Belize's Three Ruins - Pros/Cons

Does anyone have any opinions on the pluses and minuses of the three ruins?

Altun Ha

Lamanai

Xunantunich

DH and I will be on the Caribbean Princess cruise after Christmas and would really appreciate some input in choosing one.

We did Altum Ha/River Wallace excursion with carnival this past Sept. Altum Ha is a small site but worth going if you like ruins. We were able to climb 2 of the pyramids. They were not hard to climb. One of them had steps to the side and then back down.

We have been to Tulum, Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Altum Ha. We rank Altum Ha as 3rd. Tulum is last and Uxmal 1st.

We have not been to the other 2 sites you listed.

Does anyone have any opinions on the pluses and minuses of the three ruins?

 

Altun Ha

Lamanai

Xunantunich

 

DH and I will be on the Caribbean Princess cruise after Christmas and would really appreciate some input in choosing one.

We enjoyed going to Lamanai. We have not been to the other two so can't comment on them.

If you have time, you might like to look at pictures my wife took and made into a slide show for her website. It will give you a good idea of what you will see if you go to Lamanai.

Lamanai Shore Excursion

We will be doing Altun Ha & the river Wallace next week. I will leave a review when we get back

We will be doing Altun Ha & the river Wallace next week. I will leave a review when we get back

That sounds great! It's one of the places on our bucket list. Please post pictures and any helpful tips you can think of. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Really enjoyed Lamanai several years ago. You take a short bus ride to the river, then its about 45 minutes up river on speed boat. A lot of fun!

Did the Xunantunich tour through Carnival 2 weeks ago. Ruins were fabulous and you are able to go to the top of the largest one. The grounds of the ruins are relatively small compared to Uxmal, Chichen Itza and Dzibilchaltun. I would rank this site 3rd among the 4 that I have visited in terms of archeological splendor. Was very "tropical" with dense jungle foliage. Nice little hike UP to the ruins, but on a smooth paved road. There were 3 small shops at the site. I have a thing for pottery and bought a small decorated pot there. There was also a hand crank ferry you have to cross that was interesting. After the ruins, we had a nice lunch of beans, rice and baked chicken in a slightly spicy sauce. i loved the food and my wife thought it was decent. The only drawbacks to this excursion is that you don't have much time for shopping at the site and none once we got back to port and the 2 hour drive there and back. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and would do it again.

That sounds great! It's one of the places on our bucket list. Please post pictures and any helpful tips you can think of. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Helpful hints - Take bug spray and wear a hat for the boat. You need something that will not blow off. The boat is not covered.

Helpful hints - Take bug spray and wear a hat for the boat. You need something that will not blow off. The boat is not covered.

Good information. Thanks!

Did the Xunantunich tour through Carnival 2 weeks ago. Ruins were fabulous and you are able to go to the top of the largest one. The grounds of the ruins are relatively small compared to Uxmal, Chichen Itza and Dzibilchaltun. I would rank this site 3rd among the 4 that I have visited in terms of archeological splendor. Was very "tropical" with dense jungle foliage. Nice little hike UP to the ruins, but on a smooth paved road. There were 3 small shops at the site. I have a thing for pottery and bought a small decorated pot there. There was also a hand crank ferry you have to cross that was interesting. After the ruins, we had a nice lunch of beans, rice and baked chicken in a slightly spicy sauce. i loved the food and my wife thought it was decent. The only drawbacks to this excursion is that you don't have much time for shopping at the site and none once we got back to port and the 2 hour drive there and back. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and would do it again.

We did the Xunantunich tour in August. You are right about the grounds. While the ruins are very interesting, there were fewer buildings than I had anticipated based on reading about the site. Although we found the day valuable and the ruins are interesting, given the long ride vs the size of the site, not sure we'd do it again vs. taking a shorter trip to Altun Ha that would allow time to do some shopping at the pier. Of the sites we've visited thus far our favorites are:

(1) Uxmal - very impressive grounds and buildings, nice setting, reasonable distance

(2) Xunantunich - interesting buildings and grounds, nice setting, very long ride...got back only a few minutes before final ferry

(3) Tulum - beautiful setting, reasonable distance, grounds and buildings not as impressive as other sites, chance to use beach adds to trip

(4) Chacchoben (Costa Maya) - smaller site in forest, best part was very informative tour guide from Native Choice tours

(5) San Gervasio (Cozumel) - small site, not much to it, good for an hour.

Does anyone have any opinions on the pluses and minuses of the three ruins?

 

Altun Ha

Lamanai

Xunantunich

 

DH and I will be on the Caribbean Princess cruise after Christmas and would really appreciate some input in choosing one.

We have only done Lamanai of the three that you mentioned and loved it. We are planning on doing either Altun HA or Xunatunich next August.

The bus part of the trip to Lamanai was pretty boring with little to see except jungle and slums, but the boat trip up the river was as fun as touring the ruins. You may get to see crocodiles, monkeys, iguanas and other assorted animals that the guides will point out to you.

You may also come across the random Belize citizen swimming in the same water. LOL

Climbing the High temple is a must.

I was also debating over which ruins to see so found it interesting to read this thread. Last time I checked on the Princess site they have the following note for the Lamanai excursion. (Climbing the ruins is not permitted.)

Now I'm wondering if this is something Princess is implementing or applies to everyone. If you can't climb the Lamanai ruins any more then the choice is easy for me, Altun Ha excursion.

I was also debating over which ruins to see so found it interesting to read this thread. Last time I checked on the Princess site they have the following note for the Lamanai excursion. (Climbing the ruins is not permitted.)

Now I'm wondering if this is something Princess is implementing or applies to everyone. If you can't climb the Lamanai ruins any more then the choice is easy for me, Altun Ha excursion.

I was looking to do this Site but if that i true I guess I will change my plans. Does anyone can confirm if the ("Climbing the ruins is not permitted.") is a new Site restriction or is only to Princess line. I hope is not a Site restriction.

I checked the Royal Caribbean website just now. The description of their Lamanai & The New River Safari shore excursion doesn't say climbing the ruins is prohibited.

You could call to find out. When we were there in 2011 there was one structure that climbing was not allowed on. But we were permitted to climb the large pyramid structure.

Lamania and New River Safari Excursion

I'm wondering if the note is a typo on the Princess site, the tour description does talk about climbing the ruins. :confused: I guess a phone call to Princess might help to clear things up.

I'm wondering if the note is a typo on the Princess site, the tour description does talk about climbing the ruins. :confused: I guess a phone call to Princess might help to clear things up.

I called Princess and spoke to a rep who told me that you can still climb the ruins. I told her about the note and she thought maybe it was there since you can't climb all of the structures but she wasn't really sure. I was happy to hear Princess didn't have any special restrictions. Now I'm leaning toward Lamanai.

We enjoyed going to Lamanai. We have not been to the other two so can't comment on them.

If you have time, you might like to look at pictures my wife took and made into a slide show for her website. It will give you a good idea of what you will see if you go to Lamanai.

 

Lamanai Shore Excursion

Great slide show --thanks for posting.

We just did Altun Ha last week as a replacement tour because the cave tubing was not open the day we were there. It was quite busy with tour groups. The road to Altun Ha once you left the main road was rough. There are stalls to buy local craft items as well. I went with Charlie's Cave Tubing and they included lunch at a local restaurant that was very tasty (beans, rice, chicken, plantains, soda or water included, beer extra). You could climb almost everywhere. I went up 2 of the 3 larger structures, but not the tallest. It was a nice site in a forest type setting. We were back to the dock with a couple of hours to walk around and shop.

Last year I went with a Carnival tour to Xunantunich. It is a full day tour. We crossed the country. The drive was about 2 hours but very interesting. The road was pretty good. I enjoyed the crank boat and the tour of the site. The structures seem a bit larger than Altun Ha and you could climb on everything. The location is in the hills surrounded by forest. We had time to shop at the stores on site and then the local stalls near where the bus waited. We were then taken to lunch (beans, rice, chicken, soda or water, alcohol extra). Again there were some stalls set up for brief shopping. We got back when many of the Carnival tours were returning and we did not have much time before the last tender.

I think Xunantunich was a better experience because it was much less crowded and the general day is more interesting but Altun Ha is certainly good as well, especially if you don't want as long of a day.

I have also been to Chichen Itza (best of course) and Tulum (last place).

Does anyone have any opinions on the pluses and minuses of the three ruins?

 

Altun Ha

Lamanai

Xunantunich

 

DH and I will be on the Caribbean Princess cruise after Christmas and would really appreciate some input in choosing one.

We sailed NCL 12/22/13 and went to the Lamanai Ruins and climbed all three to the top, we did enjoy the ruins and were lucky to see and climb them but...

I would STRONGLY caution against this tour!!! (Lamanai Ruins and Riverboat Safari) Although we booked this tour through the cruise line, the river safari does NOT mention you will be on a high speed boat. Yes, it was fun at first until our return ride when the boat flipped (at high speed) and threw us into the water, trapping us under the boat, almost drowning all of us!!! This happened on Christmas day, so it truly was a miracle we all survived. If you do take this excursion, PLEASE DO NOT take children or seniors!

These boats travel way too fast, they do not provide safety briefings and life jackets were not present on the boat!!!! You are blindly putting your life in these operators hands.

CONSIDER YOURSELVES WARNED!!

Holy cow! You were extremely lucky. We were planning on doing this tour in a couple weeks. Do you know the name of the tour operator?

Curious also if you had any reaction from NCL?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

Holy cow! You were extremely lucky. We were planning on doing this tour in a couple weeks. Do you know the name of the tour operator?

 

Curious also if you had any reaction from NCL?

 

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

No kidding, it is still beyond our comprehension how we survived, including the fact that none of us were seriously injured! We were a family of four, two seniors in our group.

The tour operator used through NCL was Cruise Solutions Belize Ltd. Do a Google search of that company, they have had other incidents. The Belizean police showed up and took a verbal recorded statement from me and NCL tour reps met with us upon our bus return , where we talked to the tour operators contact person about the situation and everyone losing their cameras and personal property. We do have a contact person from Miami HQ for NCL who has yet to contact us regarding the situation. As far as reaction from NCL while we were back on the ship, what a joke!!!

What really makes me angry is that the NCL excursions manager informed me that they would not be cancelling future tours. WOW, was that a slap in the face! I guess they are waiting for a major injury or death.

We will be doing Altun Ha & the river Wallace next week. I will leave a review when we get back

Staticfire-

I'd love to read your review. We leave in 2 weeks for Belize and are interested in the Altun Ha excursion. We're on the Caribbean Princess.

What did you think?

Xunantunich is outstanding. Excellent guide, extremely large site, lots of variety, you can climb the major points, very good interpretive materials.

It's a long ride but very interesting (especially if you have a good guide). The river crossing is fun. The armed guards on the other side are a surprise (we were alerted so as to not be frightened - you are very close to Guatemala at this point and this is an area where there is a major crack-down on drug activity).

I would do it again.

Because of the time involved, I do recommend doing it through the ship's excursion service.

We enjoyed going to Lamanai. We have not been to the other two so can't comment on them.

If you have time, you might like to look at pictures my wife took and made into a slide show for her website. It will give you a good idea of what you will see if you go to Lamanai.

 

Lamanai Shore Excursion

Excellent pictures and the details, are out of this world.

 

Excellent pictures and the details, are out of this world.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. My wife is takes the pictures, creates the slide shows, etc. I'll pass on your compliments to her.

Happy cruising!