Campamento Yaax' Che

Calakmul


This is the closest campground to the Calakmul site, and the nearest thing to a camping experience in the jungle. It's several kilometers after the turnoff from Hwy 186 on the road to Calakmul and another 700m in on a rough road. It's a relaxed, wilderness-style campground with sites for BYO tents. Or you can opt for ready-pitched tents.

It can be muddy when wet. There are environmentally friendly dry toilets and 'natural' showers plus a communal palapa. Meals can be arranged at the on-site restaurant. Head honchos Fernando and Leticia offer tours, too, including a three-hour jungle tour (around M$950 per person; five to six people) and a tour of archaeological sites (from M$1200; eight-person minimum).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Calakmul attractions

1. Museo de Naturaleza y Arqueología

5.12 MILES

Calakmul's modern Museo de Naturaleza y Arqueología has geological, archaeological and natural-history exhibits that are well displayed and provide a…

2. Cueva de los Murciélagos

7.43 MILES

At sundown every evening some two to three million bats swirl up from the depths of a dry cenote, forming a tornado of fur and wings that's a surreal…

3. Balamkú

9.66 MILES

‘Discovered’ only in 1990, Balamkú boasts a remarkably ornate, stuccoed frieze that bears little resemblance to any of the known decorative elements in…

4. Gran Acrópolis

23.35 MILES

The Gran Acrópolis is a labyrinthine residential zone with a ceremonial sector containing a ball court. (From the northern perimeter of this zone, you can…

5. Calakmul

23.4 MILES

Quite unlike any other Maya city you'll visit in Yucatán, Calakmul was ‘discovered’ in 1931 by American botanist Cyrus Lundell, and is located deep in the…

6. Gran Plaza

23.47 MILES

The Gran Plaza, with its ancient buildings and many stelae, is a good place to begin your Calakmul explorations. Climbing the enormous Estructura II, at…

7. Estructura II

23.53 MILES

Climbing the enormous Estructura II, at the south side of the Gran Plaza, is a must. Each of this pyramid’s sides is 140m long, giving it a footprint of…

8. Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul

23.53 MILES

Lying at the heart of the vast, untrammeled Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul (which covers close to 15% of the state’s total territory), the magnificent…