What to expect on the El Mirador 6-day jungle trek in Guatemala

Deep in the dense jungles of northern Guatemala lies one of the most remote and astonishing archaeological sites in the Maya world: El Mirador. Reaching it is not simple. Unlike famous sites like Tikal, there are no paved roads and no shortcuts. To reach the ancient pyramids you have to hike for several days through dense jungle in the Mirador Basin, an endless forest before finally standing atop La Danta. The El Mirador jungle trek in Guatemala is physically demanding, but for those willing to take on the challenge, it offers an unforgettable journey into the heart of ancient Maya civilisation. Or you can take the expensive helicopter ride for one day.

6 days in the jungle, it is quite an experience. I want to tell you about it, so, you will know what you will get yourself into. As we heard from the guides, some folks don’t really know what this adventure is really about and they return from the first basecamp. I want to help you, so, you can decide if this El Mirador jungle trek in Guatemala is really for you.

• La Danta: this pyramid is one of the largest pyramid in the world by volume. It is really enormous, besides 72 meters tall. Imagine viewing the sunset from the top of it, from where you can see the trees from above, the whole jungle around you.
• In Guatemala, on the El Mirador jungle trek there are much fewer visitors than for example in Tikal.
• Remote jungle setting, tropical flora and fauna, you can see wildlife in their natural habitat.
• Pre-classic Mayan civilisation, it is considered the most important complex of ancient cities from this period.

In reality, the El Mirador jungle trek in Guatemala is a physically demanding jungle expedition, not just a casual hike. The trek isn’t technically difficult, but the distance, humidity, and multiple days of hiking can make it far more demanding than many travellers expect.

The route covers 100-120 km (~62-75 mi) over 5-6 days. Expect 15–25 km (~9-15.5 mi) of hiking per day. The terrain is mostly flat, but the distance adds up fast.

The difficulty can also depend on which season you go. In the rainy season, which lasts from May till November, expect mud. Deep mud, which makes the hike very tiring. You can move much slower, so, the distance seems more than it actually is.

The Petén jungle is hot and sticky year-round. Increased humidity can also make the trek more difficult.

In the dry season, which lasts from November to May, the mud evetually will dry out. Insects will not bother you that much, like in the rainy season, but the heat can make the hike exhausting. The nights can be cold, that means there can be a huge difference in the temprature between day and night. We had extremely cold at night, below 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit).

The terrain is mostly flat, the elevation comes when you go up a pyramid. The trails sometimes seems endless, expect to walk around 20 km (~12.5 mi) on average per day. Therfore, after several days physical fatigue can occur.

You’ll have limited comfort: you will sleep in basic camps, wash with limited water, and eat simple (but well made) meals prepared by the trekking crew.

But the good news is, if you can comfortably hike 15–20 km per day with a light daypack, you will likely manage the trek just fine.

Your mental endurance also matters. Five-six days in the jungle with no phone signal and no quick exit requires patience as much as stamina. And that’s exactly what makes reaching El Mirador so rewarding.

I went with one of my cousins, we wanted to do this adventure since a couple of years now. This year we finally went for it. We booked the tour through the Carmelita Cooperativa. You will find their office on the island of Flores. You can just go in and book the tour of your choice. Or you can write them a whatsapp message to book it in advance. To visit the El Mirador jungle trek in Guatemala, you have three options to choose from according to your budget or fitness level:

• Helicopter ride: you can choose a helicopter ride. It is the most simple, short and most expensive option to see Mirador. A ride costs around 1800 USD, and this ride is just for one day. You can find more information about it e.g. here. If you have little time, but you don’t want to miss it, you can choose this option. The maximum capacity is 3-4 person per helicopter.
• Group tour: if you choose a group tour, you will be part of a bigger group with people from all over the world. This is what we did. These tours start on specific days. The price of the 5-day tour is 2900 Quetzales (380 USD) and 600 more if you choose the 6-day trek, so 3500 Quetzales (460 USD), plus tips. There is a 8 and 10 days tour, as well, but you have to contact the office in advance if you want to choose this option.
• Private tour: Private tours are a bit more expensive, than group tours, but then you won’t meet other people, it will be just you and your companions.

Most people only go for the 5-day trek, but we went for the 6-day one. The reason is, because on the way back you will see more maya sites and the route back is not the same as you came as by the 5 days trek.

I don’t want to tell you much about the mayan sites, you should hear all that from the guides if you are planning to go. In this blog post I will just tell you about the trek itself and the camps, what to expect.

So, let’s see the trek itself. It was easier to accomplish than we initially thought. Altogether, we walked 120 km (~75 mi) during the 6 day hike. That means the average is 20 km (~12.5 mi) per day. If you are not used to hike that much amount of distance you could feel a little bit harder to complete.

The guides are spanish speaking people. If you don’t speak spanish just e.g. english you will need to purchase a translator or a billingual guide. Or if you are lucky there will be somebody in your group that speaks spanish and can translate for the group. 

The meeting point was in Flores at the Carmelita Cooperativa office at 5 in the morning. Some people were a bit late, so our group of 14 people departed from Flores a little bit late. We were transported to Carmelita, the last inhabited village before the jungle.

The bus route took 3 hours, because the roads that lead to the village are not in the best condition and the shuttle bus was full of people. We had a few stops, for toilet breaks and a coffee break. We arrived at Carmelita around half past 9 in the morning.

You have to pack into two backpacks. One that will be carried by the mules with all your clothes and what you don’t need on the actual daytrek. After we arrived, they took the bigger backpacks and got the mules ready, so, they could get going before us. Make sure you only bring what is necessary to the hike. You will unpack and pack your belongings several times during the whole trek.

In the other, smaller backpack keep water, maybe some electrolites (you will need it), some snacks if you want to eat between meals they provide (you will need energy, so some nuts, chocolate or musli will help you along the way). Also, headlamp, or something you can use to illuminate, maybe your mobile phone, toiletpaper if you need to go away during hiking, tissues, medicine if you take any and anything else you may need during the hike.

At around 11 am we started the hike, we got ready slowly and took more time to have breakfast, so we were a bit late. At every 5 km (~3 mi) we stopped for a couple of minutes, and had a bigger brake to have lunch.

We walked 19 km (~12 mi) on the first day from Carmelita to the camp by El Tintal through the jungle. On the route we saw a jaguar paw footprint in the mud. After we reached the camp and got our tents we settled in.

Late afternoon we walked another 3 km (~1.8 mi) to reach and then get back from the pyramid El Tintal, from where we saw the sunset. El Tintal is the second largest site after El Mirador in the Mirador Basin. After we got back we started to eat our dinner at 7 pm, then we went to have a bath and sleep.

On the second day we hiked 26 km (~16 mi) from El Tintal to El Mirador. We had to get up at half past 5 in the morning, pack our bags and got to be ready until six. At six we had breakfast, and at half past 6 we started the hike. Approximately every 5 km (~3 mi) we had a short reststop and had a bigger stop for lunch.

Around four in the afternoon we reached the camp by El Mirador. We settled in, then started our hike to pyramid El Tigre, where we watched the sunset. After we got back from the pyramid, we had dinner at seven, then went to have a bath and then we went to sleep.

We got up at five to see the sunrise from pyramid El Mono. After we watched the sunrise we went back to the camp to have breakfast. We went to explore the city of El Mirador after breakfast and spent two-three hours there. The archeologists have only two months in a year to work there, so, they can’t progress too much, like uncover the whole city in one go. After wandering in the late city of El Mirador we went back to the campsite to have lunch.

After lunch we had a little break, we could relax in the sun, read, chat etc for around two hours. At half past three in the afternoon we left to go atop La Danta. La Danta is one of the world’s largest pyramid, it is 72 meters tall. We viewed the sunset from there. Amazing experience, you see all the trees around you from above, and hear the sound of the jungle animals. After we got back, at seven we had dinner than went to sleep.

The schedule was similar to the days before: we got up at half past five, had breakfast at six, then departed at half past six. We parted ways, the part of the group who just came for the 5 days tour went back towards Carmelita on the same route we came. Our group of now just 4 people continued our way more deep into the jungle. We trekked 14 km (~9 mi), with only one short rest stop.

It took about three and a half hours to get to the campsite near Nakbé. When we got there we had a little bit of time to relax and chat and had lunch. At three we left to see Nakbé. There are buildings and things that still need to be uncovered. We watched the sunset from the pyramid and then had dinner, then we went to sleep.

The next stop according to the original schedule would have been Wakná, but we had been told that there isn’t any water in Wakná, therefore we can’t camp there. So, according to the new schedule we went back to El Tintal, just on a different route than we came.

As usual, we woke up at half past five, ate breakfast at six, and departed at half past six. We had to walk 26 km (~16 mi) back to El Tintal. On this route not many people walk, our guide told us that therefore maybe we will see a jaguar. Only our guide saw one, but the animal was so quick, neither of us had the chance to see it. We arrived in El Tintal early, we could rest a little before we went to see the sunset again from pyramid El Tigre.

We got up at five, had breakfast, departed at six. The road to La Florida is also not visited by many people. Therefore we hoped that maybe on our last day we will see a jaguar, but unfortunately we did not see any. Only trace of the animal. We saw porcupine spikes on the ground with fresh blood on them. The jaguar probably attacked the porcupine.

La Florida is very small, not much of the city is already uncovered. But near La Florida there is a huge and ancient Ceiba tree. Ceiba is the national tree of Guatemala. Moreover, the ceiba tree in Mayan mythology is the sacred “World tree”, which connects the underworld, the earth and heaven.

We walked 19 km (~12 mi) on the last day. We arrived back to Carmelita at around half past 10. Because there were just the four of us, we were transported back to Flores with a 4×4 car. The route took about two hours to Flores, the 4×4 car was a lot faster than the bus. 

This is the best and most equipped camp during the whole hike. You will bath in rainwater which they collect during the cold season, between May and November. The water will be cold, get ready for that. But there is a normal shower establishment and flush toilets in this camp. You will appreciate it on the way back more, because it is luxury compared to the other camps out there in the jungle.

It is much more nomadic than the camping by El Tintal. It is much bigger, but here, at El Mirador, there isn’t any flush toilet, just latrines. One for the ladies and one for the gents, next to each other. The toilet is a bit far from the tents, you have to walk a little to reach it. Make sure, you have something you can illuminate with at night if you have to go.

You will experience a real jungle experience, the rainwater is very cold and there isn’t any faucet for showering. There is a designated area set up for showering. In these boxes you will find a barrel with rainwater and a smaller bucket.

If you don’t know how to use it, I will tell you, because before this I did not know either. You have to dip the small bucket in the barrel and pour the water over yourself, then use your soap/shower gel etc. The next person will use the same water barrel, therefore you should not wash yourself in the big barrel! Instead, you should dip the bucket in the barrel and pour the water over yourself. So, please don’t wash yourself in the barrel, you do not want to wash yourself in that after another person either. 

The camp is similar to the one by El Mirador, just way smaller, because fewer people come here. Our guide told us that sometimes jaguars also walk in and out the campsite. At night I heard an animal walking around our tents and sniffing it. It was maybe a tapir looking for water or even maybe a jaguar. I was too scared to get up and look out of the tent what kind of animal it was.

After the logistics in Carmelita, we went to have breakfast. Some folks that living in the village made us breakfast. We walked to their home where they served us the meal. The breakfast was a typical one with scrambled eggs, platano (banana) and bean puree, to have our protein level up for the hike.

We got sandwiches for lunch, which contained some meat, cheese and vegetables. It was the best sandwich I could eat in the jungle, it really was delicious. If you are vegan or vegetarian you just tell them and you will get a meal according to your diet. The dinner was chicken with rice. You will get plenty of drinking water along the whole hike.

We got typical breakfast with eggs, platano and beans. The lunch was chicken taco. All the food they served was delicious in my opinion. The ingredients were the same, but they prepared something new almost always from these ingredients. The dinner was pasta with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese.

We got up, made a coffee and then started to walk to the pyramid El Mono. I had my coffee in my hand and took it up to the pyramid. We walked in complete darkness, the sun started to rise when we got up to the top of the pyramid. It was an amazing experience to hear the jungle waking up. On the other hand I had the opportunity to drink my morning coffee on the top of a pyramid in the middle of the jungle while watching the sunrise. It was one of the best coffee I had in my life.

After sunrise we walked back to the campsite and had breakfast. The breakfast was pancakes with honey and fruits. The lunch was meat with salad.

We ate fruits and meat with rice and vegetables for lunch. The dinner was vegetable soup, but it was very rich in ingredients.

The breakfast was scrambled eggs with bean puree, lunch was chicken taco, and the dinner was pasta with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs with bean puree. After we got back to Carmelita, we had a beer to celebrate we completed the trek. For lunch we walked back to the same house as we ate on the first day, we got chicken, rice and vegetables and a guanabana drink.

Yes, it is very much worth it, if:

• You enjoy off-the-beaten-path travel, it’s one of the most extraordinary experiences in Central America.
• You want to visit one of the largest ancient cities in the Maya world. El Mirador was a massive civilization, the site contains huge pyramids hidden beneath the jungle canopy, including the colossal La Danta pyramid, one of the largest pyramids on Earth.
• You want to go to a place that is not crowded, where there are fewer tourists. While places like Tikal receive thousands of visitors daily, El Mirador often has around or fewer than a dozen trekkers at the ruins.
• You want a true jungle adventure. The trek itself feels like stepping into an archaeological expedition. You pass ancient causeways, hidden ruins, and untouched rainforest that few travelers ever see. You didn’t just show up, you earned the view.

Why it might not be your thing:

• Expect long hikes, sometimes with not much time for relaxation.
• It is physically and also can be mentally demanding.
• It is a bit expensive.

Still not sure if the trek is worth it? I compared El Mirador vs Tikal to help you decide.

• Pack light, only bring what is necessary for the hike. You have to pack and unpack your bags several times during the hike. The more things you have, the more things you should handle. Moreover, you won’t have a lot of space in your tent.
• Have good hiking shoes, I can’t emphasize this enough. You walk in them 20 km (~12 mi) on average each day. Your shoes shall be comfortable.
• Carry electrolytes. Drinking water is important, but you will need minerals, as well. You can buy electrolytes in powder form at pharmacies in Flores. You just have to put the powder in water.
• Bring medicine, e.g. painkiller or antipyretic, you never know, you may need them. The guides will also have medicine with them, and will give you if you need anything, but better be prepared yourself.
• Prepare some snacks, e.g. nuts or muslibar, in your backpack. The food they serve is plenty, but between the meals you may need a bit of extra energy.
• Dry season is the best time to go. To complete the El Mirador jungle trek in Guatemala is easier in this period. If you go in the rainy season pack a raincoat, or a waterproof layer, extra shoes and rubber boots.

The 6-day El Mirador jungle trek is not the easiest adventure in Guatemala, but that is what makes it special. Long days of hiking, heat, humidity, and occasionally mud are part of the experience. Yet the reward is extraordinary: towering pyramids emerging from untouched jungle, almost no crowds, and the feeling of stepping into a lost world. For travellers seeking something raw, remote, and historically profound, El Mirador is more than a destination, it is an adventure that stays with you long after the jungle dust has washed off.