Bacalar Packages/Deals & Travel Agents Near Me

13-Nights Viva Mexico: Ancient Ruins & the Mayan Riviera - 18-to-Thirtysomethings

Price: $1,529 - # of Days: 13 days
Viva Mexico: Ancient Ruins & the Mayan Riviera This 14-day adventure through the heart of Mexico has so much to love. Kicking off in its buzzing capital and wrapping up on the white sands of the Mayan Riviera, you’ll eat your way through endless tacos and mole, exploring the country’s epic mountains...

 Package Details

44-Nights Epic Central America: Seven Countries & the Softest Sand Ever - 18-to-Thirtysomethings

Price: $4,004 - # of Days: 44 days
Epic Central America: Seven Countries & the Softest Sand Ever The big kahuna of our Central America trips. Travel from Mexico City all the way to Costa Rica over 45 days of jam-packed adventure, collecting seven new stamps in your passport along the way. For a relatively small geographical part of t...

 Package Details

28-Nights A Month in Central America: Beyond Tulum & Tikal - 18-to-Thirtysomethings

Price: $2,924 - # of Days: 28 days
A Month in Central America: Beyond Tulum & Tikal Dig deep into Mexico, Belize and Guatemala on this action-packed 29-day adventure. Eat the tastiest of local cuisine, explore ancient jungle-clad ruins, kick back on the beaches of the Mayan Riviera and in Belize, before soaking up the scenery of Lake...

 Package Details

Overview

Introduction

About 25 mi/40 km northwest of Chetumal is the town of Bacalar, home to Bacalar Lagoon (the second-largest lagoon in Mexico) and the Spanish-built Fort San Felipe (noted for its museum of weapons and military uniforms but not always open).

Bacalar is in the southeastern part of the Yucatan peninsula, a four-hour drive from the Cancun airport and a half-hour drive from the Chetumal airport.

Bacalar was named one of Mexico's Pueblos Magicos (magical towns) by the Secretary of Tourism. It is famed for its spectacular Laguna de Siete Colores (Lagoon of Seven Colors) and the historic Fort of San Felipe, dating from 1733, along with its Museum of Piracy. The lagoon, which is named for the many shades of blue in its crystalline waters, offers an array of watersports, including swimming, kayaking, waterskiing and pontoon boating.

Take time to visit the archaeological site of Dzibanche. During the classical Maya period, from AD 200 to 800, Dzibanche was a regional center so vast that it had 22 separate plazas; so far, only three have been excavated. Archaeologists postulate that priests walked some 1,800 mi/2,900 km from Teotihuacan, near Mexico City, to perform ceremonies at Building Six, a Teotihuacan-style stone base topped by a pyramid.

Dzibanche's Temple of the Cormorants has hollowed-out burial caves where lower-ranking nobles were interred. And inside the Temple of the Owl, archaeologists found a royal palace with gold from Oaxaca. Trading throughout the Maya area was extensive, and the temple itself is in the Peten architectural style, which is found as far away as Tikal in Guatemala.

About 40 mi/65 km west of Bacalar are the Maya ruins of Kohunlich, which include a temple with giant stucco masks. This city was occupied from the sixth to the 12th or 13th century and was subsequently abandoned. The Temple of the Masks was built about 1,500 years ago.

Also nearby are two other impressive Maya ruins, Becan and Chicanna. Becan flourished from AD 600 to 900, and about 50,000-60,000 people lived there. The site is famous for a unique moat that surrounds it and a covered stone passageway with false arches.

History

European pirates raided the region in the 18th century, but long before they arrived, Maya people lived in the region of Laguna Bacalar, a limpid lagoon of seven colors. There, they farmed, navigated, worshipped and built vast empires that were swallowed up by the jungle even before the Spanish conquest.

Today, the splendors of their ancient world are emerging from obscurity, and it's only a matter of time before this luscious, tropical wedge of Mexico is discovered by mass tourism.