Antigua Guatemala Travel Forum

I know Tikal has the best ruins around, but I don't think we are going to be able to fit that into are trip to Antiqua area in mid march, so I'm wondering where the best closest ruins are from the Guatemala city or Antiqua area.
Thanks!

You can go and see the ruins at Copan, Honduras. They are as good as Tikal. It’s about a 3 hour van ride from Guatemala City. It would be a long day trip, but great if you stay overnight. There are lots of good, priced hotels in Copan Ruinas (5 minutes from the ruins).

Too bad you can't fit in Tikal...it is amazing . We just returned . We flew there from Guatemala City ..its a short flight. Otherwise it is a 10 hour bus ride from Antigua. ( Antigua is wonderful too...!!)

Tecpan would be about 90 minutes from Antigua. It's just off CA-1 and is very interesting. There is a small museum on the grounds and a Mayan priest is often at the back of the site doing animal sacrifices (chickens) for believers. It's surreal and they don't mind you watching and taking pictures.

The remaining structures don't compare to Tikal or Copan but if you're heart is set on seeing some ruins, these will be fairly close.

Will you have your own vehicle or depend on busses?

You have three parameters in you question:

Distance (least relevant)

Time

Money ?

The previous posters have given excellent suggestions for sites closer to Antigua than Tikal is. No matter what, once in Antigua, there will be dozens, maybe hundreds of tour operators willing to accommodate almost any budget. If you're not going on Easter Week (Somana Santa) go against your gringo instinct and DON'T plan in advance (you would be paying more for the same thing).

Some people fly to Tikal and back in one day. This seems like a horror to me, because you'll be at Tikal just when it's crowded. But it's better than nothing.

Tecpan and Copan are good ideas, indeed. Traveling by bus is wonderful (I have many tips on my pages) but very time consuming.

There are a lot of great Maya ruins in Guatemala and elsewhere. I would even be willing to argue that others are better than Tikal in at least some ways. El Mirador has the largest and tallest building. Palenque is just as great and more compact. Lamanai has a more picturesque approach.

What with the ongoing road work between Guate and Antigua, a trip to Copan from Antigua would probably be completely absurd as a day trip.

El Baul is not all THAT far from Antigua and Utatlan is a bit north of Lake Atitlan. You have to realize that the Highlands were cultural backwaters during the Classic Maya period.

Probably the easiest ruins to get to from Guate City are IN Guate. Kaminaljuyu has had quite a bit done on it between my first trip in the mid-90s and last month. You could easily see both it and the Mercado Central for gifts to take home on the same day.