay at least overnight near Tikal. Might as well be rested and enjoy it, rather than rush through it. Maybe we'll manage to wake up in time to see what is supposed to be a really beautiful sunrise.

I will contact Max. Thanks!

 

[ibj40]

Thank you! We want to stay at least overnight near Tikal. Might as well be rested and enjoy it, rather than rush through it. Maybe we'll manage to wake up in time to see what is supposed to be a really beautiful sunrise.

I will contact Max. Thanks!

Trip Report (including Tikal)

We used Max, as well.

 

[Ayisha]

Thanks! I previously didn't read that thread because I thought it was just about Ambergris Caye and I stayed there over 12 years ago. I wonder if it might be helpful to re-name that thread Ambergris Caye and Tikal or something?

I contacted Max and he sounds wonderful and has a great tour. The only issue is that he's based in San Ignacio and his trips are priced as such. He has excellent prices for a basically all-inclusive day trip ($145 US) or 2 day/1 night trip ($352 US) to Tikal. For this, we would have to get over to San Ignacio and back, possibly stay at a hotel there, etc. I asked Max how much it would cost to start the trip from Belize city and he said we would add on $220 US, so that prices him at least $100 US more than Belize city tour companies. That is understandable because his guide would likely be coming from San Ignacio, have to drive hours to Belize city, drive back towards San Ignacio to Tikal, and then have to do it again on the way back, whereas a Belize city tour guide eliminates that back and forth.

So I've also contacted some tour companies based in Belize city and I've gotten some answers back already and should hear from the rest of them during the week.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Damselfish]

How many days of inland stuff are you planning? If it's more than, like, one, perhaps you would be better off basing yourself in San Ignatio. That's much closer to Tikal and many of the inland jungle activities (aside from maybe Lamanai.) Also just a nicer and more interesting area to stay. Is there some reason you want to stay in Belize CIty? As you must know since you've been there before, it's not exactly a tourist mecca. I wouldn't stay there except for a pre- or post- boat night at most.

If you stay someplace inland, most jungle lodges will be able to recommend tour guides to use that their guests have been happy with. Possibly not the cheapest way to go, but we did that and were very happy with what they arranged. If you wander around downtown San Ignacio you will probably see lots of people hawking good deals on tours, but of course that could turn out great or not and having a recommendation is a better idea.

Aggressor typically arranges some half-day tours on the last day of the trip when you are in port. We did the zoo which is not your typical zoo and pretty good, and they also did ruins but I forget which ones as we didn't do that. Fun to go with some of the people you made friends with over the week. You might want to consider working that into your plan. You could also ask Aggressor for recommendations for tour guides out of BC.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

The other (best) choice is to stay in one of the resorts right at Tikal and arrange a guide through the resort. For the sunrise one you need to walk to the western most pyramid and climb it in the dark. Best thing is to do a tour of Tikal in daylight hours and then do the sunrise very early the next day. Sunrise is at around 5:20 am so you will need your guide to pick you up for the walk at 4:00 am. Early but really worth it!

 

[Ayisha]

How many days of inland stuff are you planning? If it's more than, like, one, perhaps you would be better off basing yourself in San Ignatio. That's much closer to Tikal and many of the inland jungle activities (aside from maybe Lamanai.) Also just a nicer and more interesting area to stay. Is there some reason you want to stay in Belize CIty? As you must know since you've been there before, it's not exactly a tourist mecca. I wouldn't stay there except for a pre- or post- boat night at most.

If you stay someplace inland, most jungle lodges will be able to recommend tour guides to use that their guests have been happy with. Possibly not the cheapest way to go, but we did that and were very happy with what they arranged. If you wander around downtown San Ignacio you will probably see lots of people hawking good deals on tours, but of course that could turn out great or not and having a recommendation is a better idea.

Aggressor typically arranges some half-day tours on the last day of the trip when you are in port. We did the zoo which is not your typical zoo and pretty good, and they also did ruins but I forget which ones as we didn't do that. Fun to go with some of the people you made friends with over the week. You might want to consider working that into your plan. You could also ask Aggressor for recommendations for tour guides out of BC.

We are planning to add 1/2 a week to a week to our liveaboard trip, since our direct flights are on Wednesdays or Saturdays.

I only passed through Belize city in transit to and from Caves Branch Jungle Lodge, and it did not look good at all, you're right. The only reason we were looking at staying in Belize city is because we're not quite sure how to travel to San Ignacio with our luggage and dive bags and we don't want to rent a car. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be appreciated.

We were looking at doing the cave river tubing on the Friday afternoon with the liveaboard. We'll probably need at least a day in Belize city to do Lamanai.

 

[Damselfish]

We (4 of us) stayed at Maya Mountain. They arranged a transfer to the lodge for us. Easy peasey - someone showed up at the dock with a big enough vehicle at the requested time, put us and all our luggage in it, and drove us to the lodge. And naturally arranged taking us to the airport when we left. I assume most lodgings out that way will also help make such arrangements for you, or at least point you to a shuttle service. Their guests have to get there somehow, they all have luggage, and many aren't going to want to rent a car. If you look at some websites of lodgings out there they will often have a "getting here" page with some details, some of which might be helpful to you even if it's not a place you decide to stay. For example since you mention Caves Branch - see Where is Caves Branch Jungle Lodge. Should actually be simpler than arranging a tour of Tikal from BC, since many more people will be doing it.

 

[ibj40]

We are planning to add 1/2 a week to a week to our liveaboard trip, since our direct flights are on Wednesdays or Saturdays.

I only passed through Belize city in transit to and from Caves Branch Jungle Lodge, and it did not look good at all, you're right. The only reason we were looking at staying in Belize city is because we're not quite sure how to travel to San Ignacio with our luggage and dive bags and we don't want to rent a car. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be appreciated.

We were looking at doing the cave river tubing on the Friday afternoon with the liveaboard. We'll probably need at least a day in Belize city to do Lamanai.

As we noted in our Trip Report, we flew into Belize City and stayed at the Radisson. Since we were going to come back through Belize City on the way to Ambergris, we made an arrangement with the hotel to store our dive bags, which we would pick up on our way to the municipal airport for our flight to Ambergris.

Max convinced us that he could handle our luggage, and so when his driver showed up at the Radisson, we loaded up all three of our bags (suitcase and two bags of dive gear) and headed to San Ignacio, via the Belize Zoo. Once in San Ignacio, we unloaded, changed vehicles, and Max kept our dive gear. We crossed the border, and picked up our guide along the way inside Guatemala.

At Tikal, we stayed at the Tikal Inn, checking in early enough for the guide to take us to the sunset "show", and then awakening early the next morning for a return to the archaeological site for the sunrise. On the way back, we reversed the prior day's journey, picking up our bags from Max, plus we also made a stop at the Xunantunich Mayan site, just inside the Belize border.

Actually made it back to the municipal airport in time to grab an earlier flight to Ambergris.