The Lacandon Jungle stretches over 1.9 million hectares over southern Mexico and Northern Guatemala. The jungle holds over 25% of all of Mexico’s animal species and is home to a number of significant archaeological sites. After falling in love with Chiapas during my weeklong trip based out of San Cristobal de las Casas; I decided to extend my stay in the region and spent another 4 days visiting the Lacandon Jungle, including the Mayan sites of Palenque, Yaxchilan and Bonamapak. The following are my travel tips for visiting the Lacandan Jungle from San Cristobal de las Casas on a 4 day itinerary that includes visiting the major Mayan sites in the region as well as natural points of interests such as the waterfalls at Agua Azul, Misol-Ha and Cascadas Roberto Barrios.
Contents:
- General Travel tips for Visiting the Lacandon Jungle, Mexico
- Day 1: San Cristobal de Las Casas to Agua Azul, Misol-Ha and the Palenque Ruins
- Day 2: Yaxchilan and Bonampak
- Day 3: Lancandon Jungle
- Day 4: Cascadas Roberto Barrios
- Trip expenses for 4 days 3 nights in the Lacandon Jungle, Chiapas
- Final thoughts on visiting the Lacandon Jungle, Mexico
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General travel tips for Visiting the Lacandan Jungle, Mexico:
Many people visit the Lacandon Jungle from San Cristobal de las Casas. The Mayan ruins at Palenque is usually the first gateway and major travel hub into the Lacandon Jungle for most travellers. To save time, one of my travel tips for visiting Palenque is to turn your transfer from San Cristobal de Las Casas to Palenque and vice-versa into an excursion were you visit Agua Azul, Misol-Ha and the Palenque ruins between the two destinations. I started my trip in Chiapas in San Cristobal, and was ending my trip in Palenque so I opted to do the excursion transfer.
The excursion transfer costs about $15 more than a straight bus from San Cristobal de las Casas, but in the same amount of time, you get to see beautiful waterfalls and Mayan ruins along the way, so it was a no-brainer to do the excursion transfer. I combined the excursion transfer with a 2-day tour of Lacandon Jungle, that also include the ruins at Yaxchilan and Bonampak, and ended my trip with a visit to the Cascadas Roberto Barrios.
What sealed the deal for me to do the tours instead of cobble together something on my own, was because the tours were actually more cost effective than trying to do everything on my own; and also because tours are one of the only ways to access some of these remote sites. The fact that many meals and solid accommodations were also included in the price also help seal the deal.
Day 1: San Cristobal de Las Casas to Agua Azul, Misol-Ha and the Palenque Ruins:
This day starts before the crack of dawn at 4am. Once you’re on the bus it’s about a 2.5 hour drive before you get to a restaurant in Ocosingo for a buffet breakfast. Another 1-2 hour drive after breakfast brings you to your first stop at Agua Azul. Whether the water is actually going to be blue really depends on whether you go during wet or dry season. If there has been a lot of rain recently, you can expect that the water may be a muddy brown colour – which was the case when I visited – but the falls are still spectacular. The tour usually gives you about 2 hours to view the falls – which is adequate time.
The next stop is Misol-Ha, a beautiful 45 meter falls within a one hour drive of Agua Azul. Here you can walk down to the falls and swim in the pool at the bottom of the falls, and also take a stone trail (careful, it is slippery) that will take you behind the falls, which is also a beautiful experience in and of itself.
The Palenque Ruins are another hour or so drive away from Misol-Ha. Here, you can opt to hire a guide at the entrance of the ruins. The good thing about going with a tour group is that you can split the cost of hiring a guide with more people. Guided tours are advertised as one price (negotiable) divided by the number of people on the tour – so the larger the number, the less the individual cost of the tour. Our group had 14 adults, and we opted to do the three-hour ruins and jungle tour in Spanish. The advertised price for this was 2600 Pesos. We got them down to 2400 Pesos (divided by 14 = 170 Pesos each). Interestingly, tours in English are advertised in US$ and they are more expensive. The same ruins and jungle tour in English was advertised as $190USD (3800 Pesos).
The tour itself is very informative. Our guide was of Mayan descent and was able to bring to life what different parts of the ruins were and their significance. He also took time to help us take photos. Altogether it was well worth the 170 Pesos ($8.50USD) to hire a guide.
Day 2: Yaxchilan and Bonamparte:
This morning also starts incredibly early with pickup at the hotel at 5:30am. We get to our breakfast stop at around 7:45am, and it’s another hearty buffet with two types of scrambled eggs, refried beans, tortillas, fruit, cereals and breads, along with coffee and juice. Breakfast is included as part of the tour package.
Yaxchilan:
Our first stop are the Mayan ruins at Yaxchilan. We first drive to the town of Frontera Corozal which is where you’ll take a 1 hour boat ride along the Usumacinta River – which separates Mexico and Guatemala – to finally reach the ruins of Yaxchilan.
Yaxchilan is accessible only by boat. At the entrance of the archaeological site, you can hire a guide for approximately 250 Pesos per person. Notable buildings include: Edificio 19: El Laberinto, Edificio 33: a well preserved temple, Pequena Acropolis, and Gran Acropolis. You can do a loop from the entrance all the way until the end of the ruins at the Grand Plaza and then take the impressive stone stairs up to Edificio 33, and further up another set of stairs is where you’ll find the Gran Acropolis. From there, you can descend down the back end of the Gran Acropolis through a jungle trail that will lead you to the Pequeno Acropolis, and then back out towards the entrance and the boats to get you back to Frontera Corozal.
Bonampak:
After a filling and delicious lunch which was included in the tour package at a restaurant in Frontera Corozal, headed to the ruins at Bonampak.
Situated at the mouth of the Usimacinta River which divides Mexico and Guatamala, the Mayan ruins at Bonampak is noteworthy for the series of murals found in the structure known as the “Temple of the Murals” located in structure 1 of the site – which are considered to be some of the best-preserved depictions of Mayan life and culture from the late classical period.
We headed to our evening accommodations in the Lacandon jungle after leaving Bonampak. The accommodations in the jungle were very rustic private rooms that had their own bathrooms. The rooms did not have A/C but each room was equipped with a fan. Surprisingly, the showers had hot water! There were hammocks outside. I overcame my hammock phobia and actually ended up taking a nice nap in the hammock after dinner. Bring lots of bug repellent and if you are particularly prone to insect bites; this would be the place to whip out the mosquito shirt (and pants if you’re so inclined). A simple dinner was included in the price of the tour.
Day 3: Walk and waterfalls in the Lacandon Jungle:
Today starts out relatively late with breakfast starting at 8am, and a jungle walk with an indigenous guide starting at 8:30am. Our guide stops to tells us about different plants and how they are used by local indigenous people. A few notable sights included an ages-old strangler fig, that has since killed its tree-host, leaving behind a 50 meter high hollow fig-vine structure.
The guide also showed us different edible plants and remedies that could be found in the jungle. Notably, she mentioned that the indigenous tend to never sell indigenous remedies, as these remedies belong to the jungle, and should not be used to turn a profit. The excursion was 4 hours long, and also took us to a set of waterfalls were you had the option to swim in the watefall pools for an hour. We were served a simple lunch back at the jungle lodge and had a few hours of free time before the bus came to pick us up at 5pm to take us to Palenque.
Day 4: Cascadas Roberto Barrio:
My last day in the Palenque area was spent visiting the stunning Roberto Barrio waterfalls. Unlike the more famous falls at Misol-Ha and Agua Azul nearby, Cascadas Roberto Barrio are still somewhat off many tourist itineraries – for now. In my opinion, the waterfalls are as beautiful, if not more so than the falls at Misol-Ha and Agua Azul – and the best part is that the area is not crowded or full of vendors like more touristy areas like Agua Azul. There are multiple levels of waterfalls to enjoy, and on a weekday or if it is less than a sunny day – like when I went – you’ll can have the whole place to yourself!
The tour bus then drops you off back in the town of Palenque. I requested to be dropped off at the bus station where I took an ADO bus to Villahermosa – the closet airport in the region to take a flight out to my next destination: the Caribbean Coast of Mexico.
Trip expenses for 4 days 3 nights in the Lacandon Jungle, Chiapas:
Tours and transportation: $210USD
Souvenirs: $26USD
Food and snacks: $27USD
Total costs for 4 days and 3 nights: $263USD
Final thoughts on visiting the Lacandon Jungle, Mexico:
In addition to being a bastion of wildlife and biodiversity, Lacandon jungle is also home to the ancient Mayan sites of Palenque, Yaxchilan, and Bonampak. Given the remoteness of many of these sites, I found it made sense to visit these sites using tours. Tours were not only as cost-effective as visiting on my own, they also provided guided experiences to make the most of my time at these sites. Overall, I would definitely recommend considering using some tour options to visit some of these amazing sites in the Lacandon jungle.