The vast temple city of Tikal in the heart of Guatemala’s lowland rainforest is one of the few places that looks far better than its postcards. Visit early when tropical yellows dapple the forest paths and warm the faces of 1,300-year-old pyramids. 

Palenque is a moon to Tikal’s sun: as subtle and modest as Tikal is vast and magnificent. The grove of rainforest where the temples sit is quietly beautiful, but the real draw is the buildings – particularly the Temple of the Inscriptions, a perfectly proportioned pyramid built to preserve the body of the priest king Pakal.

Both Tikal and Palenque were part of a series of eighth-century warring and trading city states, which were way ahead of contemporaneous Europe in mathematics and art. The gruesome paintings at nearby Bonampak are painted in perspective – 700 years before the technique was developed in Renaissance Italy.

After a city break in colonial Campeche head for more ruins at Uxmal. The buildings here and at the nearby Puuc Route temples are extraordinary, encrusted with gargoyle faces to the rain god Chac and abstract Escher-like patterns.

Stop over in the Yucatán’s colonial capital Mérida – a great place to eat out, dance and shop – before leaving for Chichén Itza. The most famous Mayan temple of all is as perfectly proportioned as Palenque and as elaborately carved as Uxmal. Stay in one of the adjacent hotels and enjoy the city in silence for the first two hours of the morning.

“Climb a volcano – set off in the dark and arrive for dawn. There are volcanoes throughout Guatemala but the best are around Antigua and Lake Atitlán. Be sure to take local advice on safety before climbing.” Jamie Marshall from the Guatemalan Maya Centre, London

Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya.^[4] Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BCE, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 900 CE. During this time, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico. There is evidence that Tikal was conquered by Teotihuacan in the 4th century CE.^[5] Following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned. These events were coupled with a gradual population decline, culminating with the site's abandonment by the end of the 10th century.

Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with a long dynastic ruler list, the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers on this list and the investigation of their monuments, temples and palaces.^[6]

Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BCE, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 900 CE. During this time, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico. There is evidence that Tikal was conquered by Teotihuacan in the 4th century CE.^[Following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned. These events were coupled with a gradual population decline, culminating with the site's abandonment by the end of the 10th century.

Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with a long dynastic ruler list, the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers on this list and the investigation of their monuments, temples and palaces.