A few years ago, before leaving to travel abroad, I read the book “Tales of a Female Nomad” by Rita Golden Gelman. It was a magical travelogue of all of her amazing adventures traveling and living in different countries around the world. One of her passages chronicled her experience visiting Palenque back in the day. I remember how she began her stay by sleeping in a nearby camping platform at the edge of the 1,800-year-old ancient Maya city in ruins.

She had taken local magic mushrooms with her group and lay in her hammock in the middle of the forest, swinging to and fro. She felt both afraid and mesmerized at the sound of howler monkeys in the tall trees around her, howling in their strange breathiness. She awoke the next day to explore the ruins, crawling up the impossibly high stone steps of The Temple of the Inscriptions, on hands and knees. 

The experience was something I couldn’t wait to see for myself. So when we booked our accommodations at the boutique palapa airbnb near the ruins, I was excited. 

Driving There

Our dear friend Kimmy gave us some good advice, on how to drive to Palenque from Mérida, and then to our next destination of San Cristóbal de las Casas. Be sure to reference our guided map for driving directions that are safe and recommended below.

After 8 hours of driving from Mérida, we entered the small town of Palenque by car, in the early evening. It was too dark to explore really, so we dropped our stuff at our cute airbnb before heading to dinner. The accommodations were simple, a bed inside a room with a palapa roof (traditional grass roof), on the 2nd floor of a little open air hotel, sans a/c, but with electricity. It had wooden floors and guard rails, and a cute porch with a hammock to sit and read on. 

That night we went for dinner at Monte Verde Trattoria Pizzeria and enjoyed delicious homemade pasta and beautiful vistas on the balcony terrace overlooking the wild jungle below.

The Next Morning

I couldn’t tell what I was hearing as I kept dreaming. I dreamt that the noises above us were an ocean that was “breathing.” When I finally awoke to ask what the noise was, I realized it was what Rita Golden Gelman had described in the book that brought us here… the howler monkeys!

A family of howler monkeys were above our palapa, sitting up in the jungle canopy waking up for the day with their very strange, otherworldly, guttural breathing and howls. The sound is very off-putting but when you see how cute the medium sized black monkeys are, your fear will be replaced with affection and curiosity.

Heading to the Palenque Ruins

That day we traveled to the entrance of the Zona Arqueológica of Palenque.  We met up with our friends Jill and Chris, of Artistic Voyages. We had never met in real life, before that point, but had met virtually through an awesome online community, Location Indie. They had traveled up from Flores, Guatemala where at the time they were living.

As we parked we were offered magic mushrooms by one of the locals as well as someone to “guard” our car as we explored the ruins. We decided to pay the guard a couple hundred pesos to do so, but held off on following in the psychedelic footsteps of the author I had first discovered Palenque through.

Inside the Palenque Ruins

 We decided to hire an English-speaking guide who was offered through the archeological site. As we entered the ruins I was awed by all of the trees around us before finally stumbling upon the famous Temple of Inscriptions towering above our heads. Our guide informed us that a very famous king K’inich Janaab’ Pakal had lived here 1,400 hundred years ago and had been a large influence on the city and thriving kingdom. Palenque was in its hey day during the Classical Maya period (250–800 CE). 

Unlike many of other Maya temples we’ve visited, the building to the right of the Temple of Inscriptions, called The Royal Tomb of Pakal the Great, had a tomb inside of it which held the remains of you guessed it – K’inich Janaab’ Pakal. We walked up the giant stone steps and through a small dark corridor into another hallway crossing in front of us. Through another corridor was a doorway into a small room. This was the tomb. At the bottom of the room sat a gigantic limestone slab ‘sarcophagus’, which apparently held the bones of Pakal the Great along with the jewels he would need in the afterlife (most importantly jade).

On the top of the sarcophagus was a carved drawing depicting the king rising up through a cross which represented the tree of life connecting the three worlds of the Maya cosmology – the underworld (the roots), the present earth world (the trunk) and the heavens (the branches). This drawing has been referred to as “the Astronaut” since it looks like King Pakal is about to shoot off in a rocket ship.  It was a rare and amazing sight to see.

Amazing Architecture

After this, we explored a few of the other big buildings and temples. We discovered that this city was so architecturally advanced that it had a public sweat baths (12 to be exact) and toilets! It had running fresh water that was diverted from a local streams into a “palace aqueduct,” and held more than 50,000 gallons of fresh water.

After seeing the beautiful 4 story tower looming above us, we also descended down into a long dark hallway (like a basement) under the Palace at Palenque, where apparently the royal family lived. There was very little light, and many back-to-back rooms, so we had to use our flashlights on our phones to get through and see. 

There were two more temples in a different plaza that we climbed, nearby and to the left of the Temple of Inscriptions: The  Temple of the Sun and Temple XIV. One of them had intact painted frescos on the wall inside the temple, depicting ancient scenes and glyphs. Although we weren’t sure what they meant, it was obvious how advanced, spiritual and thoughtful the society living here was.

 We ended the tour by walking away from the city down some hiking paths along a stream that lead down to a few other amazing waterfalls and pools. There were also other ancient buildings, that we discovered and climbed around. Receding into the enveloping jungle – howler monkeys climbed in the tall trees above us. It was a truly magical place. 

New Accommodations 

The next few nights we switched our accommodations to the place our friends were staying, a group of cute cabañas, which was right next to the ruins, named Jungle Palace.

After having dinner with them at the attached restaurant called El Panchan, and walking through the grounds, we fell in love with the beautiful, unique site nestled in the jungle. There were canopy trees and a plethora of tropical flowers along the winding serpentine paths, including birds of paradise.

Our room was built in a cylinder shape, climbing a spiral staircase up to our room which had an almost 360-degree view overlooking the jungle with a screen window. It was amazing sleeping there and waking up to all of the birdlife as the rising sun peeked through the dancing jungle leaves. 

A Magical Place

If you are looking to enjoy a very beautiful and magical jungle experience, all while getting to know one of the most incredible, fascinating and advanced societies, the Maya, then we suggest you check out the site of Palenque! We know you will not be disappointed. 

Want other suggestion for places to visit check out our list of places to see. 

What does Palenque mean?

In the Itza language the city was called Lakamha which means Flat-Place-River

Who discovered Palenque?

Mexican Archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Palenque.

Is Palenque worth visiting?

If you are looking for an immersive jungle experience, while seeing some amazing ruins, we would highly suggest visiting Palenque.

How much does Palenque cost?

Palenque ruins entrance fee is 80 pesos and the park entrance fee is 36 pesos for international travelers.

What are the hours at Palenque?

Monday-Sunday, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM (last entry at 4:00 PM)