Help Wikitravel grow by contributing to an article. Learn how.

Petén

From Wikitravel

Jump to: navigation, search

El Petén is the biggest and northernmost department of Guatemala.

Besides providing its visitors with a multi facetted nature, it compells through its diversity of mayan sites being contructed acoording to a distinct syle ("El Estilo Petén").

[edit] Regions

[edit] Cities

  • Flores – this island town is the hub of the region, with an airport nearby and connections to the rest of the area
  • Dolores, a small town in southern Petén, with a nice new archaeological museum and a colonial church - the oldest in Petén.
  • El Remate – a sleepy town on the east side of Lake Peten Itza

[edit] Other destinations

[edit] Understand

[edit] Talk

[edit] Get in

Don't skimp on long distance bus rides. Chicken buses can be fun for a short ride, but most will not want to spend a long time on them.

The route from Guatemala City via Poptun is served by three first class bus companies, Linea Dorada, Autobuses del Norte, and Fuente del Norte. The latter has for years run cheaper buses between Flores and Guate, but more recently it also runs day and night buses that include first class and deluxe seating. Downstairs "camitas" are plush, but especially from Guate at night, you had better have a light sweater to wear.

The route via Coban takes about 12 hours on buses, as opposed to the 8-10 or so via the other route, but it is more scenic. Plus, though you have to change buses in Coban, that is a destination in its own right. You would start out from Guate on Monja Blanca and switch to a minivan in Coban.

[edit] Get around

[edit][add listing] See

Petèn bears hundreds of Mayan excavation sites, most of which are definetly worth visiting. Unfortunatly the majority of tourists is only suggested to visit "Tikal", the most famous site of the Mayan culture, disregarding the other Mayan jewels in the jungle. For curious adventurers however, untouched archaeological sites in the old-growth forests are waiting to be explored. Hidden ruins being especially worth visiting include Holmul, La Honradez, Chochkitan, Kinal, Xultun, Dos Aguadas and Rio Azul. Even though their magnitude is comparable to Tikal, the yearly visitor number at these sites only reaches an average of 20 persons. The quality of the streets to these targets leaves a lot to be desired. Therefore it is advisable to undertake these kind of trips only during dry season (February until June). Travellers rather being interested in more extensively explored and restaurated sites, but still trying to stay away from mass tourism are advised to visit San Clemente, La Blanca und Nakum (providing for the greatest Palace Acropolis of the Mayan World).

[edit][add listing] Do

[edit][add listing] Eat

[edit][add listing] Sleep

Stay at the Jaguar Inn Hotel, Flores Petén. The hotel is located inside the National Park, so you don't have to travel to and from Flores city center. The hotel has nice typical Guatemalan breakfast (beans). At night, the lights and electricity is unavailable at around 6pm. The only thing is that, hot water is unavailable. You can listen to the sounds of the animals at night.

[edit][add listing] Drink

Two good beers in Guatemala are Gallo, which is probably all you will find in smaller towns and Moza (which is a flavorful bock beer). Both have 5% alcohol.

In most of the restaurants there are also fruit, smoothy type drinks called Liquiados, that come in a variety of fruits, and are made from fresh fruits.

[edit] Stay safe

Always stay on the beaten path, and stay with a group. Don't wander off, stay alert, and try your best to blend in and not draw too much attention to yourself.

[edit] Get out

This article is an outline and needs more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow!
Retrieved from "http://wikitravel.org/en/Pet%C3%A9n"