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Palenque - Massive Maya Ruins

Written by Nadine Zangerle on . Posted in Mexico

In order to avoid the night bus we planned to do a stop in Chetumal. As we arrived in Chetumal at 4pm we found out that there are only night buses down to Palenque. Well so it is a night bus means we had to walk around Chetumal for a couple of hours before the bus left with us at 10pm.

Everyone we met told us not to take the night bus but there was no other option, so we slept on our belongings and arrived at 6am in Palenque. With the taxi we reached a little jungle communion - El Panachel - and got a Cabaña in the Jungle Palace. The bungalows are nicely arranged in the jungle at a river.

Spontaneously we decided to do a trip to Agua Azul and Mishol-Ha which was fantastic. Especially Agua Azul with its blue water basins and cascades (ah, that’s why they call it that way). Since most of the people stayed in the lower part we had the river and the upper basins almost to ourselves.

The next morning we travelled around the Palenque ruins. And those ruins were just mind blowing. This was exactly how we expected the Mayan ruins, to be found in the jungle, mystic and big. You could climb and go inside the pyramids and this was the best experience from all the Mayan ruins we had. Forget about Chichin-Itza or Coba, this is it.

In the morning we took a bus to San Cristobal de las Casas, getting finally closer to Guatemala.

Accommodation: Jungle Palace – El Panachel

Price: MX $ 260 per night, own bathroom (small Cabaña)

Comment: it looks a bit shabby and with small things you could improve it a
                lot but it is clean and nicely arranged in the jungle next to a small
                river