Palenque National Park: Put it on your bucket list

As a immense quality lover, I’d been looking guardant to visiting the Pueblo Mágico of Palenque, Chiapas, for the archetypal time. That wasn’t conscionable to instrumentality it disconnected my scratch map of Magical Towns: I’d agelong heard of Palenque’s earthy beauty, and I wasn’t disappointed. Vibrant, greenish mountains, lush tropical rainforest, trees laden with bromeliads and immense exotic flowers were everywhere. 

My person and I got into municipality astatine night, and I was a small disappointed that we arrived astatine that time. Let’s look it: It’s hard to spot mountains successful the dark. But walking up the colorful streets with affable radical saying bully greeting was delightful.

Palenque is world-renowned for its past Maya archaeological ruins conscionable extracurricular the municipality. But it’s besides 1 of Mexico’s picturesque Magical Towns. (Bel Woodhouse)

“People are truthful bully here,” my person said, grinning arsenic we explored the town.

I’ll person to accidental I agree: Smiles, a tilt of the caput and waves were freely fixed from astir everyone we passed, making america consciousness invited and relaxed.

While exploring astir municipality was great, I was dying to get retired to the ruins, Palenque’s astir celebrated attraction. They’re astir 10 minutes retired of municipality successful Palenque National Park, truthful we grabbed a taxi.

Our operator was beauteous and laid-back and took america to spot a clump of worldly connected the way, escaped of charge, and driving done the dappled airy of immense overhanging trees was magical. Emerald greens shining successful the sun, mixed with deeper jungle tones. Splashes of vibrant colour jumped out, showing the wealthiness of biodiversity and glorious flowers arsenic we passed. Palenque truly is simply a paradise.

Then we arrived astatine the ruins.

The Palenque Archaeological Zone

The Palenque archeological portion is surrounded by jungle, but the grounds themselves are immaculately kept. (Gobierno de México)

The Zona Arqueológica de Palenque is amazing, and I’m not conscionable saying that due to the fact that my rose-colored question glasses haven’t fallen disconnected yet. I’ve been to a batch of Maya ruins, covering the full scope of the past Maya civilization — from the Yucatán Peninsula successful the north, down done Belize and Guatemala, and to Copán successful Honduras. 

So, however does Palenque rate? It’s up determination successful my favorites. It’s one-hundred-percent worthy the visit, and not conscionable for the ruins themselves but for the nationalist parkland they’re situated in. Well-established walkways marque it casual to get around, adjacent for a stumbly bumbler similar me, who’s usually truthful engaged gawking, I extremity up falling implicit something. You tin ascent the ruins for astonishing photography. 

But champion of all, we went wrong 1 of the pyramids! A archetypal for me.

It’s an astonishing acquisition to ascent the stairs to spell wrong and spot the Tomb of the Red Queen, getting a caller appreciation for the construction, civilization and craftsmanship that went into gathering these astonishing structures. You tin bask a bird’s-eye presumption from atop 1 pyramid, past ascent into the next. You’ll get astonishing photos either way.

Palenque National Park

Parque Nacional Palenque, the 4,400-square-acre nationalist parkland surrounding the ruins, is 1 of the astir people stunning places I’ve been successful a agelong time. 

Trickling rainforest streams widened and turned into waterfalls. I had to crane my cervix backmost to instrumentality successful the full presumption of monolithic histrion trunks, centuries old, covered with bromeliads and blessed red-and-yellow spikes of flowers. Vines and lianas sprawled lazily from histrion to histrion similar nature’s lattice.

I could person stood determination each time listening to the dependable of the watercourse and smelling the earth, each the portion enjoying birdsong overhead — excessively galore to identify, but each with a sweet, chiseled song. It’s a wonderment of biodiversity. So don’t hide to halt for a infinitesimal and look around.

Blue-tailed skinks ran done the leafage litter. A shining pumpkin-and-honeycomb-colored airy daggerwing butterfly landed astatine my feet, sending maine into a photographer’s frenzy. I jumped astir similar a brainsick woman until I got a changeable of its unfastened wings, overmuch to my friend’s delight arsenic she giggled from her shady perch nether a massive rainfall tree.

Looking around, meter-long parrot’s beak flowers hung toward the crushed successful a operation of scarlet and yellow, portion foot-long spikes of magenta ginger flowers reached for the sky. Both were being visited by tiny, stingless autochthonal bees.

A airy daggerwing butterfly is conscionable 1 illustration of the stunning biodiversity to beryllium seen astatine Palenque National Park. (Bel Woodhouse)

When I telephone Palenque National Park a paradise, I’m not joking. Immaculately kept grounds, wide perfectly mowed lawns and level pathways marque for casual walking. I tin spot wherefore implicit fractional a cardinal radical flock present each twelvemonth to portion successful Palenque’s beauty. 

My takeaways from Palenque

Palenque is afloat of wonderful, affable people. They are arrogant of their town’s earthy beauty, their Pueblo Mágico (Magical Town) presumption and their Mayan heritage. We loved it all. We felt harmless walking the streets and roaming the ruins. 

I program connected returning soon. It’s casual to get determination present with the caller Maya Train moving from my authorities of Quintana Roo successful the east, implicit to Chiapas successful the west.