Jungle ruins and caves in western Belize
San Ignacio is a friendly market town in the hills of western Belize, close to the Guatemalan border. It's the base for Actun Tunichil Muknal, the ATM cave, where visitors swim, wade and climb through a cavern to see ancient Maya pottery and skeletal remains. The ruins of Xunantunich, reached by a hand-cranked ferry, and Caracol, in the Chiquibul Forest, are both nearby. Jungle lodges, river tubing and the Mountain Pine Ridge's waterfalls fill out the stay, and Tikal is an easy day trip.