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28 miles (45 km) north of Belize City.
If you’ve never experienced an ancient Mayan city, make a trip to Altun Ha, which is a modern translation in Mayan of the name “Rockstone Pond,” a nearby village. It’s not Belize’s most dramatic site—Caracol and Lamanai vie for that award—but it’s one of the most accessible and most thoroughly excavated. The first inhabitants settled before 300 BC, and their descendants finally abandoned the site after AD 1000. At its height during the Classic period the city was home to 10,000 people.
Getting Here and Around
Altun Ha is easily visited on your own—if you have a car. From Belize City, drive north on the Goldson Highway to Mile 18.9; turn right on the Old Northern Highway and go 10½ miles (17 km). The Old Northern Highway is a mix of gravel areas, broken pavement, and paved sections. The turnoff from the Old Northern Highway to Altun Ha, on the left, is well marked. If coming from Corozal or Orange Walk, you can also enter the Old Northern Highway at Mile 49 of the Goldson Highway. There’s limited bus service from Belize City to Maskall Village near Altun Ha.
Timing
You can see Altun Ha in a couple of hours. If you add lunch and a spa treatment at the nearby Maruba Resort Jungle Spa, you’ll spend most of the day in the area.
Safety and Precautions
Marijuana is illegally grown in remote areas off the Old Northern Highway. Avoid hiking off trail, where you might accidentally stumble on someone’s weed plantation.
Exploring
FAMILY | Altun Ha.
A team from the Royal Ontario Museum first excavated Altun Ha in the early 1960s and found 250 structures spread over more than 1,000 square yards. At Plaza B, in the Temple of the Masonry Altars, archaeologists unearthed the grandest and most valuable piece of Mayan art ever discovered—the head of the sun god Kinich Ahau. Weighing nearly 10 pounds, it was carved from a solid block of green jade. The head is kept in a solid steel vault in the Central Bank of Belize, though it is occasionally displayed at the Museum of Belize. The jade head appears on all denominations of Belize currency. If the Masonry Altars temple looks familiar to you, it’s because an illustration of the Masonry Altars structure appears on Belikin beer bottles. Because the Altun Ha site is small, it’s not necessary to have a tour guide, but licensed guides may offer their services when you arrive.
Tours from Belize City, Orange Walk, and Crooked Tree also are options. Altun Ha is a regular stop on cruise ship excursions, and on days when several ships are in port in Belize City, typically midweek, Altun Ha may be overrun with cruise passengers. Several tour operators in San Pedro and Caye Caulker also offer day trips to Altun Ha, often combined with lunch at the nearby Maruba Resort Jungle Spa. Most of these tours from the cayes are by boat, landing at Bomba Village. From here, a van makes the short ride to Altun Ha. If traveling independently or on a tour that includes it, you can stop at Maruba Resort Jungle Spa for a drink, lunch, or a spa treatment. | Rockstone Pond Rd., off Old Northern Hwy. | Maskall Village | From Belize City, take Northern Hwy. north to Mile 18.9. Turn right (east) on Old Northern Hwy., which is only partly paved, and go 14 miles (23 km) to signed entrance road at Rockstone Pond Rd. to Altun Ha on left. Follow this paved road 2 miles (3 km) to visitor center. | 822/2106 NICH/Belize Institute of Archeology | www.nich.org | BZ$10 | Daily 8–5.
Northern Belize History
The Maya settled this area thousands of years before the time of Christ. Cuello, near Orange Walk Town, dates from 2500 BC, making it one of the earliest known Mayan sites in all of Mesoamerica (the region between central Mexico and northwest Costa Rica). In the Pre-Classic period (2500 BC–AD 300) the Maya expanded across northern Belize, establishing important communities and trading posts at Santa Rita, Cerros, Lamanai, and elsewhere.
During the Classic period (AD 300–AD 900), Santa Rita, Lamanai, Altun Ha, and other cities flourished. To feed large populations perhaps totaling several hundred thousand, the Maya developed sophisticated agricultural systems, with raised, irrigated fields along the New River and other river bottoms. After the mysterious collapse of the Mayan civilization by the 10th century AD, the region’s cities went into decline, but the Maya continued to live in smaller communities and rural areas around the many lagoons in northern Belize, trading with other settlements in Belize and in Mexico. Lamanai, perched at the edge of the New River Lagoon, was continuously occupied for almost three millennia, until late in the 17th century.
The Spanish first set foot in these parts in the early 1500s, and Spanish missionaries made their way up the New River to establish churches in Mayan settlements in the 16th and 17th centuries. You can see the remains of a Spanish church at the entrance of Lamanai near Indian Church Village. About this same time, small groups of shipwrecked British sailors established settlements in Belize but the Battle of St. George’s Caye in 1789 effectively put an end to Spanish control in Belize.
In the second half of the 19th century, the so-called Caste Wars (1847–1904), pitting Maya insurgents against Mestizo and European settlers in Mexico’s Yucatán, had an important impact on northern Belize. Refugees from the bloody wars moved south from Mexico, settling in Corozal Town, Orange Walk Town, Sarteneja, and also on Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker.
Today more than 40,000 acres of sugarcane are harvested by some 4,000 small farmers in northern Belize. Mennonites, who came to the Blue Creek, Shipyard, and Little Belize areas in the late 1950s, have contributed greatly to agriculture in the region, producing rice, corn, chickens, milk, cheese, and beans. And tourism, foreign retirement communities, and casino gaming are becoming important, especially in northern Corozal District.
Where to Stay
Maruba Resort Jungle Spa.
RESORT | Maruba definitely delivers an exotic experience in a jungle setting, complete with 24-hour electricity, air-conditioned cabanas, fresh flowers in the rooms, high-thread-count sheets, and, in some suites, hot tubs. The decor is nearly, if not actually, over the top, with gold-painted stucco walls in some rooms, mock stained-glass windows made from old bottles, and bold fabric prints. The restaurant ($$$ - $$$$) boasts “nouveau jungle” cuisine, a selection of fish, shrimp, and pork dishes, often interestingly prepared, with salads and vegetables from local gardens. At night the restaurant and bar are bathed in black light. Maruba probably gets more mixed reactions from guests than any other hotel in Belize; some love it while others think it’s a bit too much. Maruba’s spa touts its “Mood Mud” therapy, using six different mud baths. One is supposed to arouse sexual passion. (In general, Maruba is geared towards adults.) Day visitors can have lunch or another meal at Maruba, take a swim (a second pool is reserved for overnight guests only), go horseback riding, and have spa treatments. Pros: remote; some find it sexy and hip. Cons: some find it outlandish; can be buggy; not in a particularly scenic area of Belize. | Rooms from: BZ$436 | Mile 40.5 Old Northern Hwy., 10 miles (17 km) north of Altun Ha | Maskall Village | 225/5555 | www.maruba-belize.com | 8 rooms, 10 suites | Multiple meal plans.
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