Copan Mayan Ruins

Copan Mayan Ruins are a UNESCO site considered to be one of the most important of the Mayan civilisation.

The Mayan Ruins of Copan are located within walking distance of the town of Copan. The walk takes about 30 minutes but if you prefer or are not feeling energetic you can take a tuk-tuk for 40 HNL (Honduran Lempira) each. Unlike SE Asia we’ve found that Central American tuk tuk drivers charge for each person rather than per journey.

The entrance fee is currently $15 or 345 HNL and you can pay in either currency. If you wish you can pay for a guide in addition. The prices vary but we were offered a guide for $30 which dropped to $25, then $20 for the 3 of us. Like the tuk tuk pricing structure other guides offered their services for $5 each. We declined them all as on this occasion we decided to explore the ruins for ourselves!

The first thing we noticed as we entered the park was the large number of free range parrots perched high in the trees! It was amazing to see these large colourful birds freely flying in their natural habitat in the midst of the Honduran rain forest.

The site of the ruins is relatively small being only about one quarter of the size of Tikal and with only a handful of tourists (unlike Tulum). It was fascinating to walk around Copan knowing that up to 20,000 people once lived here.

We were fortunate to see some of the parrots at close range as they flew down to the bird feeders.

This is the third and probably final large scale Mayan ruin site we will visit on the Central American leg of our global adventure. We are looking forward to visiting Inca civilisations in South America.