Xunantunich

Xunantunich, near the town of San Ignacio in western Belize, is one of the country's most accessible and impressive ancient Maya sites, reached memorably by a small hand-cranked cable ferry across the Mopan River. Set on a jungle ridge, the city is dominated by its great pyramid, El Castillo, one of the tallest structures in Belize, which rises high above the forest canopy. A decorated stucco frieze adorns its side, and the climb to the top rewards visitors with sweeping views over the jungle into neighbouring Guatemala.

History

The city served as a civic and ceremonial centre of the Belize Valley in the Late and Terminal Classic, about AD 700-900, when nearly 200,000 people lived in the valley, and its name, Maiden of the Rock, refers to a woman in white said to have haunted the site since 1892. Thomas Gann, district surgeon and commissioner of Cayo from 1892, made the first modern explorations in the mid-1890s, J. Eric S. Thompson established the region's first ceramic chronology in 1942, and in 1959-60 Euan MacKie of the Cambridge Expedition found that two buildings had been shattered by a sudden disaster, perhaps an earthquake, at the end of the Classic occupation (Wikipedia, Xunantunich).

What's there

• El Castillo - the great pyramid rising above the jungle canopy.
• The stucco frieze - the carved decoration on the pyramid.
• The plazas and ball court - the ceremonial heart of the city.
• The hand-cranked ferry - the memorable river crossing to the site.

When to go

November to May, the dry season, for comfortable exploration and firm jungle paths; go early in the morning to enjoy the cooler air, the birdsong and howler monkeys, and to have the pyramid and views before the day-trippers and the heat arrive.

Before you go

It is a smaller site than the great Maya cities of Guatemala or Mexico, but its jungle-ridge setting, the charming hand-cranked ferry and the canopy-top views make it a rewarding and atmospheric half-day, especially climbed early. The climb up El Castillo is steep in the heat. As an accessible, scenic introduction to the Maya world, it is excellent, and easily combined with San Ignacio's other sites.

Nearby

San Ignacio, the ATM cave and the Guatemalan border are close by.

Key facts