Tikal is a World Heritage Site. It was used for a Star Wars movie. It is majestic. But HOT. Here are my pros and cons of visiting Tikal.
The pros:
It is only a 90 minute drive from Isla de Flores. But 30 of those minutes are at the main gate while those that didn’t buy their tickets online go to the ticket office (my advice is get a coffee at the stand where the driver is getting his cup of joe).
The tourist museum and vendors are all at the entrance of the archeological park.
No one dresses up like a Maya.
There are lots of birds (peacock like birds and others).
There are howler monkeys that will spook you making you think some monster is coming to rip out your lungs…
It’s fairly unvisited.
There are bathrooms in the park. But you won’t need them as you will sweat out all the liquid in your body (or at least whatever is not blood).
The park is clean.
The guides are good. You must hire a guide (around 500-600 quetzal) for a sunrise or sunset tour, separate from your extra ticket.
The cons:
Too much walking on boring dirt roads wide enough for trucks. In fact, a dump truck takes stragglers out of the park at 3 pm every day. The walk in is over two kilometers (over a mile) to the rest station/toilets at the base of the main plaza (for the love of all that is right, put in a transport system! I’ll pay for it!)
The Jungle Lodge has cobble stones (why break our already shattered feet?) and costs $375 per night.
A sunrise tour from Isla de Flores starts at 2 am. I still recommend doing it so that you are not walking in the heat.
The sunset tour ends up with that two kilometer death march in the pitch dark.
The mosquitoes leave puncture wounds that last for weeks.
I can’t decide if the ticket price is a pro or a con. Things were in general more expensive than I thought they should be. But, maybe it’s a way to keep the place intact.
Another thing that may be a pro and a con — it’s not so easy to get to Tikal. An eight hour bus ride or a one hour flight from Guatemala City. Then the smaller bus. Then the walk in to the jungle. I guess it’s pro if you like excursions. It’s a con if you would like a pleasant air conditioned minivan.
I’m sorry Tikal, but I’m not coming back. You are just too hot, hot, hot for me.
