Museo de Naturaleza y Arqueologia de Calakmul, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

5MSalazarH 5:00 PM Feb 6, 2023

The hidden city of the Mayas.
Ready to be amazed? Well, Calakmul is one of those hidden jules sorrounded by nature and full of history. Once you pass the “wow-phase” you will realize how wonderful this ancient city is and how amazing the Maya culture was at that time. You are in the middle of the jungle! Unexplored places, just showing the tip of a piramid or the claws of a stone jaguar. The magestic “Structure 2” rising to the ski, keeping the city safe from the Tikal enemies… mind blowing!

4Allen W 5:00 PM Mar 1, 2014

Calakmul, beautiful, but not a day trip.
Calakmul is a beautiful site. It is huge, home to two massive pyramids, and is a birders paradise. But it is also not a day trip from campeche (4 hours each way, not really worth it for about 4 hours on site). I recently took this day trip ($100 US) and while i do not regret going to Calakmul, I do regret not renting a car and driving down there on my own and spending a night in the jungle. The roads to the site are good (for the most part), and with sights like Balamku, Becan, and Xpujil in the area (and a few good hotels) i wish i had spent more time. Calakmul is a very large site. I spent almost 5 hours on site and saw about half of it. The glyphs and inscriptions on site are mostly in bad condition. However, what it lacks in sculpture, it makes up for in size. I will also add that this site should be much better in 20 years. Right now the grand plaza of the city and the main pyramid are so covered by trees its to the point where it is difficult to know what you are looking at. I know i have been mostly negative in my review despite giving it 4 stars. The reason for this is mostly due to its distance from Campeche City and the overgrowth of the jungle. In 20 years when they clear all the trees away that need to be removed in the main plaza, this WILL be a 5 star attraction. Until then, its a great place to be alone (not many visitors) and to view wildlife. You will see a plethora of animals, mostly birds and monkey, although i ran into some people who managed to see and photograph a jaguar looking cat. I would rate this site as on par with Teotihuacan or Chichen Itza in terms of overall experience. i will add that i believe Tikal, Uxmal, and Palenque are still tops in mesoamerica.