How do you get to Tikal from Belize? There are five possibilities: You can choose to fly from Belize City to Flores (fastest, but most expensive), rent a car (only the Crystal rental agency allows you to leave Belize for Guatemala), hire a taxi, take an organized day tour, or travel like locals do…in the chicken bus!
Tikal
From the border city of Benque Viejo, you cross the border to the Guatemalan city of Melchor de Mencos. Then, you have to catch a collective van to Ixlu or El Cruce. Your final destination is Flores, where you can take another van or bus to get to Tikal. It is slow, tiring, and uncomfortable, but cheap and worth the visit!
When you exit Belize, you have to pay a fee. After that, you need to get your passport stamped on the other side of the border. Stand in the Entrada line and pay the entrance fee. It is probably not official, since officers refuse to give you a receipt. If you like arguing, then try to talk your way out of the fee. Otherwise just pay it and go through without any problem.
It takes about two hours to get to Tikal from the Belizean border by car, because the quality of the roads in this part of Guatemala is terrible, for lack of a better word. If you are really interested in Maya sites, you might want to stop for a visit to another site – Yaxhá, which is about a 40-minute drive from the border. The lack of tourists at this “off-the-beaten-path” destination compared to Tikal is unbelievable.
