Uaxactún Ruins 2026: Q200 in Tickets, 23 km of Dirt Road and the Maya Sun Observatory

Uaxactún is a Maya archaeological park and forest community inside the Maya Biosphere Reserve, 23 km of dirt road beyond Tikal. Foreign visitors pay Q50 for Uaxactún on top of the mandatory Q150 Tikal park ticket — Q200 in total — per the Ministerio de Cultura’s ticket portal, read 24 September 2026.

Uaxactún is what you get if you keep driving past Tikal: a Maya city with one of the first astronomical observatories investigated in the Maya area (CONAP), calmer than the busier parks (guatemala.com), and a forest community inside the Maya Biosphere Reserve. The catch is logistics — you enter through Tikal, and you pay Tikal’s fee to do it.

Quick summary

Ticket prices from the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes’ official portal, boletos.culturaguate.com, read 24 September 2026. Route and hours from CONAP’s tourism portal, read the same day.

What you pay

The ticket portal sells a separate Entrada a Uaxactún ticket — Q50 for foreigners, Q5 for Guatemalans. It also states that to use any of its add-on services, Uaxactún entry included, you must first buy the Tikal National Park ticket. So the real price of a visit is the sum:

• Buy the right category. The portal warns that foreign visitors will not be admitted with tickets that do not match their category — do not buy the Guatemalan-rate ticket if you are not a citizen.
• Card surcharge. Paying with an international card on the portal adds 2.30% to each ticket.
• Where to buy. Online on the portal, or, per CONAP’s route description, at the Tikal entrance booth when you arrive.

If you already hold a Tikal ticket for the same day, the Uaxactún ticket is the only extra cost. That makes the cheapest plan a single long day: Tikal in the morning, Uaxactún after.

Getting there: through Tikal, then 23 km of dirt

CONAP’s tourism portal gives the route step by step:

1. From Flores, take the CA-13 toward Melchor de Mencos and turn left at Aldea Ixlú toward El Remate, then continue to the Tikal entrance — 63 km, about an hour.
2. At the Tikal entrance booth, pay your Uaxactún entry.
3. Drive to the Tikal parking area, go to the park gate and say you are going to Uaxactún.
4. Take the road to Uaxactún: 23 km of terracería (dirt road).
5. At the Uaxactún gate, a person from the community receives you.

We found no official timetable for public transport to Uaxactún, and no official statement on what vehicle the dirt road needs. In the rainy season, ask your hotel in Flores about the road before you set off. For the Flores-Tikal leg — shuttles, fares and timing — see Flores to Tikal or, if you are coming straight from the plane, Flores airport to Tikal.

Hours: plan around Tikal’s gate

Tikal National Park is open Monday to Sunday, 6:00 to 18:00, according to CONAP. Uaxactún’s own hours are less clear: a 2022 Ministerio de Cultura list of archaeological sites gave 8:00 to 16:00 for Uaxactún, while a 2026 guatemala.com guide gives 6:00 to 18:00. We could not find a current official figure. The safe plan is to reach Uaxactún by mid-morning and leave before 16:00 — which also gets you back through Tikal’s gate well before it closes.

What you are looking at

• Group E, the sun observatory. CONAP calls Uaxactún the first astronomical observatory investigated in the Maya area. In the complex known as Group E, the ancient Maya followed the movements of the sun to fix key dates in their calendar, as guatemala.com’s guide explains.
• A Maya city of the lowlands. Temples, plazas and acropolis groups; the guatemala.com guide notes the visit is calmer than at the big parks, so you can take each structure slowly.
• A living forest community. CONAP describes Uaxactún as one of the last traditional communities that have lived in harmony with the Maya Biosphere Reserve since the early 20th century. Its economy rests on controlled extraction of allspice (pimienta gorda), ramón nut, xate palm and chicle.
• The site museum. The Museo Uaxactún Dr. Juan Antonio Valdés Gómez opened on 9 December 1995 with 95 pieces and now holds 575 registered pieces, mostly ceramics, according to the Ministerio de Cultura’s cultural information system. It lists entry as free, Monday to Sunday.

Rules and what to bring

CONAP asks visitors not to climb onto the roof combs (cresterías) of the buildings and not to write graffiti on the walls. Its packing list: light clothing, enough water, insect repellent, a rain cape in the rainy season, and trainers for low hills and climbs up pyramid structures. Carry your water from Flores.

Contacts

CONAP lists Uaxactún’s tourism contacts as telephone (502) 7926-3571 and 7926-3572 and the addresses visituaxactun.turismo@gmail.com and turismocomunitario@acofop.org. The museum listing gives 4745-4579.

Where to sleep: Flores

We weighed three options — Flores, the Tikal area, and Uaxactún village — and for most readers the answer is Flores:

1. It is already your Tikal base. Uaxactún is only reachable through Tikal, and Flores is an hour from Tikal’s gate (CONAP).
2. One ticket day. Because the Uaxactún ticket rides on the Tikal ticket, the efficient plan is Tikal early, Uaxactún after, and back to Flores for the night.
3. Uaxactún village is possible. The museum’s official address is Hotel Campamento El Chiclero in Uaxactún, so there is lodging in the village if you want a quiet night in the forest — but we found no official list of rooms or prices.

Live availability around Flores:

A workable day

If you want Tikal the same day, the ticket portal also sells sunrise and sunset tickets — see the Tikal sunrise tour guide for what those cost and how they work.

More in Petén

• Tikal sunrise tour — the ticket rules you share with Uaxactún.
• Yaxhá ruins — the other big Maya site near Flores, on its own ticket.
• Actun Kan caves · Ixpanpajul park — half-days from Flores.
• Guatemala’s archaeological sites compared · Flores municipality · Petén department · all activities.