Zona Arqueológica de Palenque

The ruins of ancient Palenque are the reason most people come to the town of Palenque. They stand about eight kilometers west of town, on a shelf of land where the jungle-covered hills of northern Chiapas drop to the Gulf plains, and they are one of the most beautiful Maya sites anywhere. UNESCO listed the ancient city and the national park around it as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Palenque, called Lakamha ("big water") by its builders for the streams that run through it, reached its height in the 600s and 700s. Its best-known ruler, K'inich Janaab' Pakal, reigned for decades and was buried inside the Temple of the Inscriptions, whose walls carry one of the longest Maya texts ever found. Archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier discovered his hidden tomb in 1952, with its carved stone lid and jade mask, one of the great finds of Maya archaeology.

Today you walk among the Palace with its tower and courtyards, the Temple of the Inscriptions, the temples of the Cross group, and smaller buildings half swallowed by the forest, while howler monkeys call from the trees. Only part of the city has been excavated. The site museum near the exit displays carvings and finds from the excavations, and it is worth leaving time for.