Last Updated on: 8th June 2024, 12:29 am
Caracol in southern Belize was one of the Mayan world’s most dominant cities, and is accordingly the country’s largest Mayan archaeological site. But it’s also the most difficult to reach, so most visitors end up taking a tour to the Caracol ruins. The following guide describes what you can expect from the excursion.
Most tours depart from the town of San Ignacio. And in addition to visiting the ruins, you’ll also be stopping at the unique Rio Frio cave, while the day culminates in a swim at the Rio On Pools.
This is a long and relatively expensive tour, with the average cost being $125 USD. For more information on how to go about booking a tour and whether or not it’s really worth it, be sure to check the end of the article.
But first, let’s briefly go over Caracol’s history.
Caracol: A Brief History
Caracol was one of the most important Mayan cities of the Classic Period, and it entirely dominated the Southern Mayan Lowlands throughout the 6th century AD. Incredibly, its population at its peak was about twice that of Belize City today!
Much of Caracol’s history is defined by its wars with the mighty Tikal. While Caracol lost a major war in 556 AD, they’d come out victorious in 562 AD. This war would cause Tikal to cease building new structures for 120 years.
Caracol, on the other hand, would only build more during this period, with its most prolific builder being King K’an II (r. 618–658). Interestingly, while Tikal would eventually start building again, they’d abandon their unique architectural style and instead mimic the buildings of Caracol.
Caracol’s other main rival throughout its history was Naranjo. And Caracol would also forge a lasting friendship with Calakmul, one of Tikal’s longtime bitter rivals.
A reemergent Tikal and Naranjo would eventually result in Caracol’s gradual decline, while the city would mostly be abandoned by the 10th century. It would then be fully abandoned by the 11th century.
In modern times, the site was rediscovered in 1937 by a Belizean logger named Rosa Mai. But serious investigations wouldn’t occur until the 1950s by the University of Pennsylvania.
The Rio Frio Cave
Tours to the Caracol ruins start early, and the participants had to gather outside the tour office at 6:45 (more below). We then set off for our first destination of the day, the Rio Frio Cave.
It took a few hours to get there, with the road currently only partially paved. As one would expect, the unpaved portion of the road makes for a rough and bumpy ride, and it’s a big part of the reason that Caracol tours are relatively long and expensive.
The Rio Frio Cave, named after the river of the same name, is only a quarter of a mile long. And when standing inside it, you can simultaneously both its entrance and exit, with the river flowing through the entire cave.
While mainly a natural attraction, it could be categorized as an archaeological site as well. Mayan pottery shards, in fact, have been discovered within the cavern.
But archaeologists still aren’t entirely sure if ancient Mayans performed rituals here or if the pottery shards merely washed up here during flooding.
In any case, when standing outside the cave, you can see a rock formation that closely resembles a face depicted in traditional Mayan artwork!
The Caracol Ruins
While Caracol is easily the largest archaeological site in Belize, don’t expect anything on the level of Tikal. With that said, there’s still plenty to see here, and many of the structures can be climbed.
While the original city was surely much bigger, the site now mainly consists of two main plazas in addition to a couple of largely unexcavated acropolises.
We began our tour in Plaza B, which is home to the site’s main pyramid. But first, we stopped to check out the smaller pyramid directly across the plaza which is home to some fascinating stucco carvings.
The faces at the top here depict the Rain God. But no, it’s not the Mayan Rain God, Chaak. Rather, it’s Tlaloc, who had long been worshipped in Central Mexico.
While I’d been under the impression that these were two different names for the same deity, ancient Mesoamericans did indeed make a distinction.
But why does Tlaloc make an appearance here? We’re not really sure, but one theory is that during a drought, local Mayans traveled to Central Mexico and saw that Tlaloc worshippers were getting plenty of rain.
As such, they decided to give Tlaloc worship a try. (Notably, Tlaloc also makes an appearance at Tikal.)
As at Xunantunich, the original artwork here is now being preserved underneath more recent stucco replicas.
Next, it was time to explore the site’s main pyramid known as Caana, which translates to ‘Sky Palace.’ At 43.5 meters high, it’s not only the tallest Mayan pyramid in Belize, but still the tallest structure in the entire country!
As you make your way to the top, you’ll encounter plenty of different rooms to explore along the way, many of which were likely royal residences.
Caana consists of two main levels. And considering how the uppermost portion isn’t visible from the ground, you can’t get a feel for its actual size until you climb up the whole thing.
At the uppermost level is a little plaza consisting of three pyramidal structures, with the remains of temples at the top of each of them. The views from up here are incredible, and you can even see into Guatemala.
But despite how remote Caracol is, it’s still a pretty popular destination. And with many visitors arriving around the same time, you’ll likely be sharing the pyramid with plenty of other people.
Caana is also known for its multiple royal tombs, the earliest of which is dated to 537 AD. Visitors can even walk down into some of the crypts, which is not something I can recall doing at any other Mayan pyramid.
Speaking of tombs, Caracol as a whole was home to no less than 250 burials!
The upper level of Caana is also home to additional palace areas. And as you explore, you’ll also encounter some more stucco artwork. The experience reminded me a lot of exploring the main pyramids of Calakmul, Mexico.
Next, we headed back to the ground level to check out the nearby ball court. Ball courts, of course, are a common sight at all Mayan ruins, and Caracol’s is pretty standard.
But just behind it is a mound that has largely been cleared of trees – and for a reason not related to archaeology.
Being situated right by the Guatemalan border, and with no Belizean towns or cities in the area, Caracol and its surroundings used to see plenty of illegal incursions. But after numerous looting incidents, the Belizean military finally had to set up a base here.
And several years ago, after the military confiscated horses belonging to illegal migrants, one of them snuck up on a soldier near the ball court and fatally shot him.
The military then decided to clear much of the surrounding forest so that it would be harder for people to sneak up on them. And currently, visitors are not allowed at the Caracol ruins past 14:00 PM for security reasons.
We then walked past the Central Acropolis, which also remains an unexcavated mound. Our next destination was Plaza A, and to get to it, you’ll either have to walk around the massive Structure A6 or climb up it from the back. In our case, we came around from the side.
In addition to the large long terrace of Structure A6, Plaza A consists of three other pyramids. Again, most of these structures are climbable, and your tour guide will likely allow everyone time here to freely explore.
I decided to climb pyramid A2 at the opposite end of the plaza from A6. A steep modern staircase takes you up from the side. And once at the top, you’ll be greeted with some excellent views of the entire plaza.
And it’s from atop A2 that you can get the clearest views of A6. After lingering atop the pyramid for a while, that’s where I decided to head next.
A6 is also known as the Temple of the Wooden Lintel. And it was built over what were some of Caracol’s very first structures.
On its third and highest level is a temple accessible via a central staircase. And if you climb to the top, you’ll be able to get a clear view of the various other structures built along the terrace.
Notably, a significant cache of ritualistic objects was discovered here. It consisted of various pieces of jade and other stone objects wrapped in cloth. And it was all placed in another stone vessel that contained liquid mercury!
Previously at Lamanai (also in Belize), we’d been told that a cache containing liquid mercury was the only such example ever discovered in the Mayan world. But apparently that’s not the case.
Next, we continued further south, where we encountered another ball court and an original stele which describes wars against both Tikal and Naranjo. Apparently, many of the most significant findings from Caracol are now on display at the British Museum.
We also walked past a reservoir which would’ve served as one of the ancient city’s original water sources.
Finally, the last section left to see of the Cracol ruins was the South Acropolis. Unlike the Central Acropolis, this section has actually been excavated. And it appears quite similar to the royal palace complex at Lamanai.
Unsurprisingly, a royal tomb was discovered here by archaeologists. But we were warned not to get close, as it’s very likely to be inhabited by venomous snakes!
And this would be a terrible place to get bit, as there are absolutely no towns or hospitals nearby. Supposedly, that’s one of the main reasons they’re trying to get the road between here and San Ignacio paved as soon as possible.
Being so deep in the jungle, the Caracol ruins are also a great place to spot wildlife. After seeing a troop of howler monkeys early on our visit, we got a clear view of a toucan just as we were heading back. Unfortunately, I’d left my zoom lens at my hotel.
We also passed by the little cabins where archaeologists stay during their visits, which really made me respect their dedication!
Finally, back at the entrance, we were treated to lunch. We then had about 15 minutes or so to explore the on-site museum.
While one section just consists of laminated informational posters, another room contains various stelae found around the site. As mentioned, most of the important artifacts are now kept outside of Belize.
The Rio On Pools
But that wasn’t quite where we ended the day. On our way back to San Ignacio, we stopped for a swim at the Rio On Pools, which are a series of natural pools formed by a cascading waterfall.
Here you’ll find changing rooms on-site, so there’s no need to wear your bathing suit all day if you’d prefer not to.
It was a great way to finish off a long day in such a hot and sticky climate. And luckily for us, we’d just missed a downpour, with the heavy rain beginning just as we began driving away. We then finally returned to San Ignacio in the late afternoon.
Additional Info
A tour to the Caracol ruins can easily be booked online. I went on this tour with MayaWalk tours and had a great experience with them overall. As their office is centrally located in San Ignacio, you should also be able to book a tour in person upon your arrival.
There seem to be a couple of other companies offering tours to Caracol, but they seem to more or less follow the same itinerary.
As mentioned above, tours to Caracol cost around $125, which is not cheap in this region so popular with budget travelers. Of course, the price includes a lot of things, such as transport, a guide, entry fees and lunch. But considering how there are other ruins around the San Ignacio region, such as Xunantunich and Cahal Pech, that can be visited easily and cheaply, you may still be wondering if a Caracol tour is really worth it.
As an archaeology lover and avid visitor of Mayan ruins, I have no regrets about visiting Caracol. But if I’m being honest, the site didn’t quite wow me as much as other historically significant Mayan sites, such as Tikal or the prominent sites of Mexico.
And when looking back at the different Mayan ruins I visited in Belize, the one that stands out to me the most is probably Xunantunich. And a cheap taxi ride is all it took to get there.
Then again, my perception is probably skewed by the weather, as it was bright and sunny during my visit to Xunantunich and rather gloomy all day at Caracol. The weather circumstances surely made Caracol’s scenery less impressive than it normally is.
In summary, if you are on a tight budget, don’t worry too much about skipping Caracol. You can visit the more accessible sites near San Ignacio, while on the other side of the border you can find cheap tours to the sites of Yaxha and Tikal.
Despite only having a population of 25,000, San Ignacio is one of Belize’s most popular towns for tourism so there’s no shortage of places to stay. It’s also easily one of the country’s most charming towns.
I stayed at the Don Santiago Guesthouse, where I paid about $33 USD per night for a room with a private bathroom and air conditioning. The location was perfect, while the owner was very easygoing and helpful.
Other relatively affordable options in the center include Arnold’s Guest House and Venus Hotel.
If you’re already in Belize, you’ll first need to get to Belize City. Though on the opposite side of the country, San Ignacio is situated along the George Price Highway which connects it to Belize City and Belmopan.
The bus journey from Belize City should cost about $10 BZ ($5 USD). I’m not sure if there are faster buses available, but the bus seemed to stop every thirty seconds during my journey, either to drop someone off or let someone on. In total, the journey ended up lasting 2.5 hours.
As San Ignacio is located right by the border with Guatemala, a lot of travelers will be coming from Flores. You should easily be able to book a shuttle to Belize on the ground in Flores. But if you prefer the peace of mind of having something booked in advance, you can do so here.