What Are The Palenque Ruins?
(A brief history – we don’t spoil too much before you go!)
The Palenque Archaeological Site (Zona Arqueológica Palenque) is a very well maintained set of remains of an ancient Mayan city, found deep within the mountainous jungle in South Mexico.
You will have a bit of a Lara Croft moment as you enter and climb the stairs to the top of some of the temples, surrounded by enormous trees and the sounds of jungle life!
The city hit its peak of power during the 8th century, and covered an enormous area – over 1700 hectares, with more than 1400 discovered buildings. Amazingly, only 10% has been excavated so far by researchers.
The crown jewel of the ruins is the Temple of the Inscriptions which houses hieroglyphs depicting a detailed record of roughly 180 years of the city’s history, from the between the 4th to 12th century! An absolute gold-mine for archaeologists!
How to Get to Palenque City
It depends where you’re coming from! We’ll cover the most popular routes below:
San Cristobal de las Casás to Palenque
This is what we did, so we’re writing from experience here! We took an overnight bus from San Cristobal de las Casás to Palenque.
Make sure you’re dressed for the humidity if you’re coming from San Cristobal de las Casás – the difference in temperatures and humidity between the two is SHOCK to the system after the bus!
Multiple buses run over the course of the day. We took the OCC bus and it was perfectly fine. The seats are not beds, but they do recline, and the journey takes around 8-9 hours.
Bus Tickets from San Cristobal de las Casás to Palenque
Departure times:
10:00am
12:00pm
1:00pm
8:30pm
9:30pm
10:15pm
TIP: When on buses in this area – especially overnight buses – make sure you always have sight of your bag, or have it on you at all times.
We loved our stay in San Cristobal, so if you are planning on visiting check out our posts on the best things to do and the best cafes, bars & restaurants in San Cristobal de las Casás!
Merida to Palenque
This journey also takes around 8-9 hours, so you can do a long day bus journey, or if you like to save on a night’s accommodation (just like we do!) take the night bus.
We would recommend the ADO bus and these leave at the following times daily:
7:45am
8:30am
10:00pm
10:15pm
10:45pm
11:30pm
Bus tickets from Merida to Palenque (with the shortest travel time)
You can get a flight if the overnight bus is not something that interests you at all, but bear in mind this’ll be much more expensive and would normally involve making at least one connection.
Flores (Guatemala) to Palenque
If you’re coming into Mexico from Guatemala, shuttles run from Flores straight to Palenque!
We booked our shuttle for this trip (in reverse) using Tulum Transportadora Turistica and this cost MX $700 per person (as of December 2024 – this is roughly £28 or US $34).
One driver will drive you to the Guatemala/Mexico border, help you through immigration, then you’ll hop on a different bus with a new driver who will be waiting to take you to Palenque – simples! It’s a really smooth process, and this particular land border is normally quiet, so don’t worry about not finding your driver.
How to Get to Palenque Ruins
The ruins at Palenque are about 9km from the city. If you really wanted to, you could walk there and it would take you just over 2 hours. However, for the cheap cost of a colectivo or taxi (see below), you might as well do that and save yourself the trouble! Especially since Palenque was one of the most humid places we went to in Mexico…
If you don’t want to walk, you have 4 main options:
Join a Tour
If you love everything to be sorted for you, we would suggest joining a tour. You’ll normally get picked up from your hotel, taken straight to the entrance, have a guided tour of the Palenque ruins and an all around great day!
Sound good? If so, we’d recommend this very highly-reviewed Palenque Ruins Guided Tour from Get Your Guide, which includes your guide and entrance fees.
If you want to combine your visit to Palenque with the nearby waterfalls, check out this Palenque Ruins and waterfalls Roberto Barrios tour instead.
Ride in a Colectivo
A colectivo is a local bus/shuttle which is a cheap way to get around in Mexico. These are usually used by locals but tourists can use them too. Normally, they don’t have timetables as such – you just need to know where to stand and wait for the right bus, watching carefully for the number on the front.
This is a great option to reach the Palenque ruins for cheap, however make sure you have a backup plan – we tried to get in a colectivo on the way to the ruins but it was already completely full. So, if you are determined to do it this way, you might have to wait a while for a colectivo with unoccupied seats!
The colectivo should cost MX $25 each way per person (which is around £1 or US $1.25) and can be picked up from outside the ADO station. If you’re able to ask a local/your accommodation front desk staff about a closer/earlier stop, you might have a better chance of getting a seat!
Look for the colectivo with ‘RUINAS’ written on the front.
We already mentioned a backup plan, and this is taking a taxi. We’ve covered this a bit more in detail below, so definitely give it a read so that you’re prepared if the colectivo is full. If you’re waiting at the ADO station there are plenty of taxi drivers willing and ready to take you!
You can also take the colectivo back from the ruins to Palenque, which we found really straightforward. The stop is right outside the entrance, next to the museum. Simply call to the driver when you want to get off.
Take a Taxi
Taking a taxi to the Palenque ruins is another great option, especially if the colectivo is full. We paid MX $90 (£3.60 or US $4.35) for a taxi from the ADO station, which isn’t too much more than the colectivo per person.
TIP: The taxi driver will drop you off at the ticket office – make sure to ask them to stay there, since once you’ve bought your tickets they can drive you up to the actual entrance, otherwise there’s a 2km uphill walk.
Hire a car
If you are planning on hiring a car for your Mexico trip, you’ll find plenty of parking spots at the Palenque ruins so there’s no risk in it filling up.
TIP: We always recommend rentalcars.com as a great price comparison site for global car rental!
You might also like:
Palenque Ruins Entry Cost
If the entrance costs are not included in the cost of your tour, here is a breakdown of what you will pay to see the Palenque Ruins:
As of November 2024:
National Park Entry Fee: MX $109
Ruins Entry: MX $95
Total: MX $204 (£8.07 or US $10.16)
TIP: They only accept cash for the entrance tickets, so make sure you have enough cash on you as there isn’t an ATM nearby.
You will need to go to two separate counters to get both tickets and these will be checked as you enter so make sure you get both!
Many guides hang around the ticket booths so if you decide you’d like a guide last minute, you can get one here on the day.
Palenque Ruins Opening times
The Zona Arqueológica Palenque opens from 8am – 4:30pm daily (the last entry is around 4pm, so make sure to arrive before this to have plenty of exploration time).
We arrived at 7:50 and got in the queue to buy the tickets. Hot tip: we actually sent a friend to the second counter as we waited at the first so that we could be the first to get both tickets!
Due to this, we were literally the first in the park at 8:05am and had the whole place to ourselves for at least 10 minutes. After those 10 minutes of bliss, the park started getting busier with tour buses arriving. Luckily, they tend to move slowly after arriving, so if you enter a little later you can whizz past them and circle back to anything you missed.
The small museum on site opens at 10am.
What to wear to the Palenque Ruins
Palenque is HUMID, so make sure you’re prepared for this! We would recommend light clothes that you won’t get too sweaty in!
You’ll be climbing up some of the ruins too so make sure you’re wearing comfortable shoes.
If you are there first thing the grass can be dewy, so closed shoes are also much better.
What to Bring to the Palenque Ruins
Bring lots of water and bug spray!! It’s very humid in Palenque and the mosquitoes love it – so spray up! It’s also a good idea to bring sweatproof suncream, as it can get really sunny and in the humidity you might sweat it all off!
Also, make sure you bring cash for the tickets and for the taxi/colectivo. Bring extra cash if you want to buy any souvenirs, of course!
Summary of Our Top Tips
- Arrive as early as possible. We’d recommend just before 8am so you can be the first in!
- Make sure you leave enough time to get the colectivo, and have the taxi as a back up if you want to arrive on time.
- Bring cash for tickets, colectivo/taxi costs and souvenirs.
- Bring lots of water and bug spray.
- Wear comfortable (and closed shoes).
What else to do in Palenque
If you’re spending some more time in Palenque, here are some more things you can do during your stay:
Waterfalls
Palenque has some really beautiful waterfalls nearby. They’re not super close to the town centre so we’d recommend joining a tour to go and witness these.
Misol-Ha & Agua Azul are usually combined into one tour and the Roberto Barrios waterfalls can be done as one tour.
Misol-Ha & Agua Azul Get Your Guide Tour
Roberto Barrios Get Your Guide Tour
Aluxes Ecopark
Aluxes Ecopark is close-by to the Palenque Ruins and works well as something to do after a morning walking around this historic site. It’s either a 40 min walk down from the ticket office, or you can hop on a colectivo to the front gate.
We hope you enjoy your time in Palenque and that you found this guide useful!
If you’re interested in more of our articles covering Mexico’s incredible archaeological sites, check these out:
Check us out on instagram at @lawsoftravel_ to let us know your thoughts or follow our travel journey!
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