Visiting the Zona Arqueológica Palenque, in the State of Chiapas, Mexico.
The ancient Mayan city of Palenque in the state of Chiapas, Mexico one of the top archaeological sites in Mexico and definitely one not to be missed.
Palenque, also known in the Itza Language as Lakamha was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins date from around 226 BC to 799 AD.
After its decline, it was overgrown by the jungle but has since been excavated and restored.
It is much smaller than other Mayan sites in the region, such as Chichen Itza, Copan (Honduras) and Tikal (Guatemala), but it contains some of the finest Mayan architecture and bas-relief carvings.
Temple Of The Inscriptions at the Zona Arqueológica Palenque:
Many make a tour from San Cristobal de las Casas, but it’s a long 18-hour day, and you spend much of that time inside the minivan.
I travelled from San Cristobal to Guatemala via the border crossing at Ciudad Hidalgo/Tecun Uman, before eventually crossing back into Mexico at the El Ceibo border crossing west of Flores, and based myself in the city of Palenque for a few days.
The Archaeological Ruins of Palenque are less than 10 km from the centre of town.
And you can get there quite easily using public transport. More details at the end of the post on how to get to Palenque without a tour.
How to get to Palenque:
Public colectivos run regularly from the town. They depart every 20 minutes or so, from the Colectivo for Palenque ruins on Google Maps.
The driver will stop next to the Palenque Site Museum “Alberto Ruz Lhuillier”, where you need to buy your tickets.
Here, you have to pay the standard entrance fee of 100 pesos and the National Park entrance fee, which for foreigners is 215 pesos. These are the entrance fees as of November 2025, taken from the official INAH website. In 2021, I paid 80+90 pesos.
Once you have your ticket and wristband, you will still be 1.5 km short of the main entrance. And the chances are that the driver has not waited. So..
It is NOT 4 km as some put on Google Maps. I walked it, in 16 minutes, despite the intense heat and humidity and also that 2 days previously, I had received my first Covid shot, which laid me out for 2 days.