Flores and Tikal

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Our Arrival

The bus from Rio Dulce dropped us off in Santa Elena which is the town on the other side of the bridge from Flores island. The bus station was too far down to walk to Flores with our backpacks and the bus was met by taxi drivers. The first driver quoted us Q20 each which we rejected and walked outside the terminal. There a driver offered Q15 for the two of us which we agreed to.



Where We Stayed

Hotel Aurora - on Calle Union. Q125 for a double room with bathroom and TV. The place had internet, a roof top terrace, laundry sink and clothes lines and a small kitchen but no fridge. Rooms upstairs with views of the lake were more expensive. You could buy water refils however it was empty more often than not.



What We Did

Went swimming in the lake right opposite the hotel.

VISITED TIKAL

There were numerous tour agencies booking shuttles to Tikal from Q125 return. We went to the bus station and they quoted us Q80 return with the first bus at 6am. The next day we got up early, started walking towards the bridge to try and get a tuk tuk to the bus station. Parked on the Flores side of the bridge were some minibuses and the guys said they were going to Tikal at 6am for Q80 return. We wanted to get a single so we had more flexibility with the return but a one way ticket was Q50. We agreed to the return ticket to save the price of a tuk tuk. When we received our receipt we saw it was through San Juan travel. We had read some horror stories online about this company so we were a bit worried. We waited by the minivans but another minibus arrived at 6:15am which was the one going to Tikal. We then drove around picking people up from their hotels on Flores so we actually left the island at 6:30am. Along the way a San Juan employee gave us an unexpected talk about the history of Tikal and the Mayans in English and Spanish. We gave him the Q150 entrance fee and he got out and paid at the entrance of the park. We arrived at the visitors centre at 7:45am. We all stood around the map of Tikal and received another talk about the different temples there. There was time to get some food and go to the toilet and the guide took us to the entrance and told us when the buses would be returning and where from. We caught the 12:30pm bus back. A later one was available at 3pm. I would recommend San Juan travel for transport to Tikal because it was one of the cheapest options and we received a talk on Mayan history which I know another transport option didn't get. They have an office on the Santa Elena side of the bridge next to the mall.

If you are visiting Tikal without a guided tour bring a map and some information about the temples. There are drinks and toilets available around the main temples. Wear trainers. After reading about Tikal we thought it would be a lot more spread out and wouldn't get to see most of it in a whole day. We were there for about 4 hours and saw everything bar the 2 more distant temples.



Where We Ate

The restaurants in Flores are all pretty touristy and therefore more expensive. We ate at a comedor and also in the market in Santa Elena.

There is a supermarket in a mall just over the bridge on the Santa Elena side.



Opinions on Flores

Flores is smaller than we were expecting and the streets were all really quiet. Be careful when swimming as the steps into the lake are quite slippery. There is a supermarket and ATM in the empty looking shopping mall just over the bridge.



Where We Went Next

We wanted to go to Belize. We were quoted Q150 from San Juan travel on the morning we were going to Tikal. We looked around agencies and the rates were about Q140. We booked our transport through Hostel Los Amigos for Q100. It turned out that it was with San Juan travel anyway.

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