Full-Day Mainland Adventure
This three-in-one combo tour is our most popular mainland trip. It combines an incredible archeological visit with a zip line adrenaline rush, and finally a lazy cave tubing adventure! Upon early arrival in Belize City, you’ll embark on a van transfer to Xunantunich, located in the Cayo District of western Belize near the Guatemalan border. This easy and scenic road trip takes approximately 1.5 hours each way.
Upon arrival in Cayo, you’ll cross the Mopan River on a hand-cranked ferry, followed by a short hike to the Maya site. Once at Xunantunich, you’ll get to explore the extensive remnants of this intriguing ancient site.
El Castillo is a temple at Xunantunich that affords a vast scenic view over the surrounding rainforest and well into nearby Guatemala. Wear your climbing shoes and try not to look down! The Maya ruins of Belize are some of the last in the world that allows travelers to explore them up close and personal and enjoy their views from atop. The Xunantunich contains 26 palaces and temples, as it was an important Maya ceremonial center around 1200 years ago. In 2016, an untouched burial chamber containing the corpse of a young Maya man and several artifacts of jade and obsidian was first discovered. Xunantunich is also known for sightings of the ghost of an ancient Maya maiden reported by many to inhabit the site near El Castillo. All of this mystery combined with Xunantunich’s tropical forest dotted with lounging howler monkeys gives the experience of a world unlike any other.
After lunch, enjoy soaring over the rainforest canopy on the zip line course located in the nearby Nohoch Che’en Caves Branch Archaeological Reserve. Finally, get suited up to enjoy some cave tubing! After a short hike to the cave entrance, hop on your inner tube and let the natural current of the river take you downstream. Flip on your headlamp and gaze upon the crystal formations throughout this mysterious Belizean underworld.
We strongly recommend choosing the flight to arrive on the mainland instead of the ferry, for it will give you an additional three hours of time to explore the jungle and make the most of the excursion.
