We will be staying in San Ignacio area and will have a rental car. I was thinking about driving to the border, parking the car overnight on the Belize side, walking over, and picking up a guide on the other side. Is this do-able? Or should we get a guide before hand? Any recommendations.

You normally get your guide at Tikal park.

--Lan Sluder

Our friend had his car damaged when he left it at the border for two nights.

Thanks for the information. Everyone has been so helpful on this forum!

One more question. At the border on the Guatemala side, is it easy to get transportation to Tikal? How about getting transportation in Tikal back to a hotel or to the border?

Crossing the border from Belize to Guatemala is a definite shift in realities. Strange, how you cross a strip of land and so much can change, but that's how it feels: much poorer right away. We had a driver who got us a guide at the border, and that worked out well. Of course, our trip was quite pricey. It might be hard to find a guide with a car who is just hanging out at the border. If you have cash to spend, it can be easier--still a long drive--but I'm sure you could bus it, and that route would be doable, Three little, I wouldn't call them hotels necessarily, right by the park. I stayed at the Jaguar Lodge. Would definitely give it a thumbs up. What I wanted to avoid was being in a goant group being herded around. If you stay there, you can have the park to yourselves at certain hours.

One guide thing about having a guide--it was just 4 of us and our guide--was that the park is huge, and he knew lots of little shortcuts and also pointed out lots of cool stuff. Have a blast. Oh, and the little restaurant past the tiny museum was quite yummy.