Camping at Tikal
Everything you need to know for camping at Tikal. Spend a night sleeping in a hammock under the stars at the Tikal ruins in Guatemala.
Any backpacker will tell you that the best travel advice comes through talking to fellow travellers who have been there. And that’s exactly how I came across this gem of an idea -camping at Tikal. Sleeping in hammocks in the grounds of some Mayan ruins sounded like an epic adventure .
Getting to Tikal
With a group of English medical students that I had commandeered as travel buddies, we set off from the Belizan town of San Ignacio. Crossing the border into Guatemala (without paying any fees, which I had read lots of tourists are conned into doing) we negotiated a taxi to squeeze the five of us in and take us straight to Tikal. It cost us 360Q (~€40)for the taxi which took about two and a half hours. Had we not been traveling in a group it would have been a lot more difficult to get there cheaply. In the afternoon the only options are taxis or a public bus to Santa Elena (a larger town next to Flores) and then negotiating a taxi from there.
Tickets for Tikal Ruins
Entrance tickets to Tikal Ruins cost 150Q and an additional 100Q for a sunrise or sunset tour. We arrived at Tikal just after 4pm which was perfect as tickets purchased after 3pm are valid for the next day.
*Update* Apparently this is no longer the case and you now either need to buy a ticket each day or an additional sunrise or sunset tour if you want to go on another day.
Campground at Tikal
We approached the campground in the Tikal complex (clearly signposted) and in broken Spanish requested five hammocks for the night.
It costs 50Q per person to camp in Tikal National Park. Plus an extra 35Q to hire a hammock. You can bring your own hammock or tent.
While the man was busy hanging the hammocks (complete with mosquito nets) we left our valuables in a lockable shed and headed into the park for sunset. Officially the park closes at 6pm but we didn’t see any staff while we were there and we stayed until around 7pm. We did however see monkeys, wild pigs and an array of interesting birds.
Most of the structures can be climbed on and with not another person in sight we found a peaceful spot to watch the sun go down. Back at camp there were a couple of cheap restaurants where we were able to eat some basic local food for 20-40Q.
We then had an early night in preparation for an early start to beat the crowds the next day. We opted not to go on the sunrise tour as this would have been an extra 175Q per person (100Q entrance fee before opening time and 75Q for the tour) but were up to enter the park at 6am.
Getting in before the tour groups meant we had around four hours to explore the park (and you need it!) without having to see more than a couple of other savvy travellers. Even if you don't have time to camp at Tikal the park and ruins are amazing and well worth a visit.
By 11am, just as the hoards of people were arriving, we were ready to hit the road and got a shuttle (50Q pp) to the beautiful little town of Flores in time to enjoy the afternoon jumping into the lake from a rope swing!
Camping at Tikal was an amazing way to see an amazing place. I love finding ways to get 'off the beaten path' even when seeing a major tourist attraction and I'm sure not many people can say they've slept in a hammock at the Tikal ruins!
