best place for ruins- Belize or Costa Maya?

[Gallivanting Souls]

We did the Altun Ha Mayan ruins with King David Castillo. He can also do the Lamani Ruins. He told us that is his favorite. When we go back next time we will try Lamani along with river tubing, with King David!

Edited October 9, 2019 by familyoutdoors

[ABQrobin]

Belize has some amazing Mayan cities that cruisers can visit.  Lamanai is one of them.  We were just there last month...wow.  They estimate that the city covered 10-15 miles around the river and had thousands of inhabitants, occupied for over 1200 years.  It is one of the most continuously occupied cities in the Mayan world.  If you are a history buff, this is a great one to visit.

 

groups are allowed to climb the tallest temple, there is a staircase in the back now to get up there without going up those very steep stairs.

 

My favorite temple was the Masks

 

These are not the original masks... those were removed in order to preserve them and are now in a museum.  So incredibly beautiful!    

 

 

[DebJ14]

On 9/3/2019 at 8:01 PM, lennythenose said:

We’ve never been to Costa Maya so I can’t give you a comparison but we did love the Lamanai Ruins excursion in Belize. 

Xuantunich in Belize was one of the best ruins I have ever been to.  Yes, it is all the way across the country and only 1 mile from the Guatemalan border, but it was so worth it.  

 

[NCTribeFan]

My tour to Chacchoben with Native Choice was very good, especially for the price.  I liked that the site still had lots of the jungle around it. 

[Jelly_Toast]

On 9/3/2019 at 10:13 PM, mexicobob said:

Do not be looking for the great pyramids of Egypt in Central America, or something of that scale. Teenagers would probably rather stay at a beach somewhere. 

 

I’m going to have to disagree with this. We did Lamanai in Belize two years ago and my kids still talk about it. It was one of our favorite excursions ever. 

[cdm289]

I have taken the Carnival excursion to Xanantunich and it was amazing!  The day is quite long as I believe the drive out to Xanantunich was about 2 hours each way.  They entertain you on the bus with history and information about Belize.  It is also lovely seeing the countryside from the window.  You get to drive through San Ignacio and after the ruins we got lunch which was delicious.  You pass on a hand cranked ferry and then take a different vehicle up to the ruins.  One nice thing was that we got to climb the ruins (if it is not raining) which you don't get to do on many of them any longer.  I would highly recommend this excursion.  Google Xanantunich and look at the pictures.  They are stunning!!!

 

One piece of advise is that I would only take this excursion if it was offered through the cruise line.  Due to traffic, we arrived after the ship was to set sail.  The ship waited for us only because it was a Carnival excursion.  The tender boat was waiting and whisked us back to the ship.