Palenque is a Maya city in the Chiapas rainforest, at the point where the hills meet the Gulf coastal plain, and it is the one most archaeologists will tell you to see first. Not for size, because Tikal and Calakmul are larger, but because the carving and the inscriptions are the finest in the Maya world and because the site is still surrounded by forest rather than cleared. Only a fraction of it has been excavated; estimates put well over a thousand structures still under the trees.
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The city peaked in the seventh century under K'inich Janaab' Pakal, who ruled for sixty eight years, and in 1952 the Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier lifted a slab in the Temple of the Inscriptions, followed a rubble filled stairway down inside the pyramid, and found Pakal's sarcophagus untouched with a jade mosaic mask on the body. That was the first time anyone had found a tomb inside a Maya pyramid, and it changed the understanding of what the pyramids were for. Note for anyone searching: a palenque in Oaxaca is a mezcal distillery, an entirely different word; this is the archaeological site in Chiapas.
What Makes Palenque Different to Pack For
It is hot and very humid, all year
Palenque sits at about 60 metres above sea level in rainforest. Temperatures run 28°C to 35°C with humidity that rarely drops below 70 percent, and it feels heavier than the numbers. There is no cool season, only a slightly less wet one.
It rains, seriously, most of the year
Chiapas gets around 2,000 to 2,500mm a year here, with the wettest months June to October and a drier window from roughly February to April. Afternoon downpours are routine even in the dry season, and the stone becomes treacherous instantly.
A merino wool base layer for women is not a jungle item and earns its place for the long air conditioned buses, which run cold, and because it is the layer that survives a humid week without smelling.
The site is a climb, on wet stone
Palenque is built up a hillside. The temples have steep original stairways, worn and often slick, and the path out through the forest past the museum descends a long way.
Mosquitoes and the diseases they carry
Dengue is present in Chiapas and this is lowland rainforest. Repellent is a health measure here.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Palenque Packing List
Footwear
Waterproof hiking shoes with real grip, and this is the most important line here. The temple stairs are worn limestone, the forest path is mud and root, and both are slippery even in the dry season because of the humidity. People fall on the Temple of the Cross stairway every week.
Sandals for the town and for Agua Azul, where you will be in and out of water. Water shoes are useful at the waterfalls, where the rock is limestone and sharp.
Clothing
Light, loose, quick drying, and accept that you will be soaked through with sweat by ten in the morning. Two sets, because nothing dries overnight in this humidity.
Long sleeves and long trousers are better than shorts despite the heat: they handle sun, mosquitoes and the thorny secondary growth at once. A packable rain jacket, which you will use, though in this heat a soaking is often more comfortable than a jacket.
Swimwear under your clothes for the waterfalls. A warm layer for the bus. Modest dress in town and in the Tzeltal and Ch'ol villages nearby.
For sun
A wide brim sun hat, high factor sunscreen and sunglasses. The great plaza at Palenque is open ground with no shade at all, which is why the site is best done at opening.
Practical
At least two litres of water. Cash in pesos for the site, the museum, the colectivos and the waterfall entry fees, which are cash only and collected by the communities. Strong insect repellent with DEET or picaridin, applied before you enter the forest, not after. A refillable bottle; tap water is not drinkable. A dry bag for the waterfalls and for your phone in a downpour. A torch, because the power fails. And a travel clinic conversation about dengue, typhoid and hepatitis A before you go.
What to Wear at Key Sites
The Temple of the Inscriptions and Pakal's tomb
The pyramid holding Pakal's burial chamber, with the longest Maya glyphic text yet found on its upper panels.
Practically: the pyramid itself cannot be climbed and the tomb is closed to visitors to protect it, so the sarcophagus lid and the jade mask are seen in reproduction at the site museum and the originals are in Mexico City. Knowing that in advance saves disappointment. The museum is air conditioned and is the right thing to do at midday.
The Palace and its tower
A complex of courtyards, corridors and a four storey observation tower, unique in Maya architecture, with carved piers and a genuine stone aqueduct running beneath it.
Practically: the interior passages are dim, uneven and slippery, and the subterranean galleries hold water. Grippy shoes. The tower cannot be climbed. Allow a couple of hours for the palace alone.
The Cross Group and the forest path
Three temples on the highest terraces, reached by a steep stairway, with the best views over the plaza and into the canopy. Beyond them a path descends through forest past the Otulum stream and a series of small cascades to the museum.
Practically: the Cross Group stairway is the steepest thing at Palenque and the descent is worse than the climb. Take it slowly and use your hands. The forest path is mud, tree root and stone, about forty minutes downhill, and it is where the howler monkeys are, which you will hear before you see. Do not do this path in flip flops.
Agua Azul and Misol-Ha
Misol-Ha is a single thirty five metre fall twenty minutes from town with a path behind the curtain of water. Agua Azul is a long series of turquoise cascades about an hour further, run by the local ejido.
Practically: swimwear, water shoes, dry bag. The colour depends entirely on the season: after heavy rain both run brown rather than blue, and Agua Azul in September is not the photograph. Swim only where marked, because the current between the cascades is strong and there have been drownings. Both charge community entry fees in cash at a barrier.
Bonampak and Yaxchilan
Two further Maya sites toward the Guatemalan border, Bonampak for its painted murals and Yaxchilan reached by boat up the Usumacinta.
Practically: a very long organised day, leaving before dawn. The murals at Bonampak are in three small chambers and are the best preserved Maya painting anywhere. See the road note in the safety section below before considering this independently.
The town, and where to stay
Palenque town is a hot working place seven kilometres from the ruins, and El Panchan is a cluster of jungle lodgings on the road between them.
Practically: staying on the ruins road puts you at the gate for opening and in the forest at night, which is loud with insects and monkeys. Colectivos run constantly between town and the site for a few pesos.
What Not to Bring
Leave flip flops as your only shoes. Leave the expectation of seeing Pakal's tomb, which is closed.
Leave a tight schedule, because rain closes waterfall roads. Leave cotton, which will not dry. Leave the plan to drive the Chiapas back roads for the reasons below. And leave a drone, which is not permitted over INAH sites.
Essential Resources for Women in Palenque
Emergency numbers in Mexico: 911 is the national emergency number for police, ambulance and fire. 088 reaches the Guardia Nacional. English is scarce here, so your accommodation is realistically your first call.
Tourist police: there is a modest municipal and tourist police presence in Palenque town and at the archaeological zone, and INAH staff and the site guards handle incidents inside the ruins. 078 is the national tourist assistance line, staffed in English, and the Chiapas Secretaria de Turismo handles operator complaints.
US Embassy: the US Embassy in Mexico City at mx.usembassy.gov covers Mexico, with the nearest consular presence being the agency in Oaxaca or the consulate in Merida, both a long way off. There is nothing in Chiapas. A lost passport here is a serious logistical problem. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: the Hospital General de Palenque handles emergencies and there are small private clinics in town, with standards limited and English rare. Anything serious is referred to Villahermosa, about two and a half hours north in Tabasco, which has the nearest well equipped private hospitals, or flown to Mexico City. Carry insurance that covers evacuation.
Official health authority: the Secretaria de Salud at gob.mx/salud, with COFEPRIS for water and food advisories. Dengue is endemic in lowland Chiapas and outbreaks are reported most wet seasons; chikungunya and Zika are also present. There is no malaria risk of consequence at Palenque itself but the lowland border areas carry a low risk, so ask a travel clinic. Tap water is not drinkable.
US State Department travel advisory for Mexico: current advisory level and detail, issued state by state. Chiapas carries a reconsider travel level, and the advisory names the concern as the areas near the Guatemalan border and the highway between Palenque and San Cristobal. Read the Chiapas section directly rather than the national summary.
UK FCDO travel advice for Mexico: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, with a region by region breakdown, including the guidance on road travel in Chiapas, roadblocks and the border region, which is the part that matters most for planning a trip here.
Official tourism authority: Visit Mexico at visitmexico.com, with the Chiapas state tourism board and the INAH site at inah.gob.mx for Palenque's opening hours, the museum and the archaeological zone rules.
Solo women safety assessment: Palenque is manageable alone and the risks here are unusual in shape: very low interpersonal crime, meaningful road and political risk, and significant environmental hazard. Chiapas is one of the poorest states in Mexico and it is not a cartel battleground in the way Guanajuato or Michoacan are; crime against tourists in Palenque is rare and mostly opportunistic theft from rooms and beaches at the waterfalls. Indigenous Tzeltal and Ch'ol communities run much of the local tourism and the atmosphere is calm. Street harassment is mild. A woman alone at the ruins, on a colectivo or eating in town is unremarkable, and the backpacker infrastructure at El Panchan is sociable and used to solo travellers. The distinctive risk is the road, and it is specific rather than vague. The Palenque to San Cristobal highway through Ocosingo passes through communities where unofficial roadblocks are common: sometimes community groups collecting a toll, occasionally robbery, and there have been armed incidents on night buses and on that route. Travel it in daylight, on a reputable long distance bus or with an organised operator, and never at night. The same applies to the border road toward Bonampak and Yaxchilan. Chiapas also has periodic political unrest, road blockades by teachers' unions and community organisations, and land disputes, which disrupt travel without targeting foreigners; a blockade means waiting or turning back, not danger. Do not photograph political gatherings, and be aware that some indigenous communities, notably around San Juan Chamula further south, prohibit photography entirely and enforce it firmly. The environmental risks cause more actual injuries than anything above: slick worn stone on the temple stairways, a long muddy forest descent, strong currents between the cascades at Agua Azul where people have drowned, heat exhaustion in high humidity, and mosquito borne disease. Go to the ruins at opening, carry two litres of water, wear shoes with grip, swim only where marked, and use repellent properly.
Reading On
Palenque has an airport with limited flights, a long bus ride from Villahermosa or San Cristobal, and the best carved stone in the Maya world. The Mexico travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the Mexico packing list for women covers a trip across it. North across the peninsula, the Campeche packing list for women covers Calakmul and Edzna, the Merida packing list for women covers Uxmal and the cenotes, and the Tulum packing list for women and Cancun packing list for women cover the Caribbean. West, the Oaxaca packing list for women covers the southern highlands and the mezcal palenques that share this word, and the Huatulco packing list for women the Pacific. In the highlands, the Mexico City travel guide for women, the Puebla packing list for women and the Morelia packing list for women. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why wool survives a humid week better than cotton, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
