Mexico, Belize & Guatemala tour, Mayan encounter
Late availability on these dates: 28 Sep, 12 Oct, 19 Oct, 26 Oct, 02 Nov, 09 Nov, 16 Nov, 23 Nov, 26 Nov, 30 Nov, 03 Dec, 07 Dec, 10 Dec, 14 Dec, 17 Dec, 21 Dec
Description of Mexico, Belize & Guatemala tour, Mayan encounter
This Mexico, Belize and Guatemala tour is a 17 day odyssey around some of Central America’s magnificent Maya sites, but also to beaches, cayes, cenotes and national parks. Starting on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, you can chill out after your journey in Playa del Carmen, ready to take on the cultural wonders of Tulum, the first Maya archaeological site on our trip.
Belize also has a fine mix of coast and ancient culture, and we spend a couple of days on Caye Caulker where you are left to enjoy beach life at your own pace, with everything on hand from snorkelling to manatee spotting. Inland Belize is also wonderful to explore, as you will discover in San Ignacio, where we discover greener, more mountainous landscapes as well as the mix of Maya and Garifuna cultures.
We spend the rest of our trip in Guatemala, nine days in all, taking in a wonderful array of both culture and nature in this stunning country. Every day offers something completely different, such as Tikal National Park with the ancient Mayan city at its heart, the contemporary Mayan culture in Chichicastenango , the world famous Lake Atitlan and its capital of Antigua.
We build plenty of free time into our trips, and guests can choose to opt for additional activities if they wish, according to their budgets and interests. We stay in small, locally owned hotels, where friendliness makes up for frills, but where you will gain a sense of Central American life. We also don’t include most meals on this trip, so you can budget for food in a way that suits you best. There is certainly no shortage of fine food in these three countries, whether it is street or gastronomic.
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4 Reviews of Mexico, Belize & Guatemala tour, Mayan encounter
Reviewed on 12 Jan 2024 by Peter Skoyles
Excellent. Definitely benefited local people. Read full reviewReviewed on 24 Apr 2023 by Anthony roberts
Two of the days in north Guatemala with some interesting natural history. Tikal was a good visit, and the Shaman and weaving demonstrations interesting Read full reviewReviewed on 06 Nov 2018 by Ana Maria Garcia Menendez
The visit to Tikal was the most memorable... The experience of living together with a Mayan family in Guatemala was amazing. Read full reviewReviewed on 01 Sep 2015 by Helen Hore
Snorkelling in a coral reef amongst nurse sharks and other amazing sea life was an experience that we will never forget. Read full reviewResponsible Travel
Planet
The very ethos of our style of travel is responsible; small groups on fully escorted tours, experiencing the very best of a region, a culture and a landscape, with a friendly local hand guiding the way. Our itineraries are designed to give our travellers real life experiences without compromising the part of the world we are exploring; to travel responsibly is at the heart of our commitment as a global tour operator.Our emphasis on tour is real life experiences. To this end, on this journey you’ll mainly use local buses to get around, as well as being by far the best option environmentally, this offers great opportunity for cultural interaction with your fellow bus travellers. Due to safety concerns however we do not use the brightly painted ‘chicken buses’ that are a common sight throughout Central America, instead using more modern inter-city coaches.
In addition to this we encourage all our passengers to take steps to ensure that their trip is environmentally responsible as possible. Your group leader will be on hand to assist with the appropriate disposal of rubbish en route, recycling wherever possible and we encourage all our travellers to use refillable water bottles with purification tablets rather than contributing to the rapidly escalating problem caused by the copious number of plastic bottles discarded globally on a daily basis.
People
This brilliant no-frills itinerary takes in the highlights of the ancient Mayan civilisation, giving travellers the opportunity to visit sites in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Focusing on low impact and even positive impact travel, this trip supports local industry and helps provide employment throughout the regions of Central America we visit. You’ll stay in small, locally owned budget accommodation, from hotels to a unique homestay in the famous market town of Chichicastenango (Chichi) and be accompanied throughout by a professional local group leader. There will be the opportunity during the trip to rent bikes and snorkelling equipment in Tulum, try kite surfing in Caye Caulker, go birdwatching in Tikal and buy local handicrafts at the enormous Chichi Market. Your group leader will help with all these arrangements and their local knowledge will be vital in helping you get the best deal!Meals on this trip are at your own expense giving all travellers freedom to choose the places you eat. When dining together, your group will eat in traditional, locally owned restaurants, and during the day will purchase food en route from local vendors and small cafes.
Travellers wishing to visit the Mayan ruins dotted across the region will find their entrance ticket to the sites helps fund conservation and restoration projects, while the local site guides also benefit from the opportunities tourism brings to their region.
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