Palenque Area

You could spend several weeks in Chiapas state in Mexico, and not have time to see all of the best places. So a week is nothing. I've visited multiple places in Chiapas over the years, and never found an unsafe situation myself. But you do hear about roadblocks and political unrest sometimes.

The best place to stay for Palenque is not the town, but out at El Panchen, which is hard to describe. It's sort of a jungle outpost for tourists, with lodgings and restaurants and hippies. Some places play live music at night. El Panchen is within walking distance of the Palenque ruins.

From Palenque, you can do daytrips to other Mayan ruins like Yaxchilan and Bonampak, both close to the Guatemala border. Or you could head for San Cristobal de las Casas, one of the capitals of the modern Mayan world. Or also, I would also recommend the fantastic Tonina ruins, which are about 3 hours from Palenque by car, near the town of Ocosingo.

Adding to mstep, the main pyramid at Tonina is now considered the tallest pyramid on the peninsula at 75 meters,and yes you can climb it...Also close by in Campeche is Calakmul, Balam Ku, and some other Rio Bec style sites near the town of Xpujil...

We've done everything from Cancun to Bacalar, as far west as Valladolid and Calakmul, as far as sites go. We really enjoyed Calakmul, and Kohunlich. We've seen Becan, Balamku, Chicanna.... we actually planned a trip around visiting Calakmul and surrounding sites, which was how we wound up in Bacalar for the first time, and really fell in love with the southern Yucatan.

Yes, Tonina is going to become extraordinary popular one of these days. Why tourists haven't discovered it is a mystery.

Tonina looks fantastic. Lots of tourists don't like going too far off the resort path...I mean, the difference between Chichen Itza and Ek'balam is night and day. Chichen Itza is like Disney, and Ek'Balam is nearby, not as busy, still accessible, but it's just not "the" place to see.

actually some of the cancun buses do stop at ek-balam .........booooooo
One site I visited last year in Tabasco is the furthest western Maya site named Comalcalco, with no limestone around the Maya made mud bricks that look more like 6" x 6" tiles and the mortar is made from ground up seashells from the gulf some miles away......the main pyramid looks like a smaller El Castillo and there must be billions of tiles....

https://delange.org/Comalcalco/Comalcalco.htm

Yaxchilan is a wonderful excursion. I only wish that the tours were able to give one more time on the site, but with the drive out and back, time on the river, it is what it is. Now if you could somehow stay out at the river, you might be able to get a ride down to the ruin early for a whole day of soaking up a real jungle location. There is no food service at Yaxchilan so packing a lunch would be advised. It is just a great park, well worth the effort, just a shame that normal logistics require the time on site to be so short.

There is a hotel--Escudo Jaguar--in Frontera Corazol, where the boats leave to take tourists to Yaxchilan. There is a restaurant at the hotel. One could easily stay a night or two there, and then be able to spend long hours at Yaxchilan. Maybe you could rent a car, stop at Bonampak on the way, then overnight in Frontera Corazol. We've driven the road many times in our truck with its ancient pop-up camper. It's an interesting drive. Just get behind a local car and watch for brake lights. There are maybe a thousand unmarked topes along the route, ready to send you through the roof if you're not careful.

I second staying at El Panchan, but at Ed and Margaritas, a small clean, hotel located in the jungle. Ed is gone but Margarita still runs a welcoming place with varied price points.

Touring Yaxchilan was a highlight of our Palenque area visit. Highly recommended. Palo Blanco has it right. Take a local bus out to the turn off for Frontera Corazol, then a taxi into town. You could stay in town and catch an early boat out to the ruins to explore at your leisure. Hitch a ride with a group instead of taking a "special" ride by yourselves, it will be less expensive.