To Do Near Flores and Tikal

I don't think it would be too much. Your kids will think they are on the set of Star Wars and they will be right!

You could stay at the El Sombrero hotel on Lake Yaxha, and visit the ruins of Yaxha (about 2km away) from there. Yaxha is an amazing site, and about equidistant between Flores and the Belize border.

Will you have your own vehicle? And/or is one of y'all pretty comfortable with Spanish? There are actually quite a few amazing archaeological sites right along that highway, including Holtun and La Blanca, though you would either need to hire a cab for the day or drive yourself.

There is also a neat cave called Aktun Kan just outside Santa Elena (Flores' mainland counterpart). Your kids might enjoy taking one of the little motorboat watertaxis that connect Flores with surrounding towns. The totally undeveloped archaeological site of Tayasal is in the town of San Miguel, and there's a nice lookout back towards the island of Flores built on the main pyramid.

For something not related to ruins and an interesting taste of "real life" in Peten, the town of San Jose is connected to Flores by water taxi (get one with shade) and colectivos. There are some pleasant waterfront restaurants where you can eat pez blanco from the lake, and if you're lucky you might be able to catch a game or practice at the Jaguares de Peten soccer stadium.

My only warning for poking around any town in Peten (actually, Belize too) aside from Flores is to keep some rocks in your pockets in case of surly dogs.

With only one extra night and three kids in tow, you may want to do yourself a favor and stay put at Tikal park. Get a hotel with a pool. One night is almost nothing. By the time you settle in and spend a day hiking the ruins the last thing you will want to do is pack everything up and go through it all again.

I agree with #3...enjoy the atmosphere at Tikal Park, Jungle Lodge has a great pool and spacious rooms with patios and spread out on the property.

In Flores, you could take a tour via boat to the zoo, its nice time and relaxing and easy to do....

Three kids, a river trip maybe?
About 45 miles south of Flores is a river crossing town called Sayaxche. They book trips to El Ceibal and Aguateca from the hotel at the ferry crossing. The El Ceibal ruin is about 45 minutes from town up the Rio Pasion, the trip to Aguateca is better than two hours by launch up some small streams into a big lake called Laguna Petexbatun with a small ruin perched on a limestone escarpment at the end. The river trip is something the children will remember the rest of their lives. El Ceibal is a very large park, not very uncovered as far as the ruins, it is a good contrast with Tikal. One very much rebuilt, the other in pristine condition, it looks like a hilly area but it is on a floodplain. El Ceibal is better for older kids-ten and up, lots of mosquitos due to the abundance of fern palms. LOTS OF MOSQUITOS!. Aguateca has its share of bugs as well but nothing like Ceibal. Aguateca has a colony of howler monkeys and spider monkeys that you will see-they like to throw things at the tourists, you will see monkeys at Aguateca...

Aslukas' suggestion of Yakha is a good one. Yakha is a big, nicely rebuilt ruin on a lake. Staying overnight there would be money well spent.

You could consider this: www.ixpanpajul.com

I wouldn't add a separate place to sleep - too much moving around and agree about having a pool, especially if you don't have ac. I just spent a few days split between Yaxhá and Tikal this week, 2nd and 6th visits, respectively. Happy trails!

Anoth vote for staying in the Tikal park in a place with a pool. Kids always love a pool. You don't want then to get ruined out at an early age. Kind of a stop and smell the roses type of thing. Photos of Tikal see wolf calls.com

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