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Xunantunich Maya Temple and Big Rock Falls: Small Group Tours with Personalized Service
4.9
9 Ratings
San Ignacio
Experience the wonders of Xunantunich Maya Temple and Big Rock Falls on a small group tour with personalized service. Explore the ancient ruins, encounter wildlife, and enjoy a refreshing swim in the waterfall. Book now for a memorable adventure!
Experience the wonders of Xunantunich Maya Temple and Big Rock Falls on a small group tour with personalized service. Explore the ancient ruins, encounter wildlife, and enjoy a refreshing swim in the waterfall. Book now for a memorable adventure!
Duration:
8 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
-
Xunantunich - Hotel pickups will begin at 7:30am. Free hotel pickup for hotels located within town limits (5km radius). Additional charges may apply for pickups at hotels that are out of town. Tours leaves San Ignacio Town at 8:30am.
This combination tour includes a visit to Xunantunich Maya Temple and a swimming/site seeing at Big Rock Falls. Our…
- Xunantunich - Hotel pickups will begin at 7:30am. Free hotel pickup for hotels located within town limits (5km radius). Additional charges may apply for pickups at hotels that are out of town. Tours leaves San Ignacio Town at 8:30am.
This combination tour includes a visit to Xunantunich Maya Temple and a swimming/site seeing at Big Rock Falls. Our knowledgeable and friendly Belizean driver/guide will drive you to the beautiful village of San Jose Succotz. Here you will cross the Mopan River on a hand cranked ferry.
Xunantunich boasts Belize’s second largest Maya structures named El Castillo (the castle) standing 130 feet and offering an astonishing panoramic view of the Maya Mountains.
Here you will find yourself immersed in pristine jungle surroundings, home of howler monkeys, spider monkeys, birds and iguanas. While exploring along with your guide, you will learn about the history of this site and the Maya civilization that once inhabited it.
- Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve - A scenic drive into the Mt. Pine Ridge Forest Reserve will lead you through a few Maya Villages, subsistence farms, pine forests, streams, natural cascading rapids. After lunch, there is a a forty-five minute scenic drive to the breathtaking Big Rock Waterfalls in the Mt. Pine Ridge Forest Reserve.
This combination tour is slow paced, educational, and fun for all ages.Â
- Big Rock Falls - After lunch, there is a a forty-five minute scenic drive to the breathtaking Big Rock Waterfalls in the Mt. Pine Ridge Forest Reserve.
This combination tour is slow paced, educational, and fun for all ages.Â
Things to bring along: Cool, Comfortable Clothing, Hiking / Tennis Shoes, Camera, Bug Spray, Sun Block Lotion, Swimwear.
Inclusive of: Transportation, park fees, equipment, professional guide, purified water, sodas and lunch
What's Included
- Equipment
- Professional guide
- Bottled water
- Lunch
- Transportation
- Hotel pickup and drop-off (selected hotels only)
- Equipment
- Professional guide
- Bottled water
- Lunch
- Transportation
- Hotel pickup and drop-off (selected hotels only)
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
- Gratuities
Additional Information
Small groups for a personalized experience. Convenient pick up and drop off at your hotel within 20km of San Ignacio town. Sit down lunch
This combination tour consists of a morning tour of Xunantunich Maya Temple which is located 20 minutes driving distance from San Ignacio Town in the Maya Village of San Jose Succotz. To get to the site one must cross…
Small groups for a personalized experience. Convenient pick up and drop off at your hotel within 20km of San Ignacio town. Sit down lunch
This combination tour consists of a morning tour of Xunantunich Maya Temple which is located 20 minutes driving distance from San Ignacio Town in the Maya Village of San Jose Succotz. To get to the site one must cross the Mopan River by a hand cranked ferry, which then gives us access to the one mile ascent into one of Belize’s most popular sites. Here you will enjoy sightings of pristine jungle surroundings, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, birds and iguanas.
After lunch we head to Big Rock Water Falls located in the Mt. Pine Ridge Forest Reserve for swimming and site seeing.
This combo tour begins at 8:30am and concludes around 3:30pm
- Child rate applies only when sharing with 2 paying adults
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- A minimum of 2 (two) people per booking is required
- Subject to favorable weather conditions. If canceled due to poor weather, you will be given the option of an alternative date or the option to do a different tour (surcharges may apply)
Location
Cayo Welcome Center & Tourist Information Center
Your driver/guide will have a sign with your name for easy recognition. He will meet you by the bus terminal.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(9 Ratings)
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Rohit_n
Jun 18, 2024
Great private tour with ONeil - We booked this trip and asked Cayo Inland if we can add a lunch at the Gaia Riverlodge. They accommodated our request at no additional cost as we were the only ones on the tour. Our tour guide O’Neil was fantastic! He took his time to bring to life the Mayan culture by involving our family in the storytelling which kept it interesting for the kids. He was patient when we took our time at the falls and helped the kids navigate the trail safely. I would highly recommend this tour particularly with ONeil!
Review provided by Viator
Jennifer
Oct 24, 2022
Nice Little Day Trip - We came during the off season (July) so it was just the two of us on the tour. We were picked up from our hotel in San Ignacio and driven to the ruins. Our Guide. Bemas (not sure on spelling) was awesome! This was our favorite tour of the trip purely because Bemas was so great. He was kind and welcoming. He also had extensive knowledge about the Mayans and the site. After the Mayan site we stopped at a local restaurant where we picked our lunch. I had the black soup which tasted exactly like chicken noodle soup. My boyfriend had a pork dish and said it was delicious. We then drove to the falls. It required bit of a hike down, there were some stairs, not too long of a walk but it was a bit of an exercise. Once there, Bemas gave us tips on how to swim closer to the waterfall. You are swimming against the current so be prepared. We had fun jumping off rocks and into the refreshing water. We were told we could stay as long as we wanted (probably since it was just the two of us) but once a large youth group showed up we decided it was time to leave. We still had a fun time swimming. Then we changed into dry clothes and were dropped off back at our hotel. It felt like a chill version of what we had already done, it's good for when you want something but not too much.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Michelle_w
May 11, 2022
Awesome experience - Our guide O’Niel was amazing and very knowledgeable. He brought everything to life. The falls were spectacular nestled away in the jungle. We had a fantastic time and are looking forward to our next tour
Review provided by Viator
Jessicatl4382ml
Mar 26, 2022
This company has the best guides—HANDS DOWN!!! - On the surface, this company provides the same service as many others and I have been hard pressed to find a bad guide in our previous trips to Belize. That said, the guides in this company are the best we have ever come across and Dimas takes the Gold. His knowledge of the sites, gentle and attentive approach with kids and seemingly endless well of patience with our challenging group whose ages ranged from 7 to 80 years old was astounding. His willingness to slow down or speed up according to our needs left us with a completely customized experience. The seamlessness of pickups and drop-offs maximized our time seeing the wonders of Belize without any waiting around. At the site itself, my children were sometimes more interested in the surrounding flora and fauna—so after helping us climb the pyramids, he easily switched gears and sat with the kids at a tarantula den for nearly an hour. He sat and gently twirled a blade of grass at the entrance until this beautiful, black spider with brilliant bolts of blue popped out to investigate. Over and over. He gave each kid a try and never became impatient. As we walked, he would stop at an ant hill or at a line of leaf cutter ants and let the kids examine and help to teach the kids about their ecology. For my dad, an old farmer, he answered exhaustive questions about the economy and farming practices. He also took us on a side trip to Lamanai where another guide was the lead person, but it was always Dimas who lagged behind with the kids to let them explore at their own pace and help them find such hidden wonders as a coatimundi who was stealthily sneaking up a nearby tree or a howler monkey Jumping high above us. It’s impossible to quantify all the wonderful things that Dimas brought to the table. I will say this. We were traveling with a family group of rowdy children and aging grandparents—and not one moment of that trip was negative. Not once did we feel like a burden or a problem. We were allowed to explore at our pace, and because of it we experienced so many unexpected wonders and no one felt exhausted or rushed.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jeremy
Jan 9, 2022
I highly recommend Cayo, and Dimas the guide - We did 2 tours with Cayo. One was a private tour for 2 to Xunantunich and nearby waterfalls. The other was a private tour for 4 to Lamanai, including the boat ride there on the river.
We made our booking with JP. I asked him a lot of questions before booking.
Our guide Dimas met us as scheduled in our hotel lobby. He was super informative, having gone to 2 years of guide school. He knew about history and animals, plants… It was amazing. His info was so worth it!
Since it was a private tour, our schedule was pretty flexible and we chose where to eat breakfast and lunch, when to stop for breaks…
The lunch our guide packed was fantastic - curry chicken, rice, coleslaw, fried plantains…
Our second day we drove up and met our boat driver/guide Edgar. Edgar was super informative and a really nice guy.
Lunch was amazing again - jerk chicken, habanero onions.
I would highly recommend Cayo Tours and ask for the guide Dimas.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jtoeman
Jun 14, 2021
Ruins, Caves, and Waterfalls, oh my! - The two days we spent with Victor were perfection! Super friendly and knowledgeable guide, very flexible, and made us feel like we were in great hands the entire time. That plus JP (company owner) being available to help customize our trip and look out for us was top notch.
Our two-day trip with them started at Xunantunich ruins, and Victor went way above and beyond, with a great walking tour and history lesson. He also helped pick out great spots for photos and took a few fun panoramas too. From here we continued to nearby Cahal Pech, and could really see the difference in these ancient cities.
I mentioned flexible - we also stopped by San Ignacio market (mangos!!!) and made our way to Green Hills Butterfly Ranch to see the beautiful blue morpho butterflies. We also hit up Barton Creek to go cave canoeing, where again Victor's knowledge of the area helped us get a better appreciation for the Mayan and Belizean cultures.
On our second day we went to Pine Ridge Mountain to see the famous Rio Frio caves, Rio On pools, and Big Rock Falls. Beautiful, amazing, wonderful! Despite a longish bumpy road, the destinations were certainly very worth the journey!
I felt that this was overall a very professional, high quality tour, personalized for our needs in every way. Thanks JP for a wonderful time!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dave
Jan 21, 2019
Our Trip to Belize Was Wonderful - We spent 9 days in Belize. It was possibly the best vacation ever. We have been to Disney World several times, England, Washington D.C., the beaches in Alabama and many other places. We have three college-aged children and they joined us. The weather was perfect, the people were welcoming appreciative of our visit, and the food was wonderful. We come from New Orleans, so saying the food was wonderful is saying a lot.
We took two adventures with Cayo. Our guide, Cisco, was with us on both adventures. He really seemed to enjoy his work. He was on-time and the van was clean and well maintained. He always did the little extra things and was always gracious even though he had extra long days as we were several hours from his home base.
Our tour started on the drive. Cisco pointed out the local fauna, talked about the history of his country, the industry, the geology, and the people and their various cultures.
Our first outing was Cave Tubing and Zip Lining. The river was busy as there were several Cruise ships in town. Although Cisco had to leave his home before dawn, he had us walk an extra ten minutes to get us to a second cave and beautiful pool. This cave was not visited by the Cruise ships as it required more time. Rather than just get in our tubes, we climbed up some rocks and took a ten foot leap into the river. What fun! During the cave tour, he provided background on the development of the caves, the development of the formations and the easiest route as there are points where the water was rather shallow.
Our second expedition was to Xunantunich and the Falls. Cisco was a wealth of knowledge of the ruins. As we climbed the ruins, he told us about the archeology and the lore of the ancient Mayan people. There wasn't a question he couldn't answer. The folks around us that didn't have guides began to understand how much they missed out as we provided our new knowledge from time to time. The views where spectacular and the mystery of this Mayan culture was tangible.
After a tenuous trip over red clay roads, we made it to the Falls. Again, Cisco showed how to get the most out this place. The falls were beautiful. And maybe all many would see. However, Cisco took the kids to two different rock cliffs to jump into the picturesque pools. Showed each time where to step and how to go. The second rock was a little difficult to get to and you wouldn't know how to get to it without local knowledge. The kids returned with huge smiles on their faces as we watched. My old tender feet didn't want to walk on the rocks and I really wished I would have brought sandals with straps.
I am very glad we went through Cayo for these adventures. The only regret I had with the whole trip was we had to come home. We are all talking about when we can go again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Drfu5
Dec 24, 2018
Mayan Ruins and Big Rock Falls tour, Must do! - Going to the Mayan ruins would not have been as amazing as it was without our tour guide Dimas! The amount of information he had to share really makes you understand and imagine what it actually looked like in the ruins when the Mayans were thriving. We got there early and nobody else was there which added to the experience. We then went to a local restaurant, Benny's, where they had awesome food. If you're adventurous get the cow's foot soup. After that the road to Big Rock falls was bumpy but as expected and we got a nice little hike and a place to relax with some cool rock jumps. Highly recommend
Review provided by Tripadvisor
970shellyl
May 27, 2022
Knowledgeable guide, peaceful but yet fascinating scenery! - Didn't take the tour but was here with another tour guide. It's good information to hear about the ruins and the history known so far. It's a fantastic place for anyone who really is keen to see and learn more about the Mayan ruins. My son couldn't wait to run up to the top of the structures.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
