The hook
The Athens of the Maya world: a smaller ruin than Tikal, but unmatched for the artistry of its stone carving, with intricately-sculpted portrait stelae, temples, and a monumental stairway inscribed with the longest ancient Maya text ever found.
01Why it's worth it
While Tikal awes with scale, Copán, just over the border from Guatemala in western Honduras, is celebrated for the sheer quality and depth of its art and its dynastic history. This Maya city, at its height a great regional power, produced the finest sculpture in the Maya world: its plazas are studded with elaborately-carved stelae, tall stone slabs depicting its kings in astonishing, almost baroque three-dimensional detail, and its buildings are adorned with expressive figures and glyphs. Its most famous monument is the Hieroglyphic Stairway, a temple staircase of over sixty steps carved with more than two thousand glyphs recounting the city's royal history, the longest known ancient Maya inscription. Archaeologists have also tunnelled into the temples to reveal earlier structures buried within, and the site's history, of a long dynasty and its eventual collapse, is unusually well understood. Scarlet macaws, sacred to the Maya, flap brilliantly through the ruins. The pleasant nearby town of Copán Ruinas adds a good base. For lovers of ancient art and Maya history, Copán is a jewel, and a natural pairing with the Bay Islands or Guatemala's sites.
02How to experience it
Explore the ruins with a guide to appreciate the carved stelae, the Hieroglyphic Stairway, and the excavated tunnels and temples; the on-site sculpture museum protects the finest originals. Go early or late for cooler air and light, and watch for the scarlet macaws. Stay in the charming town of Copán Ruinas, and combine it with the Bay Islands or Guatemala.