This trip is offered in cooperation with Djoser, Netherlands. You will join a group of travelers, mostly Dutch. A Dutch guide will accompany the group as a logistrics coordinator, not a lecturer. The guide will deliver information in Dutch and in English.
1. Arrival Cancún (NL group arrives at 1:50 PM)
2. Cancún – Chichén Itzá – Mérida
3. Mérida – Uxmal – Campeche
4. Campeche – Villahermosa
5. Villahermosa – San Cristóbal
6. San Cristóbal, excursie Cañon del Sumidero
7. San Cristóbal – Agua Azul – Palenque
8. Palenque – Corozal
9. Corozal – Yaxchilan – Flores
10. Flores, excursie Tikal
11. Flores – Chetumal
12. Chetumal – Playa del Carmen
13. Playa del Carmen
14. Playa del Carmen
15. Playa del Carmen – Cancún - NL departs Cancun at 8:25 AM - Arrival US
1. Arrival Cancún (NL group arrives at 1:50 PM)
2. Cancún – Chichén Itzá – Mérida
3. Mérida – Uxmal – Campeche
We travel via Chichen Itza where we visit the famous Mayan complex complete with pyramids, temples, palaces and a sports field. We arrive in Merida known throughout Mexico as the “White City” because of the preponderance of quarried limestone and white painted buildings. Merida has been a center of Mayan culture since before the Conquistadors arrived.
The next day to visit we the splendidly kept remained Mayan city, Uxmal, where you have enough time to explore the pyramids and toadmire the rest of the ceremonial centre. We drive away vervolgens through the flat landscape of Yucatán to the colonial port borough, Campeche. There remain many of the old town walls which were construct by the Spaniards to protect the city against attacks by pirates.
4. Campeche – Villahermosa
5. Villahermosa – San Cristóbal
6. San Cristóbal, excursion Cañyon del Sumidero
We travel further to Villahermosa. The name means “beautiful village”. You can spend a few hours at Parque-Museo La Venta which combines a park, zoo and outdoor museum. Zona Remodelada “Refurbished Zone”, has seval points of interest, including street enteratainers, galleries, museums and cafes. You can listen to live music in the evenings with a lovely river view as a backdrop.
San Cristobal is a quaint city located in the middle of a rural area in the middle of agricultural fields and pine trees and has a regional function for the surrounding villages inhabited by the Tzeltals and Tzotzil Indians, descendents of the Mayan tribe. Every tribe has their own typical traditional dress code with their own patterns, which you will see at the market near the Santo Domingo church where they sell agricultural and craft products. You find beautiful weaving and embroidery work, amber; silver and woodcarving crafts are available in a great variety. If you are interested in these types of crafts make sure you walk into the San Jolobil, a cooperative where hundreds of Indian woman weave and sell traditional textiles. A must-see is the Na Bolom Museum, a research center for the Mayan culture. You can also partake in an optional excursion and go on a horseback ride to visit the San Cristobal caves or rent a mountain bike and drive around the hills and quaint little villages.
One of the highlights of the program is the optional excursion by boat over the Grijalva River in the unique Canyon del Sumidero located about half an hour from Chiapa de Corso. Here we can rent a motorboat and we enter the 15-mile long canyon. From time to time we stop the boat to watch the birds and explore the numerous caves in towering sheer rock walls, sometimes over 3,000 feet high. If you stare in the water you have a good chance you will see some crocodiles swimming around.
7. San Cristóbal – Agua Azul – Palenque
8. Palenque – Corozal
From San Cristobal our journey takes us to the beautiful water attractions: the thundering cascades of Agua Azul and the spectacular waterfall of Misol-Ha. Scores of dazzling white waterfalls thunder into the turquoise pools surrounded by jungle; a perfect place to go for a short nature walk or you can go for a refreshing swim near the Misol-Ha waterfalls. After this fantastic show of nature we continue our trip to Palenque where we arrive in the afternoon. This ancient Mayan city with its superb jungle setting and exquisite architecture and decorations is one of the marvels of Mexico. On day ten you may join an excursion to the Palenque ruins. The Templo de las Inscripciones contains the grave of Pakal and the royal complex and is one of Mexico’s most beautiful treasures. In the tomb pyramid you can walk down to the tomb chamber. If you like to spend more time you can go for a walk in the jungle and discover partially covered ruins and swim in the queens bath. We travel along the river Usumacinta with locks on the way to the ruins of Yaxchilan. Our final destination for the day is Corozal. We cross the border into Guatemala and trek through the tropical area of Peten to the impressive Tikal. Around the beginning of our calendar, this city was built, and 900 years later, Tikal was deserted. In this period, Peten was the most densely populated area of Guatemala. These days it is scarsely populated. Only a small part of the city has been cleared of jungle vegetation and restored. You can get a good impression of the size of Tikal and the enormous Peten area by climbing one of the high pyramids. On the way to and around Tikal you can enjoy a variety of animal life with howling monkeys, tucans, and parrots.
9. Corozal – Yaxchilan – Flores
10. Flores, excursion Tikal
We drive in the direction of the river Rio Usumacinta which borders Guatemala. the Mexican bank, we take a boat up the river to the see the splendid ruins of Yaxchilan with its terraces and pyramids. Over 120 structures made up this city. The detailed facades and ornamented roof combs and lintels are of particular interest.
We cross the border and drive to the city of Flores, a charming island village with pastel-colored buildings and a scenic setting on Lake Petén Itzá, Here we take off a day for Tikal about 45 minutes away. Parque Nacional Tikal is located in Guatemala,about 50 miles northwest of it's border with Belize. In this remote area, one of the greatest civilizations of it's time established a city that endured for centuries. Set in the jungle canopy, the site today consists of over 3,000 structures extending over six square miles including temples, palaces, ceremonial platforms, ball courts, terraces, avenues and plazas. The Maya began building Tikal around 600 B.C. and at its peak some 1,500 years ago. Tikal was a wealthy metropolis, home to an estimated 100,000 Mayans, as well as an important religious, scientific, and political center.
Tikal lies about 70 km from Flores. Around the beginning of the era the city was built and 900 years later were Tikal leave. And, the largest rain forest of in the middle of - America, was relatively in that period the most densely populated area of guatemala and threatened in that period succumb to overpopulation and deforestation. Tikal presents an excellent opportunity for animal and bird-watching. Roaring howler monkeys and squawking parrots provide nature's soundtrack and along the paths, spider monkeys, gray foxes, coatis-mundis, dear, and peccary are visible to the visitor.
11. Flores – Chetumal
12. Chetumal – Playa del Carmen
13. Playa del Carmen
14. Playa del Carmen
15. Playa del Carmen – Cancún - NL departs Cancun at 8:25 AM - Arrival US
From Flores we travel back to Yucatán, with an overnight in Chetumal. Afterwards we take off the last route to the sociable Playa del Carmen. We spend the final days of our trip in Playa del Carmen a charming small town on the ocean where you can get acquainted with all the Mexican specialties: beautiful palm trees, white beaches, the turquoise ocean, beautiful reefs and lots of cozy little terraces - a perfect place to relax after an impressive tour. You can also choose to spend a day on the tropical island Cozumel. From Cancun we fly back to the USA.
