Parque Nacional Yaxha — Attraction in Flores

The Yaxha National Park is located in the northeast part of the Petén department, in the municipalities of Flores and Melchor de Mencos. It was the capital of an extensive territory that dominated the northeastern part of Petén, although it had very strong links with the city of Tikal, Caracol in Belize, and Calakmul in Mexico. It has monumental clusters with pyramidal temples, Acropolis, twin pyramids complexes, commemorative complexes, Ball Games, palaces and domestic residential complexes.

The Park has an extension of 37,760 hectares. It hosts various cities, being Topoxte, Nakum and Naranjo the main ones, after Yaxhá. These cities played a very important role in the social and political organization of the central lowlands for more than 1,500 years. It is possible to visit the Yaxhá, Topoxte, and Nakum, Yaxhá being the most accessible, and from where you can start the visit to the park.

The park is also a refuge that allows to appreciate a balanced combination of biodiversity and pre-Hispanic cultural heritage. Due to the presence of impressive lagoons and wetlands that are part of the main migratory bird routes, the park has been recognized as a wetland of global importance (RAMSAR). The lagoons of Yaxhá and Sacnab can be observed from the top of several archaeological monuments, giving the area a unique...

An awesome park to do after Tikal. The ruins of Tikal are more uncovered and preserved, but at Yaxha there are so many less people you can really enjoy them. Book transportation from Flores (Q130 without a guide) and pack your own food+water to enjoy on top of a pyramid.

The park is super easy to follow the path to see each site on your own, so read some articles about the park beforehand and do it self guided. In my experience, Guatemalan guides are all about what time it is (despite always being late themselves) and them yelling at the group to move to the next ruin and stressing out loud about how many minutes are left kills the vibe...

Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park is the home of the impressive ruins of an ancient Mayan city of Yaxha as well as two other ruined Mayan cities. The trip from Flores to Yaxha takes about 1.5 hours by car. The entry fee is 80Q for foreigners. There are lots of restored structures and several restored pyramids. You can scale some of them, but not all. Many more structures remain covered by vegetation. Park was not busy when I was there, maybe 10 people in the entire place. Access is difficult and involves a 1/2 he ride down a narrow dirt path. The bathrooms are located at the ticket office and right by the entrance....