Hi Kkotcher

The ATM cave was great. I can't recall any part of it as involving motoring through pristine jungle. The drive in is on dirt road through fruit plantations. The walk is through nice jungle. The cave hike is quite amazing.

As far as whether to arrange tours on your own or go through the hotel, it may well be the same tour company either way. You could check prices to see if there's markup going through the hotel.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Could you let me know who your tour operator was and if you'd recommend him/her? Thanks,

kkotcher

pacztours@btl.net

Hi I would recommend both Tikal and the ATM tours both are amazing. We stayed at the San Ignacio Hotel and they organised the trip to Tikal for the ATM trip we used the local Bar/restaurant Eva where you can organise all local tours we also did a horseback ride up to Xuantunich which was lovely and quiet a lot of local families spend time here on the weekends. I would stick with a tour as the roads aren't very good especially after some heavy rain. If I had one to do over again it would be Tikal a truely amazing place.

We did the ATM tour with Pacz and it was seriously one of the best experiences ever. The whole day was awesome, with surprises popping up everywhere.

ATM and Tikal are a must. Use Pacz. Bob will set it up for you. Cave tubing is for little kids.

On ATM trip you will drive on a country road for about 30 min and then hike through the jungle for another 45. Stop on the way and steal some oranges.

There ruins closer to San Ignacio. Yet, Tikal is, in my view, more spectacular.

I actually think that Jaguar Paw's cave tubing is way neater than Tikal. And definitely not for kids. You have pitch black tubing, and can also hike back in the Crystal cave for a while, examining Mayan pottery on the way. Very neat. If Tikal hadn't just tripled their entry fee, I might recommend it, but Caracol is better, and has a much more massive temple(although not as high)

I'd only use Pacz Tours. They actually got a good write up a week ago amidst many immoral tour agencies in San Ignacio. The tell all article is on page 7 at: http://belizenews.com/thestar/cayostar148.pdf

Have a wild and jungly vacation!