Table of contents
Regions / Cities / Other destinations / Culture and History / Talk / Travel to Peten, visa requirements / Get around / Peten attractions and sightseeing / City tours / Good restaurants and cheap meals / Peten nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs. / Stay safe / Get outDestinations in Peten
Peten is a region of Guatemala.
Regions
Cities
- Flores – this island town is the hub of the region, with an airport nearby and connections to the rest of the area
- Melchor de Mencos – small town and the only land border crossing to Belize
Other destinations
- Classic Maya ruins at Tikal.
- Pre-Classic site El Mirador.
- Nakbé
- El Remate – a sleepy town on the east side of Lake Peten Itza
- El Seibal
- Uaxactún to the norte of Tikal.
- Waká, AKA El Peru.
- Yaxhá, between Flores and Melchor de Mencos. Site of Survivor episodes.
Culture and History
Talk
Travel to Peten - Visa Requirements
Don't skimp on long distance bus rides. Chicken buses are fun for a short time, but most will not want to spend a long time on them.
The route via Poptun is served by two "luxury" bus companies, Linea Doradaand Autobuses del Norte. Note that Linea Dorada's website claims are not borne out by facts and ADN advertises having "First Class Bonus". The advantage of this route is that you can go overnight and not become jaded by slash and burn agriculture for hours.
The route via Coban takes about 12 hours on buses, as opposed to the 10 or so via the other route, but it is more scenic. Plus, though you have to change buses in Coban, that is a destination in its own right. You would start out from Guate on Monja Blanca and switch to a minivan in Coban.
Tours and Getting around Peten
Peten tourist attractions and sightseeing
Peten city tours
Peten Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive
Peten nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs
Two good beers in Guatemala are Gallo, and Moza (which is a sweet-extrabody beer).
In most of the restaurants there are also fruit, smoothy type drinks called Liquiados, that come in a variety of fruits, and are made from fresh fruits.
Stay safe
Always stay on the beaten path, and stay with a group. Don't wander off, stay alert, and try your best to blend in and not draw too much attention to yourself.
Get out
Destinations in Peten:
- Cancuén
- El Remate
- Flores (Guatemala)
- Nakbé
- Poptun
- San Andrés (Guatemala)
- San Benito
- San José (Guatemala)
- San Miguel (Guatemala)
- Sayaxche
- Sayaxché
- Tikal
This page was last edited by Kai Kranz. Based on work by Peter Fitzgerald, Jim DeLaHunt, Evan Prodromou, Tom Holland and Dwayne Shreve, Wikitravel user(s) Cacahuate and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license
