Gran Plaza

Calakmul


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 the south side of the plaza, is a must. A path on the left (east) side of Estructura II leads past the palatial Estructura III, with a dozen rooms atop a raised platform. Walking south from Estructura III you come to Estructura I, Calakmul’s second great pyramid (surpassed by Estructura II).

The best stelae can be found in front of Estructura V.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Calakmul attractions

1. Estructura II

0.07 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…

2. Estructura III

0.1 MILES

The palatial Estructura III consists of a dozen rooms atop a raised platform. Archaeologists found a tomb inside the 5th-century structure that contained…

3. Calakmul

0.15 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…

4. Gran Acrópolis

0.19 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. Estructura I

0.24 MILES

Estructura I is Calakmul’s second great pyramid (surpassed by Estructura II). American botanist Cyrus Lundell named the site Calakmul, Maya for ‘two…

6. Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul

0.8 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…

7. Museo de Naturaleza y Arqueología

18.54 MILES

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

8. El Mirador

26.3 MILES

Buried within the furthest reaches of the Petén jungle, just 7km south of the Mexican border, the Late Preclassic metropolis at El Mirador contains one of…