Chichén Itzá – The most popular Maya site on the Yucatán peninsula
Chichèn Itzá is the most famous Maya site on the Yucatán peninsula and easy to reach from tourist spots at the Riviera Maya.
Maya Sites
Tulum – México – Turquoise colored Sea and Temple Ruins
Tulum is a small but fast growing village 2 hours south of Cancun at the Riviera Maya on the Yucatán Peninsula in México. The main village with it’s 15000 inhabitants is about 2 km distant from the beach, where hotel beside hotel were build along the sea for nearly 7 km. Only few hundred meters … Read more
The Maya Sites – Hidden Treasures of the Rain Forest – 2nd Edition
What I missed in all my travels through the world of the Maya, was a book that concisely explained where the interesting Mayan ruins are located, how to get there, a short guide which otherwise was limited to the description of the Maya sites and lacked the overload of restaurant and hotel descriptions. Because something similar … Read more
Palenque – Misty and Mystic in the Jungle of Chiapas
High temperatures and humidity will accompany you when you go for a visit to the ancient Maya town Palenque. The ruins of this town were covered by jungle for more than 1000 years. When the archaeologist Stephens visited Palenque in 1841 he had to cut a path through the jungle. Today it’s quite simple to get there. The city … Read more
Getting around Chiapas – Palenque, Bonampak, Yaxchilan
On the second part of the trip we are leaving the main tourist areas. The area becomes more “exotic” from here on. Most sites were founded during the preclassic area of the ancient Maya civilization. Many of the Maya monuments that you will see on this tour can easily be older than 2000 years. Edzná … Read more
Mayapan – last big town of the ancient Maya in Yucatán
Mayapan is a historic site of the Maya in the northwest of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is considered to be the last big Mayan town in the history of ancient Mayan civilization. Mayapan was actually the capital of the Maya in Yucatán for a period of about 200 years. The ruins are located about 40 … Read more
Getting Around Petén – Guatemala – Visit All Famous Maya Ruins
The third and last chapter of this article will guide you deep in the pre-classic period of the Mayan history. We leave México now and cross the border to Guatemala. In the second chapter we watched the Maya sites in Chiapas.The last station was Palenque. And here in Palenque I begin. Flores and the Lago … Read more
Cozumel – Pilgrimage to Ixchel – San Gervasio
Ixchel was the goddess of fertility of the ancient Mayas. She was associated with several different attributes like the moon, water, child birth or the rain bow. She was one of several Jaguar Gods to which the ancient Mayas did worship to. An image of the Dresden Codex shows an old woman with claws instead … Read more
La Venta Museum Park – Olmecs
This article is about the La Venta Museum Park in Villahermosa. La Venta was one of the main ceremonial centers of the Olmecs who are believed to be the ancestors of the Mayan culture. La Venta itself was located on an Island in a swampy area beside the river Tonalá near the Golf of México. Due to the construction of an … Read more
Yaxchilan – Riverside of the Rio Usumacinta
Yaxchilan is a Maya site in Chiapas in the south of México, located directly at the south bank of the Rio Usumacinta, that is todays natural frontier between Guatemala and México. The known history shows that Yaxchilan was settled from 359 AC to ~800 AC. A range from the pre-classic to the classic period. There have been … Read more