Xunantunich and Cave Tour: Explore Ancient Maya City and Belize's Scenic Caves
5.0
7 Ratings
Xunantunich
Immerse yourself in the wonders of ancient Maya civilization with a tour of Xunantunich, an impressive city featuring temples, ballcourts, and stunning stucco friezes. Combine it with an adventure through Belize's scenic caves for an unforgettable experience.
Duration: 12 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Xunantunich - the City of Xunantunich, features one of the tallest buildings from Ancient times overlooking the Belize River Valley and neighboring Guatemala, El Castillo, adorned with stucco frieze depicting the gods, like wise see the Stela’s, ball court , residential areas and temples.
  • Nohoch Che’en Caves Branch Archaeological Reserve - we float on tubes or kayaks on a river that runs under the Maya mountains having created awesome formations in this natural wonder caves system.
What's Included
  • National Park Admissions
  • Private transportation
  • Lunch
  • Use of Kayaks, tubes, helmets, jackets
What's Not Included
  • gratuities
Additional Information

Xunantunich is a historical Maya city that boasts ballcourts, stelas, dwellings, and temples, and a grand Stucco frieze featuring numerous deities. This site is also home to Belize’s second-highest structure. Xunantunich is perched atop a hill with a view of the Belize Guatemala Border. After exploring Xunantunich, guests can choose to either kayak or tube through the caves. We offer pickup services from the airport, hotels in Belize city, or the water taxi. After the tour, we can drop you off in San Ignacio, or back in Belize City. Likewise, pickup and drop off services are available in San Ignacio. During reservation, please specify your pickup and drop off locations. The package includes a tour of an ancient Maya fortress, a chance to view artifacts, a stucco frieze of the gods on the walls, an enjoyable trip through the countryside, personalized guide services and transportation, and the opportunity to discover the caves and ruins at your leisure.

  • Contingency Option: due to high water at XUN river crossing or Kayaking: tour visits Cahal Pech and Cave Tubing is done. Cahal Pech was a palatial, hilltop home for an elite Maya family, and dates to the Classic period, with continuous habitation as far back as 1200 BCE or reschedule Or Refund
Location
Xunantunich
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(7 Ratings)
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Linda_s
Dec 25, 2022
Abner is such a... - Abner is such a knowledgeable guide and fun to spend the day with! V.i.v. has the most comfortable tubes as well.
Review provided by Viator
Ryan
Dec 8, 2022
Kayaking is the way to go - My friend and I strongly wanted to do kayaking instead of tubing and our decision was confirmed when we arrived at the site. The short hike was fun, with Marco being a fun guide (we tasted termites!). The entry point to the river was beautiful and it was so much more exciting to paddle upstream into the caves than just floating down on tubes. Paddling wasn't too hard but definitely takes a good amount of energy. Bats swooped around the ceiling as our headlamps passed, and the underground river as seen by our small lights felt very adventurous. We had a detour to climb up a cave wall to see Mayan pottery shards, then back to the downstream portion of the kayak. The rapids made me nervous at first, but they weren't really too bad and we had no incidents. That was followed by a big lunch, ordered ahead of time, so it was ready right away. Really tasty. Then a longer drive to Xunantunich, which worked out great since we were staying in San Ignacio, not going back to Belize City. At Xunantunich, we went into the museum for some information about Mayan culture before walking around the site. We weren't able to see all of it because it was getting later in the day, but it was impressive and a good way to whet our appetite for a later trip to Tikal. I definitely recommend Marco as being very friendly and helpful!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Toddst9611sq
Nov 4, 2022
What an adventure! - The tour guide was great! Beautiful scenery, fun time floating through a cave and seeing a piece of history.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Hapaf
Aug 7, 2022
Must do tour! - Great tour. Feva was on time and knowledgeable about the history of the ruin as well as the cave. We wanted kayak instead of tubing and he made sure that was the case. All day fun filled trip and he took us to a local lunch spot. Highly recommended!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jasonmk1008qf
Nov 18, 2021
Amazing Experience! - Jeremy gave us an experience we will never forget. We were picked up right as we arrived from the water taxi and taken first to Xunantunich. It was ~ a 2 hour scenic drive and one hand-crank powered river ferry ride to get there. Then we drove half way back ~1h and stopped for lunch at a great little restaurant. The park for the cave tubing is gated and guarded and the vendors are great. Don't miss out on the pineapple drink. It was ~25 - 30min walk to the cave with 3 small river crossings. Two at knee depth and one at low chest height. At the end of the tour we floated back to the first crossing so the walk back is much shorter. Jeremy got us back to the water taxi with time to spare and showed us all a great time. I can't recommend this experience enough.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
685sandyj
Sep 7, 2021
Natural beauty you've got to see! - This was an AMAZING cave-tubing tour. Our guide, Abner, was EXCELLENT! The cave was beautiful. Abner shared history and knowledge which added to the great experience. I highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Charity
Aug 14, 2021
VIV tours is the best way to go! - We booked this whole day excursion with VIV tours. We were picked up from our Belize city hotel by Abner promptly at a 0730. It was just my sister and I in this clean great condition SUV with nice AC! Abner drove safely for 2 hours to the ruins of Xunantunich and spend an early morning walk around the ruins. Abner is a bag of information, we learned a lot about the diff cultures and history of Belize. We walked up to the hight point of the ruins and it was amazing. Then we drove off to the caves for our next activity-tubing. The area has clean toilets and cold drinks. We left our valuables in the car and it was very safe because there are park rangers around patrolling the area. Cave tubing was a fun experience!! The water was fresh and cool. Be ready to walk with your tube for about an hour through the jungle or pay someone to carry it for you. The cavern was amazing..there’s a area called Crystal Cave and is the most photographed spot. Abner will paddle and guide you through the cave and make sure you are safe. The only hiccup in our trip was he forgot to put batteries on our head lamps so we only had one headlamp to shine in the cave but it didn’t affect our fun adventure at all. Thanks VIV!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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minimum 2 guests
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up to 15 guests
2 Adult
June 2024
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