I plan to see Tikal over two days, 8/20/2008 - 08/21/2008. We'd leave San Ignacio the morning of the 20th, stay overnight in the park, preferably at the Jaguar Inn, then return the afternoon of the 21st.

Question: Should I independently reserve the stay with Jaguar Inn and arrange the transportation to and from Tikal when I arrive in San Ignacio, or should I contact a tour group to handle all of the accommodation and transportation arrangements? (I am reluctant to pay a large premium for this.)

If the former, is arranging such transportation from San Ignacio difficult?

Thanks!
Nahenahe

Hello!

I just did what you are planning to do last Wed and Thursday.

My hubby and I decided that we would try to save as much money as possible and find our own transport to Tikal. Before going that route, you can check out the following to see if it works for you. The tours weren't going on the days we needed, so we went on our own:

We did Caracol and ATM with a tour company called Mayawalk. We did not want to pay $100 US each for 1 day in Tikal; we just wanted to bum a lift with them. Had they have had a group going, it would have cost us only $10 US each for a direct route to Tikal. If you are doing any tours, ask them if you can do shuttle only.

So, we took a cab from Bullet Tree Falls to San Ignacio, took the bus to Benque, then a cab to the border. This cost about $6 US total. We walked over the border into Guatemala, and this is where it got a bit crazy. We were surrounded by 6 guys who were trying to get us to go with them for $70 US one way. They had surrounded us so other cabbies wouldn't try to steal us away. We got kind of peeved at this and tried to walk off. Another cabbie approached us and we asked him to take us to the bus station. While in transit with him, we came to a deal for him to drive us to Tikal for $60, then to return the next day and drive us back for $45. He dropped us off at the Jungle Lodge at 11:00 am.

If you want to, you can hold off buying your ticket until after 4:00. You can still get 2 hours in before the park closes at 6:00, and your ticket will good for the next day. We went in at 2:00pm, and that was a really fantastic thing to do! The park was almost totally empty! All of the tours start heading home at that time, so we got lots of fantastic pictures with no people crawling all over the place.

We spoke with the wardens down by the ticket booth. Instead of getting a sunrise tour with the hotel or guides, we paid a warden $7 each to take us in at 4:30 am. This was considerably less then the hotels. We then stayed in the park and finished off what we had missed the day before. By 1:30 pm we had called the cabbie and were on our way back to San Ignacio.

You will get mobbed by people offering tours before you can even check in. Our cabbie called a head to someone and gave him a heads up that we coming in. We knew enough Spanish to figure out what he was doing. We bought a $20 book on Tikal and went off on our own. The book was great, and we really enjoyed going where ever we felt like.

If you can find a lift with a tour company, that would be ideal. The worst part about Belize was dealing with cabs. They make up a price on the spot, and often we would have an agreement one day, then the next the cabbie would try to double it (this happened on our way back to the airport).

We did all of this so that we could be in the park for the sunrise. Well worth it!

Thanks, Lawchik.

I just got back from Belize and this is how I handled this. (All prices below are U.S. dollars.)

From San Ignacio to Tikal, we just caught a ride with a Mayawalk tour that was heading out there for the day. The bus left from in front of Mayawalk's office on Burns Ave. at 7:30 A.M. Mayawalk charged my girlfriend and me each $20 for this one-way trip. The normal price is $30/person, but we got a discount because we had done an ATM tour with them earlier in the week.

We stayed overnight at the Jaguar Inn (the service is poor there, as I'd read in several books).

Because Mayawalk didn't have enough participants for the Tikal tour the following day, a shuttle would not be returning. So we wouldn't be able to hitch a ride back to San Ignacio.

Instead, we just hired the same driver who'd taken us there to come back just for us. We arranged to pay $70 total for that private van to the border.

Sure enough, at 1:00 P.M. the next day, after we'd already had a full day in Tikal (up at 4:00 A.M. for the sunrise tour), our driver picked us up at Jaguar Inn and took us to the border.

From there, we walked through Immigration, then just jumped into a cab on the Belize side. The fare back to San Ignacio was a standard $15.

Not the cheapest way to do it, but we were willing to pay a little more for the safety and security of a driver we trusted.

That's easy, you should just stay and visit more of Guatemala...it's a WONDERFUL place.

Nahenahe,
I'm reading your report with great interest since we're wanting to go to Tikal next spring.

Concerning the tour and access to the park: What sunrise tour did you take, and would you recommend it? Were you able to spend time in the park in the early evening, on your own?

Would appreciate any other impressions you have on your stay in Tikal. Thanks.

I know everybody says to take the sunrise tour...but I'm going to tell you to do the opposite. We went in the afternoon about noon. By 1:30 pm, EVERYONE else is leaving.

By 3 pm, you've got the place just about to yourself. We then paid a bit extra to stay after the park closed at 6pm. We watched the sunset from the top of one of the temples and then enjoyed the full moon from the Grad Plaza before leaving around 7:30 pm...the only visitors in the park.

Our guides name was Luis Oliveros and he was the best guide we have had ANYWHERE. just email me if you want his contact info and further details.

airwayvz may be correct: we were fortunate to experience both sunset (Day 1) and sunrise (Day 2) at Tikal, and I was more impressed by the sunset, partly because the park is completely empty, but also because the animals come alive at dusk.

Sunrise is hit-or-miss. The morning we went (the masses - and I'm talking dozens of people, many bused in from Flores), the mist was too heavy, so we didn't actually see the sun rise atop Templo IV (which, with its full "stadium seating," resembled the bleachers of a baseball game). Instead, the sky just gradually lit up. It was cool with the sound of howler monkeys echoing around us, but it wasn't the sunrise we expected.

If you buy your ticket after 3:30 P.M. (note: the park just tripled the admission price for foreigners to Q 150 (over U.S. $20)), it includes admission for the following day as well.

Like airwayvz, we also had Luis as our morning tour guide. When he first approached us on the first day, I was a bit skeptical, but this guy is incredible. He essentially grew up in the park (his father worked there), so he knows it like his home. He knows Mayan history, the flora and the fauna. At one point, he spotted howler monkeys above and not only pointed them out to us, but proceeded to howl and communicate with them (they howled back)!

Luis is not hard to find. He hangs out at the info booth near the park entrance. The charge for the tour is Q 100/person (about U.S. $14).

One unfortunate note that Luis said is that, starting in mid-September, the park authorities will be restricting the park hours to 7:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. and will no longer allow sunrise or moonlight tours. He said it was a political decision, and I hope it does not too negatively impact his business.

Nahenahe and airwayvz,
About the opening and closing times, I guess I'd better email the park. It will be too bad if the sunrise and sunsets are excluded. Is this for all visitors to the park I wonder? Even for those who might stay at the park in one of the lodges? I kind of hoped for some time there without the crowds, and more than just a couple of late afternoon hours. Thanks for the heads up on this.

Seems like Luis is the one to get for the best tour. So, Airwayvz, if you don't mind, I will be emailing you to get the contact info for him.

I appreciate the information.

Wow, that's a bummer of a decision...but yeah, I'd still recommend Luis no matter WHAT time you're there. He's pretty easy to reach on his cell phone too, if you want to set something up in advance.

Nahenahe & Airwavz

Thanks for this great information - where did you stay in the park?

Thanks again!

I didn't stay in the park...stayed at La Casa de Don David in El Remate, but if I was to stay in the park I think my first choice would be the Jungle Lodge, if price wasn't a concern. Otherwise, I'd go w/ Jaguar Inn...looked decent enough to me. But I don't know a lot about either place.

I stayed at Jaguar Inn, where, as I had read, the service was not the greatest. The staff was relatively slow and not very friendly.

The three inns on the park premises also turn off their electricity at 9:00 P.M., so there is that inconvenience (although it's nice to be forced to just relax in candlelight).

It was very hot when we were there, so it was uncomfortable when the ceiling fan shut off at 9:00.

We paid U.S. $60/night for the room, which is less expensive than Tikal Inn, which is closer to $100/night.