The Great Plaza and Temple IV at dawn are the classic experience. Howler and spider monkeys move through the trees around the plazas, and from the top of Temple IV, the tallest structure, you look out over unbroken canopy with toucans, parrots and raptors passing below.

The causeways and forest trails between temple groups are where the mammals are: coatimundi in troops crossing the paths, agouti, grey fox, and ocellated turkey — an iridescent, blue-headed bird found only on the Yucatán peninsula and absurdly tame around the ruins.

The reservoir and aguadas, the Maya-built water systems, hold crocodiles and draw animals to drink in the dry season, with good birding around the margins.

The park at night is closed to general visitors, but those staying at the hotels inside the park hear the forest properly — howlers at dawn are a sound worth planning for.

The dry season from November to April is the comfortable window and the best for trails. Wildlife is active year-round; the birds are most visible early, and the ruins are far quieter before the day-trip buses arrive around mid-morning.

Practicalities

Flores is the base, an hour away and reachable by air from Guatemala City or overland from Belize. Staying at one of the three hotels inside the park is the way to have the ruins to yourself at dawn and dusk.

A guide is worth hiring for the archaeology and for finding wildlife; many are excellent naturalists as well as historians. For deeper forest, El Mirador and Yaxhá to the north and east see a fraction of the visitors.