When it came to Tikal we were honestly so torn if we should do it or not, it is really out of the way and we both have seen ruins before. It is also more to do Tikal than we were spending on entire days! It is roughly $60CAD a person, and we have been trying to spend under $30 per day. After researching and finding out they were the best in Central America, we decided to do it, but it was only after a horror story from a travelers diary.
First you decide if you want sunrise, sunset, or neither.
Here is where our horror story starts…. We heard by so many people that no matter what, don’t book the tour with Gran Jaguar! All for a good reason. In Lanquin, our shuttle driver recommended to book through Semuc Champey Tours in Flores. After going to a couple other tour agencies, and finding no bad reviews online, we went and booked through them, and because their buddy sent us they gave us a discount! BONUS! He writes us up for the sunset tour the following day, 12pm pickup at our hostel. We pay, get our ticket, we’re all happy… UNTIL we see the receipt says Gran Jaguar.
The tour agent then tells us the tickets are non-refundable, but assures us they aren’t affiliated with Gran Jaguar at all, he was just out of receipt paper. “Tomorrow at 12 o’clock there will be no issues”. We thankfully switched the pickup to the agency office, so if they don’t show up there would be no way they could blame it on us for not being there on time. ANYWAYS, it’s now 11:30AM the next day, and we make our way to the agency office, only for him to ask why we were so early for the 12:30 pickup. It was at that point we knew something was up, we stuck around, and the shuttle never came!! We saw him panicking and making phone call after phone call, and after about an hour of waiting he refunded our money, but only after he asked if we wanted to do the sunrise tour with his company. NO THANK YOU.
Now we had to decide if we were doing sunrise or the 6AM tour.
The thing you have to know about the sunrise tour: your chances of a good sunrise are well under 50%! And with us pinching all of our pennies, we weren’t convinced if we should do the sunrise. The sunset and sunrise are an additional 100Q (17CAD/13USD) on top of the entrance fee of 150Q for being in the park outside of official park hours. When booking this guy staying at the hostel said he didn’t see the colours of the sunrise but the sound of the jungle waking up was the most magical thing, so we splurged and spent the extra $17CAD in hopes of a good sunrise. Here is a photo of our sunrise view:
Another thing you have to know about the sunrise tour: the jungle ‘waking up’ is a myth. There were about 100 people sitting on top of a temple looking into the mist, waiting for both colours and animal sounds to start showing up. Neither of them did. We were stuck in a huge cloud and all we could hear were people coughing, opening backpacks, talking, and people shushing each other. I was super pumped to do the sunset, but with the situation the day before I just wanted to do something with the day, but I would say: if you are on a budget like we were, save the extra money, because the 6AM tour got there with enough time. The early-bird tour got there when it was still dark, only to enjoy the cloud with us.
Once it was light enough to start the tour we followed our guide around the park, and it is ginormous! I wish we had enough time to see more but we were scheduled for a bus to leave Santa Elena at 3pm, so we only had until 12:30 in the park.
After the super disappointing sunrise the day did pick up. It’s crazy to see how much of the park is still undiscovered and hearing about the civilization that used to be there. The temples were amazing to see and the park itself has been so well kept!
You can learn from our mistakes! Always book with a reputable company (even if it’s more expensive), I would really recommend Los Amigos hostel to book your Tikal tour! If you have the money try the sunrise, if not, the early bird would probably be just as good! I think the sunset is the best bet, as when we were in Guatemala the sunsets there were always so pretty! Your chances of seeing one have better odds to.
If you have any other tips let me know! I’d love to hear about your experience with Tikal.
Where Will I Wander 