Many refer to Sa'c Tunich as 'the living Maya site' because at first glance it looks like an excavated ruin. However, Sa'c Tunich is actually the museum-workshop of Maya artists Jose and Javier Magaña, who create contemporary Maya artworks from stone and clay, both for exhibition and for sale. Tours of the site include the nearby gibnut (small, brown-spotted rodent similar to a guinea pig) breeding program and the lookout tower.
Sa'c Tunich
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
7.18 MILES
Set on a leveled hilltop, Xunantunich (shoo-nahn-too-neech) is one of Belize's most easily accessible and impressive Maya archaeological sites. Getting…
24.12 MILES
Once one of the most powerful cities in the entire Maya world, Caracol now lies enshrouded by thick jungle near the Guatemalan border, a 52-mile, roughly…
Green Iguana Conservation Project
4.5 MILES
On the lush Macal Valley grounds of the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, this excellent program collects and hatches iguana eggs, raising the reptiles until they…
24.42 MILES
The Classic Maya sites of Yaxhá, Nakum and El Naranjo form a triangle that is the basis for a national park covering more than 37,000 hectares and…
East Acropolis & Structure 216
24.29 MILES
Near the site entrance is the high point of Yaxhá (literally): Structure 216 in the East Acropolis. Also called the Temple of the Red Hands, because red…
24.54 MILES
The trio of pyramidal temples at the North Acropolis are built atop older structures dating back to 100 BC. Comprising of seven platforms, the…
25.22 MILES
This impressive sight is also impressively hard to get to, requiring 4x4-only driving or horses. Nakum was a significant port on the Holmul river, a…
6.88 MILES
Barton Creek rises high in the Mountain Pine Ridge and flows north to join the Belize River near Georgeville. Along the way it dips underground for a…
Nearby attractions
0.96 MILES
The García sisters display and sell a wide assortment of beautiful black-slate carvings. These five sisters developed this craft, which is now widely…
2.53 MILES
The magnificent Belize Botanic Gardens, accessed from the grounds of Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge, hold samples of roughly one-quarter of the approximately…
2.77 MILES
Pacbitun, a small site, 12 miles south of San Ignacio via Cristo Rey Rd, near San Antonio, seems to have been occupied continuously through most of Maya…
4. Chaa Creek Natural History Center & Butterfly Farm
3.02 MILES
Hike up the tree-covered hillside above the Macal River to reach the Chaa Creek Natural History Center & Butterfly Farm, a small nature center with…
3.17 MILES
This herbal-cure research center is at Ix Chel Farms, 8 miles southwest of San Ignacio up Chial Rd.
3.38 MILES
Set along the banks of the Macal River, beautiful Chaa Creek is a 365-acre nature reserve offering extensive facilities to lodge guests and nonguests…
4.27 MILES
High atop a hill about a mile south of San Ignacio, Cahal Pech is the oldest-known Maya site in the Belize River valley, having been first settled between…
8. Green Iguana Conservation Project
4.5 MILES
On the lush Macal Valley grounds of the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, this excellent program collects and hatches iguana eggs, raising the reptiles until they…