Far north in Guatemala’s El Petén State you will find this country’s must see attraction. Immense Mayan ruins that in 750 AD were once home to perhaps 100,000 people thrust up from the jungle floor and tower high above the steaming canopy. Toucans and parrots flicker through the twisted trees, monkeys bellow and battle and race, and daring coatis rush about in packs circling the day-trippers, eyeing up their picnics for a raid. Fat Petén Turkeys blunder along like drunk peacock gluttons, strutting and squealing amongst the ferns. At Tikal you find yourself surrounded not only by ancient history, but also by the crazy, thriving beauty of the natural world at its most forceful and vibrant.

There were people here before Christ was born, and the booming civilisation reached it's peak in the mid 8th century. What happened to this supremely powerful civilisation is a mystery. Some offer simple explanations such as conquest and war, others offer stranger theories. The most convincing of these suggests a prolonged drought made life impossible here. Surrounded by the lush jungle this seems unthinkable, but studies of ancient weather systems and the fact that Tikal has no natural water source nearby might convince you. Whatever you believe, the mighty society that crafted this immense city had disappeared by the 10th century, leaving nothing but jungle choked stone in its silent wake.

How do you get here then? The options are many. Those flush of money but short of time might choose to fly. For around $140 you can arrange a two day fly in trip from just about anywhere in the region. San Cristobal, Palanque, Chetumal, Antigua, Guatemala City, Panajacel and Belize City are all places where this would be possible. Single ticket airtrips can be as low as $80. Organising a shuttle bus to Flores from one of these places is also an option. Flores is a beautiful town on an island in a great cool lake, about 50 miles south west of Tikal, and a great base from which to see Tikal. Expect to pay somewhere between $20-$40 depending where you are coming from. From Belize City or Antigua it should be about $25.

Hotels at Tikal are very expensive and the dining options are limited. By taking the first and last buses to Tikal from Flores you can spend dawn til dusk at the site and return for a swim in the lake and a wide choice of budget meals and accommodation. As Flores is a separate category on Ciao I’ll cover it properly later under the appropriate heading. For now it should be enough to know it makes a perfect base to see Tikal and is a cheaper and pleasanter place to stay too. If you really wish to pay the high prices and stay at Tikal instead you should note that the ruins are off limits at night, and though some people say it is easy to hide amongst them and spend an atmospheric night beneath the stars this is not at all advised. Tikal is not 100% safe by any means and this is a good way to get yourself robbed, beaten and probably worse. Have a look at the "thorn tree" on the Lonely Planet website for more and the occasional story of such adventures gone horribly wrong.

Make sure your fellow is an official guide, of course, or you might be wandering off into the jungle with a thief, a rapist or a murderer. Guatemala has a high incidence of violent crimes against travellers and as Tikal attracts tourists, so it attracts those that prey upon them. There is a medium sized visitor centre at the entrance to the ruins. Here you will find photographs of the excavations, book and souvenir shops, but most importantly guides for hire. The sanctioned guides wear a casual uniform of safari green clothes and they should have ID if you request it. Your best bet for a guide is provided by the friendly fellow who’ll board your minibus when it passes through the park gates on arrival (here you'll pay about $10 for a day's entry into the reserve). He’ll chat with you and give you some background and advice as your bus zips through the last 12 Km of pristine forest to the visitor centre and few hotels. He is a guide, and even if your fellow passengers book him first then he’ll be able to point you in the way of his friends on arrival. We paid 30 Quetzals (around 3 pounds) for his services and were incredibly impressed. His tour lasted 4 hours and when it was finished we still had the same again before we took our bus home.

For a map of the ruins and detailed information I would suggest this link. Click the red arrows for information, etc. http://mayaruins.com/tikal/Tikal_map.html. Using this map (about 100m between Temple I and II for scale) as a guide briefly, you’ll start off in the far east. The main sights are those packed into the red box in the middle, the eerily named “lost world” and the supremely high Temple IV. Many of the temples and pyramids are still unexcavated and covered in thick jungle growth. Temple III and Temple V are among these hidden monsters and tower above you like mountains, studded with giants trees and bound like gargantuan mummies in layer after layer of choking vines.

The Lonely Planet is useful as ever and has an exceptionally helpful bird guide to help you spot some of the many outlandish aerial beauties. The “Lost World” is a great area for this and we found a couple of French birdwatchers set up here with a telescope, frantically ticking their sightings off of a giant list. They let us have a peak through their lens, revealing an enormous emerald parrot with red flourishes. Here we also saw a tense battle between toucans and monkeys, both groups locked in combat as they fought for possession of a huge berry tree.

While you’re not going to give any food to these fellows, you will most certainly want some for yourself. Flores is well stocked for this purpose and a supermarket should easily sort you out with all you’ll need. If you are unsure about how much you’ll want over-pack rather than under. The prices at Tikal are ruinous and food is in short supply. Bottles of pop aren’t so terrible (about 150% up on normal prices, making them about a quid at worst), but you’d be well advised to come with water in excess. The jungle is hot and humid and given that you’ll be spending a day clambering, climbing and cavorting over upwards of 3000 ruined buildings liquid refreshment is a must. I brought a 2 litre bottle of water and big box of Oreos all of which went along with my half of a bunch of bananas. If you do the ruins justice and walk all day you’ll want some calories on hand to stave off fatigue. In the heat exhaustion is a dangerous threat to your health, particularly when you consider you’ll be climbing iron ladders and steep staircases with hard rock and gravity below.

To visit Tikal is to cross the boundary from the real world of hyped disappointments and over-rated tourist traps to an incredible world so wild in colour and steeped in mystery you will think you have fallen through the pages into a storybook. What detracts from this perfect world? The threat of robbery is real and should not be ignored, but with caution and commonsense you can reduce the risk to an insignificance. As long as you show good sense and follow trails and stay in groups the criminal threat actually enhances your visit - without it Tikal would be crawling with snaphappy American package tourists on day trips from Cancun. Go now before this changes.