Zona Arqueológica Toniná — Attraction in Chiapas

I loved Tonia! Mainly because of its isolation not many people know about it or the surounding structures. I hope it stays that way unlike Palenque that i don't want to visit because of the foreigners.

Tickets The tickets are free if you are Mexican on Sundays and the way up their is also easier if you are Mexican.

The drive up There are two road block on the 199 from San Cristobal about an hour and a half into your journey. First road block is made of trees they told some Americans heading to Palenque they couldn't pass because it was dangerous. I gathered them up and we moved the log it can easily be done by one person as i did it on the way down. Second road block is made of two trucks and their cute little cars. Once again passage was resticted to the Americans I kindly asked them in Spanish if they can move their cars to let me pass and they did. They wistle and talk to each other on the radio to let them know when a tourist is coming. After that you just have an hour left to Tonia it's a beautiful drive. Make sure to leave around 3 or 4 while the sun is up especially if you don't speak Spanish you will encounter the same road blocks on your way down they are nice people money is just scarce up there.

Tour guide Our tour guide was great his name is Juan. They charge 600 for the tour and it's very informative. I learned a lot from him. Money is scarce so i tipped him 700 make sure to do the same they live off of tourism and they don't get a lot of visitors. Let's keep it that way it was magical having the whole place to ourselves and climbing all the way up.

Food There is a restaurant at the beginning and end of your tour. Buy water before you start! I read some comments mentioning if you value your health not to eat here but just stay away from the cheese. It's delicious but if you are not used to unpasteurized cheese you are obviously going to get sick. Drink some Pepto if you do eat the cheese and you'll be fine the food...

This was one of the most impressive sites we walked thru in Mexico. It was huge and the main Temple-Pyramid was even larger than the one in Mexico City. It is a walk and it is completely worth it. Do not miss this great site!!!

Tonina (means house of stone in the Tzeltal language of the local Maya inhabitants) is a pre-Columbian archaeological site and ruined city of the Maya civilization located in what is now the Mexican state of Chiapas, some 13 km (8.1 mi) east of the town of Ocosingo. The site is medium to large, with groups of temple-pyramids set on terraces rising some 71 metres (233 ft) above a plaza, a large court for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame, and over 100 carved monuments, most dating from the 6th century through the 9th centuries AD, during the Classic period. Toniná is distinguished by its well preserved stucco sculptures and particularly by its in-the-round carved monuments, produced to an extent not seen in Mesoamerica since the end of the much earlier Olmec civilization. Toniná possesses one of the largest pyramids in Mexico; at 74 metres (243 ft) in height, it is taller than the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan. Toniná was an aggressive state in the Late Classic, using warfare to develop a powerful kingdom. For much of its history, Toniná was engaged in sporadic warfare with Palenque, its greatest rival and one of the most important polities in the west of the Maya region, although Toniná eventually became the dominant city in the west. The city is notable for having the last known Long Count date on any Maya monument, marking the end of the Classic Maya...

DO NOT COME here now or postpone your trip if you can if you are serious about visiting Maya sights! A very limited amount of the site is visitable currently because of "covid safety" (this is all outdoors and there aren't tons of visitors, this makes NO sense at all!). You only get access to the field in front of the platforms and no access to the platforms at all. (see the map I photographed to see how shocking this really is!). You're essentially paying for one viewpoint with no interaction or possibility to explore anything of the site at all (see photo). Tonina currently gets only about 20-25 visitors a day, and there's absolutely no justification for this. It's very inconsiderate towards those visitors who made a determined effort to get here. I am totally in favour of a safe visit from a health perspective, but it does need to make sense and be proportionate. INAH (who manages archeological sites in Mexico) needs to put its act together as this seems to be across the board. Honestly, the site is clearly beautiful, but it's impossible to appreciate it fully at the moment. Hopefully this will change soon but give it a...