Palenque Travel Guide: Ruins, Cascadas & Local Life
By Gillian Boyd Published 4 September 2026
Palenque: From ancient ruins and turquoise waterfalls to quesadillas and the Festival of Maize – see real small town Chiapas life.
Getting There
Palenque is an ancient Mayan city and modern town situated in the mountainous state of Chiapas in Southern Mexico, near the border with Guatemala.
By Plane – nearest major airport is Villahermosa (VSA) about 130km (80 miles) away. Then take an ADO airport shuttle or bus from Villahermosa to Palenque which takes about 2- 2.5 hours.
By Bus – Palenque is well connected with long distance buses from ADO and OCC available from regional hubs.
- From Mérida about 8 hours
- From Campeche about 5 hours
- From Cancún about 13 hours
- From San Cristóbal de las Casas about 5 hours
By Colectivo – we took a colectivo from San Cristóbal de las Casas to Ocosingo (2.5 hours), then a new colectivo to Palenque (2 hours). Faster and much cheaper.
How Many Days in Palenque?
2 days is enough time to see the sights in Palenque. If you are restricted on time, you could do it in one day by exploring the Ruins in the morning and then visiting Roberto Barrios Cascadas in the afternoon, followed by a night bus onward.
Where To Next?
You could take one of the many bus routes listed above.
We took a 7 hour overnight ADO bus to Chetumal, then the 10am ferry to Caye Caulker in Belize. We came back to Mexico a week later and had to pay the Mexican tourist tax upon entry again, which was poor planning on our part.
Templo de la Cruz at the ruins in Palenque, Mexico
Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque Ruins, Mexico
What To Do in Palenque:
1. Explore Palenque Ruins
This is the prime reason for going to Palenque and worth the unique experience as it is one of the few sites where you can still climb the steps of the Mayan pyramids.
Take a fifteen minute colectivo, with the sign Ruinas, to get to the Archeological Ruins. It’s a bargain at only 25 pesos from Palenque town centre.
Big Water
Palenque Archeological Ruins are known anciently in Itza language as Lakamha’ meaning Big Water. Set amid dense jungle, full of loud bird song and howler monkeys, it is hot, humid and steamy. It feels like you have entered another world. In 1987 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There were signs, giving information on the buildings, at the Ruins written in 3 languages – Spanish, English and Ch’ol. The latter is the local modern Mayan language spoken by the indigenous population in the surrounding region of Chiapas.
Palenque Archeological Ruins Site
Only 1/10th Excavated
Palenque was an important Mayan capital city with a ruling dynasty over extensive areas of modern day Chiapas and Tabasco.
The Mayan ruins were built from around 226 BCE to about 800 CE but currently only a tenth have been excavated from the 1780 hectare site.
Climb the Steps
For two hours we explored. In the morning heat and humidity, we slowly climbed the steep, uneven steps of the ruins to about eight storeys high and gained a new perspective looking across at the tree line.
Mastering Fear
I felt very powerful when I looked down and thought of how far I had come in mastering my fear of heights. Standing this close to the edge, so high up, would have terrified me before.
Dense Jungle
Surrounded by lush green jungle and trees growing out of some of the ruins, this site contrasted with the barren, pale, dusty ruins of Teotihuacan near Mexico City. It reminded me more of the temples in Ankar Watt and Ta Prohm in Vietnam, where Lara Croft Tomb Raider was filmed.
Jungle clad Palenque Ruins
Area B
Area B, is reserved for visitors with guides where you explore an unexcavated section of the site.
As we ventured further into the jungle trail, over intertwining tree roots and fallen leaves, we came upon a clearing surrounded by green moss-covered ruins. My heart beat faster. I felt like Indiana Jones discovering the Lost Temple. It was thrilling.
Only Us
After a few photos, we returned to the regular path through the jungle, finding a wooden rope bridge and smaller ruins along the way. The area is known as, the place of water, and sure enough, we found a quaint stream and small waterfalls.
It was so peaceful as most of the time we were alone in the jungle listening to the sounds of the birds, howler monkeys and the water. I think this was my favourite part.
Colourful sculpture at Palenque Archeological Museum
2. Archelogical Museum
We also visited the small museum beside the Archeological Ruins for about half an hour before heading back into Palenque town.
It’s an opportunity to see the carvings and sculptures much better and added some historical detail for us.
After the pale cream and grey ruins, it was surprising to see colour on the sculptures.
Roberto Barrios Cascadas, Palenque
3. Visit Waterfalls – Roberto Barrios Cascadas or Agua Azul
Being a mountainous region, Chiapas is blessed with stunning turquoise blue waterfalls. Visiting one of the sites should be on everyone’s ‘must do’ list.
Agua Azul is larger, with paved paths and commercial facilities. It is very popular with many organised tours, so is very crowded and swimming is not permitted.
Roberto Barrios Cascadas is a smaller, less developed, indigenous owned site without the crowds. You can swim in the series of 5 waterfalls which was the main point for us. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and liked that it was closer to Palenque than Agua Azul and frequented almost solely by locals. Easily reached by Colectivo from Palenque. Read our experience of Roberto Barrios Cascadas here.
Ave Maria Church
4. Ave Maria Church
In common with other towns, the main church is beautifully maintained, always open, in the Spanish style and situated in the town centre.
Quesadillas restaurant in Palanque, Chiapas
5. Eat Quesadillas
When we say we eat local food when travelling, this is what we mean.
Down a quiet back street, we found a delightful red table clothed quesadilla restaurant with twelve tubs of fillings available. Written on each was the name of the dish, but it meant nothing to us as we lacked knowledge of the local cuisine. So with permission, I opened every lid and had a peek inside.
We shared and mixed three quesadillas trying out the flavours of pasilla (chile pepper), pollo (chicken), acelga (Swiss chard), and chorizo (pork). They were all delicious but my favourite was pasilla which was a mild chilli sauce with beef.
Although only two tables were occupied, the restaurant had a busy trade in take away lunches. The quesadillas were washed down with our usual hibiscus water (aqua de jamaica). All for only $160 MXN (less than £7), comparable price to a sandwich meal deal for one from a grocery store in UK… but so much tastier.
Festival of Maize in Palenque
6. Visit the Festival of Maize
The Festival of Maize near the Zocalo main town square in Palenque was a celebration of local farmers, native corn varieties and indigenous heritage. The town was decorated with all things maize related. The decorations were even better at night when the lights were switched on.
Later that evening we saw at least fifty different stalls selling tamales and other corn related products. Each stall proudly telling you of their family recipe, or that it came from their farm. Who knew you could do so much with maize?
7. Bar Visit
A bar had caught our attention the previous day due to loud Reggaetón music which we like. We could see it was busy again today, unlike most other bars we had passed already. This was clearly the place to be on Saturday afternoon and we wanted to join in the fun!
We ordered 2 beers as soon as we went in, as I could immediately tell there would be no wine or cocktail menu.
I learnt 4 things while having a beer in that bar.
- I saw a simple, ingenious system for ensuring there is no dispute over the bar bill – under each table was crate for the empty beer bottles, and this was compared to the number of beers charged on the bill. There is no arguing when the evidence is there.
- It’s standard in Mexico to wipe the rim of the beer bottle thoroughly with a paper napkin before you drink to remove the rust from the bottle top caused by the humidity.
- Trust your instincts. Why? When I walked in, I felt eyes undressing me from the mostly male clientele which felt different to all the other bars I had been to in Mexico. But I was reassured when I saw some other women at the tables. It took me a while to discover I was the only female customer in the place. The other 3 women were working. And I don’t mean waitressing. I only clocked it when I saw them moving from table to table, sitting on different men’s knees!
- Travel opens your eyes to new experiences…
8. Swimming Pool Party
After the bar visit, we returned to our hotel where a kids birthday party was in full swing in the pool. Having 3 children, now all grown up, the pool party looked so familiar. And I thought how deep down we all have the same basic needs, wants and desires, no matter where we live in the world.
Final Thoughts
The main reason to go to Palenque is for the Archeological Ruins which feel different to other Mayan sites we had visited. It’s rare these days to be permitted to climb the pyramids.
Palenque is also a useful stopping point in Chiapas, as it is a big state to travel through on a tour of Mexico. So having pinned Palenque onto our route, we were delighted to discover the Roberto Barrios Cascadas, where we spent a memorable day relaxing and swimming in the waterfalls.
We had such fun with the Mexican people at the waterfalls and the Maize Festival and yet again saw their generosity on the colectivo. Our time in Palenque was short but we felt we got to see the real Mexico, not the TV and film version.