Skip link for screen readers

Mexico & Belize & Guatemala

Mayan Pyramids, Colourful Markets, Rich Heritage and Cultural Splendour

Dulce Tour - 30 Night Itinerary

Explore magnificent Mayan temples and ancient archaeological sites in dense rainforest, beautiful Lake Atitlan, colonial Merida, famous markets, the pine forests and barrier reef of Belize and enjoy the sea and beaches of the Riviera Maya.

Select your Preferred Departure Date OR Default to Today's Date

Travel Highlights

  • Enjoy the traditional ambiance of colonial Antigua
  • Visit an expert local weaver with superb colourful patchwork pieces
  • Take a boat ride on scenic Lake Atitlan and meet local Mayan villagers
  • Visit the famous market at Chichicastenango.
  • Travel to the Mayan site of Copan in Honduras
  • Cruise on the Rio Dulce on the Guatemalan coast
  • Spend a few days exploring the protected pine forest in Belize
  • Visit the extra-ordinary Mayan ruins at Tikal, lost in the jungle
  • Explore the Yucatan, from colonial Merida to Uxmal and Chichen Itza
  • Spend 4 nights on the beach at Tulum on the Riviera Maya

Tour Route

This itinerary can be tailored to your preferences by our specialist advisors, who can provide a guaranteed price based on your choice of departure date, route, duration, flights, cabin, hotels, transport and excursions.

Request Quotation
Map of Dulce

Tour Itinerary

Colonial Antigua
  • Full Description
  • Accommodation
Sunday, 22 June 2025

Fly to Guatemala

Depart the UK on an overnight flight to Guatemala City.


Monday, 23 June 2025

Transfer to Antigua

On arrival in Guatemala City, you will be met by our guide and transferred to your chosen hotel in Antigua for a 3-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. Your guide will give you a short orientation tour to help you settle in. The rest of the day is at leisure.


Tuesday, 24 June 2025

Walking tour of Antigua

Enjoy a guided walking tour of Antigua today, visiting the architectural and historical highlights of this colonial city including ruined churches, convents, and cathedrals. Your guide can personalise your tour depending on your interests.


Wednesday, 25 June 2025

At leisure in Antigua

Enjoy the charming ambience of this historic city at your leisure.

Character Pool
Antigua - First Hotel

Casa Encantada

Casa Encantada is one of the most intimate and relaxing boutique hotels in Antigua. Once you enter the hotel from the cobbled street enjoy the tranquility, calm and warmth of a private residence. Rustic but elegant architecture and charming decoration create a deep sense of tranquility and peace. 

The cozy interior patio and garden has a small…

More Details
Interior Courtyard
Antigua - Luxury Hotel

El Convento Boutique Hotel

Situated in one of Antigua's famed cobblestone streets, in front of the superb 18th century Capuchin convent, El Convento is a sanctuary from which you can discover the city's magnificent sites.

The all-suite El Convento gracefully marries the ancient with the modern. Combining artisanal brick vaulted ceilings, exposed stone walls and hand-crafted doors with the…

More Details
Lake Atitlan
  • Full Description
  • Accommodation
Thursday, 26 June 2025

Travel to Panajachel

This morning we drive to Panajachel, a beautiful town on the shores of Lake Atitlán. The word "atitlan" is a Mayan word that translates as "the place where the rainbow gets its colours". In the highlands of Guatemala, especially around Lake Atitlan, the Maya culture thrives. On arrival, check-in to your chosen hotel for a 2-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. There will then be time to visit the street market and surrounding indigenous villages, famous for their weavers.


Friday, 27 June 2025

Santiago village and Lake Atitlan

This morning we cross scenic Lake Atitlan and visit the village of Santiago. Here, we visit the house of the Maya God Maximon where you may see local shaman performing rituals for local people. We also visit the market and learn about the distinctive textiles and primitive art that is famous from this area. Lunch is included today. 

Jacuzzi Lake View 55 1 Orig
Lake Atitlan - Tourist Hotel

Hotel Atitlan

The Hotel Atitlan is nestled within an ancient coffee plantation and has large, beautifully landscaped gardens. All 65 rooms are individually decorated and contain furniture designed and crafted in the hotels own workshops. There is a pool with spectacular views over the lake & volcanoes. One of the highlights of this hotel are the well…

More Details
Chichicastenango
  • Full Description
  • Accommodation
Saturday, 28 June 2025

Travel to Chichicastenango

This morning we travel to Chichicastenango, known for its traditional K'iche' Maya culture. Chichicastenango is a small and stucco-white town, lying on the crests of mountaintops at an altitude of 1,965 meters. The town is home to perhaps the most colourful native market in North and Central America, perhaps in all the Americas.

The famous handicraft market of Chichicastenango draws not only the K'iche' Maya of the surrounding region, but vendors from all over Guatemala. They represent many of Guatemala's linguistic groups such as Mam, Ixil, Kaqchikel and others, each hawking his or her products in a riotous cacophony of colour, dialects and costumes, smoke, and smells. 

Transfer to your chosen hotel for a 1-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis.

Santo Tomas Hotel
Chichicastenango - First Hotel

Hotel Santo Tomas

The Hotel Santo Tomas is a colonial hotel situated in the marketplace in central Chichicastenango. There are 43 well decorated rooms and also a swimming pool, sauna, bar and restaurant. The staff all wear traditional costume. Accommodation includes room and American breakfast.

More Details
Easter in Antigua: street decorations
  • Full Description
  • Accommodation
Sunday, 29 June 2025

Chichicastenango Market

This morning, experience the famous Chichicastenango market, with its wide variety of fruit and vegetables and most notably the endless beautiful textiles, wooden and ceramic works. We also visit Saint Tomas Church where local Maya people come to perform rituals within the Catholic church - demonstrating the interesting way the two faiths have combined in recent times. 

We then travel back to Antigua and transfer to your chosen hotel for a 2-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. The rest of the day is at leisure.


Monday, 30 June 2025

San Antonio

Enjoy a half-day guided visit to the village of San Antonio where you will meet a local family as well as local weavers who will explain the textiles and traditions of their village.

Character Pool
Antigua - First Hotel

Casa Encantada

Casa Encantada is one of the most intimate and relaxing boutique hotels in Antigua. Once you enter the hotel from the cobbled street enjoy the tranquility, calm and warmth of a private residence. Rustic but elegant architecture and charming decoration create a deep sense of tranquility and peace. 

The cozy interior patio and garden has a small…

More Details
Interior Courtyard
Antigua - Luxury Hotel

El Convento Boutique Hotel

Situated in one of Antigua's famed cobblestone streets, in front of the superb 18th century Capuchin convent, El Convento is a sanctuary from which you can discover the city's magnificent sites.

The all-suite El Convento gracefully marries the ancient with the modern. Combining artisanal brick vaulted ceilings, exposed stone walls and hand-crafted doors with the…

More Details
Copan
  • Full Description
Tuesday, 01 July 2025

Travel to Copan, Honduras

Early in the morning we cross into Honduras and travel to the ancient ruins at Copan. Here, enjoy a guided tour of this beautiful site, famous for its intricately carved stelea and amazing hieroglyphic stairway as well as its comprehensive museum. We overnight at a hotel in Copan on a bed and breakfast basis.

Estela En Quiriguá2
  • Full Description
Wednesday, 02 July 2025

Quirigua to Rio Dolce

Today we visit Quirigua, a small Mayan site situated in the middle of a banana plantation and famous for the tallest and well preserved stelaes from the Mayan culture. The site was protected by UNESCO in 1981. Then continue to Rio Dulce where we stay overnight on a bed and breakfast basis.

Rio Dulce
  • Full Description
Thursday, 03 July 2025

Rio Dolce boat tour & Guatemala City

This morning explore the Rio Dolce on a boat tour. Visit bird island, cruise through the impressive Rio Dulce canyon, visit the Ak ́ Tenamit development project providing education for local Maya Queq'chi children, and Castillo of San Felipe. We then drive to Guatemala City for an overnight stay on a bed and breakfast basis.

Colorful Guatemalan market scene with bundles of white calla lillies on display.
  • Full Description
Friday, 04 July 2025

Travel to Livingston

This morning drive to Livingston, located at the mouth of the Rio Dulce. Check-in to your chosen hotel for a 1-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. Livingston is a laid-back town, with an interesting variety of cultures to enjoy.

Belize 2015 IMG 5509
  • Full Description
Saturday, 05 July 2025

Drive to Punta Gorda

Depart Livingston and cross the border into Belize. Continue to Punta Gorda and check-in to your chosen hotel for a 2-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. The rest of the day is at leisure.


Sunday, 06 July 2025

Exploring Punta Gorda

Today explore Punta Gorda. Although the town bears a Spanish name, its inhabitants are mostly Garifuna, East Indian, Kriol, and Maya descent, giving it a lovely multi-cultural feel. Enjoy traditional markets, a swim in the sea or perhaps a visit to the Maya archaeological sites of Lubaantun & Nim Li Punit.

 

Chaa Creek
  • Full Description
Monday, 07 July 2025

Travel to Mountain Pine Ridge

Drive to Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve and check-in to your chosen hotel for a 3-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. The rest of the day is at leisure.


Tuesday, 08 July 2025

Explore the reserve

Today explore Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve, established in 1944 to manage the native pine forests. This broad upland area of multiple ridges and valleys was also a ritual site for the Mayan Culture, as well as being home to  abundant wildlife from the lowlands; acorn woodpeckers, rufous-capped warblers, crossbill and eastern bluebirds. Explore rivers, pools, waterfalls, caves and limestone caverns. The most spectacular cave is the Rio Frio caves, considered the largest accessible cave in the country.


Wednesday, 09 July 2025

Explore the reserve

A further day to explore the forest with its fascinating birdlife.

Tikal Site
  • Full Description
  • Accommodation
Thursday, 10 July 2025

Drive to Tikal

This morning we visit Xunantunich ruins and the cross back into Guatemala and continue to Tikal, where we check-in to your chosen hotel for a 2-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. The rest of the day is at leisure.

 

 


Friday, 11 July 2025

Guided tour to Tikal

The ruins at Tikal are spectacular, set in dense forest. For many, Tikal is the most impressive of all the Mayan ruins. Appreciate the Mayan architecture, and the many species of wildlife, particularly spider monkeys, toucans and parrots.

Camino Real Tikal Hotel
Tikal - First Hotel

Camino Real Tikal Hotel

In the lush Peten jungle, the Camino Real Tikal provides guests with a unique opportunity to explore one of the world's most spectacular archaeological sites and relax in an unspoiled natural paradise.

Public areas include the Ceibal Restaurant, bar, a Mayan sauna, jacuzzi, swimming pool, shop travel agency, jacuzzi and lounge. 

All rooms at the Camino Real…

More Details
Palenque
  • Full Description
Saturday, 12 July 2025

Drive to Palenque

We depart Tikal today, and travel by boat and road crossing the border into Mexico. From here, we drive the the city of Palenque, famous for its Mayan Archeological site. On arrival in Palenque, check-in to your chosen hotel for a 2-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis.


Sunday, 13 July 2025

Palenque archeological site

Enjoy a half day guided tour of the Mayan archaeological site of Palenque. The site is hidden in the lush jungle surrounded by howler monkeys, streams and waterfalls. The temples are well preserved; the main complex containing a tomb is one of the most beautiful of all pre-Hispanic Maya sites. We also visit the temple of inscriptions, the observatory, and governor's palace.

Historic Merida
  • Full Description
  • Accommodation
Monday, 14 July 2025

Fly to Merida

Transfer to Villahermosa airport and fly to Merida. On arrival, transfer to your chosen hotel for a 4-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. The rest of the day is at leisure.

Throughout the colonial period, Mérida was by far the most important city in the Yucatan, known as the "Paris of the New World". At the turn of the last century, the city became very rich from the profits from henequen. The colonial centre is ideal for watching the world go by, and it is impossible to resist buying a beautiful hammock the city is also well-known for.

 


Tuesday, 15 July 2025

Guided tour of Merida

Explore an elegant mixture of colonial and neoclassical architecture characterise the city on a half-day guided tour. Visit the main square with the cathedral, government palace, town hall and house of Montejo. Enjoy local life and markets with their modern Mayan influence.


Wednesday, 16 July 2025

Haciendas, cenotes and Izamal

Today we drive to Chunkanan where we visit a former natural Sisal fibre production plantation, now a hacienda. Take a horse pulled ride to a Cenote. We continue to Homún to see also cenotes of Tza Ujun Kat and Santa Rosa, where you can have a refreshing jump into its crystal clear and refreshing water! We then visit Hacienda Ednakán, famous for its neogothic church, and Hacienda Tepich, where we stop for lunch (not included). In the afternoon we explore Izamal, with its golden yellow buildings. Discover picturesque lanes flanked by elegant houses and the monastery of San Antonio de Padua with its elegant archways.


Thursday, 17 July 2025

Uxmal and Kabah

Today enjoy a full day guided excursion to the ancient ruins at Uxmal and Kabah. At Uxmal, the buildings are in a Puuc style from the Classic period. Kabah is an ancient Mayan town not far from Uxmal and its name means "the chiselling hand". The most impressive monument here is Codz Poop (literally "furled mat") a grandiose, multi-storey building dedicated to Chac, the Rain God, its façade adorned with many masks.

G6
Merida - Tourist Hotel

Casa del Balam

El Hotel Casa del Balam is one of the oldest and most distinguished hotels in Merida and the Yucatan Peninsula, but also one of the few original Mexican Art Deco houses left in the colonial city. Newly renovated, this historic mansion has been carefully outfitted with today's modern comforts and conveniences. The Casa del Balam…

More Details
Chichen Itza
  • Full Description
Friday, 18 July 2025

Chichen Itza

Drive to Chichen Itza and check-into your hotel for a 1-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis.

Chichen Itza is the most visited of all the Mayan sites, and is probably the best preserved with a variety of architectural styles from different influences. The main pyramid 'El Castillo' (The Castle), also known as the Temple of Kukulcan, dominates the centre of the site. Nearby you can visit and swim in the sacred Ik-Kil Cenote. A sunken lake with lianas and vegetation all around the stone walls. 

 

Tulum
  • Full Description
  • Accommodation
Saturday, 19 July 2025

Transfer to the Mexican Caribbean

Today drive to Riviera Maya and check-in to the Hip Hotel, set on a beautiful, white, sandy beach just 9km from the Tulum archeological site, for a 4-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis The rest of the day is at leisure. 


Sunday, 20 July 2025

Explore the ruins at Tulum

Today, take an optional tour to the nearby ruins at Tulum, once one of a set of Mayan forts along this stretch of coastline. The 'castle' area stands 12 metres above the Caribbean Sea, and nestled at the foot of the cliffs is a small cove ideal for a refreshing swim.

 


Monday, 21 July 2025

At leisure

Today is at leisure at your hotel. Or perhaps take a trip to the nearby Sian-Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, where you can explore rainforests and coral reefs.


Tuesday, 22 July 2025

At leisure

The last day of your Central American adventure. Relax on the beach and enjoy the facilities of your hotel. 

hip-ocean-front-tulum-hotel.jpg
Riviera Maya - Tourist Hotel

Hip Hotel Tulum

The Hip Hotel Tulum is the perfect choice for travellers seeking a base to explore the ruins of Tulum, which are only 0.6km from the hotel. Located on the edge of Tulum on its own gorgeous Caribbean beach, the chic Hip Hotel Tulum offers peace, tranquility and a certain infectious style. The staff have a…

More Details
Yucatan
  • Full Description
Wednesday, 23 July 2025

Fly back to the UK

Transfer to Cancun Airport and fly back to the UK


Thursday, 24 July 2025

Arrive in the UK

Arrive in the UK in the morning.

Price Guidelines

Season Low Season High Season
Travel Dates November to May July to October is the rainy season
Room Arrangement Tourist First Deluxe
Multiple Travellers - Twin Rooms £9,507 £10,917 £13,790

Prices are a guideline per person, for travel within the next year and booking early and are subject to availability. Please see below what is included and request a detailed quotation with a guaranteed price for your specific departure date and for Special Events, Summer, Christmas, New Year's Eve & Easter.

Travel With Confidence

Read their tesimonials

What's Included

  • 33 Days / 30 Nights
  • International flights (2 overnights)
  • Internal flight
  • Accommodation as shown on the itinerary
  • Breakfast everyday and 2 lunches 
  • Transfers to and from airports
  • Transport throughout the itinerary
  • Excursions listed, all with expert, English-speaking guides
  • Prices are per person
  • Prices for Special Events, Christmas, New Year's Eve, Easter on request

Request an Itinerary

Telephone Number

020 8762 0616

Contact Email

travel@veloso.com

Opening Times

Monday - Saturday : 9am - 6pm

Closed Sunday & Public Holidays

Speak with a Specialist

  • Free Proposal Itinerary
  • Tour can be completely Customised
  • Specialist Advice & Inspiration
  • First-hand Advisor Knowledge
  • Expert Travel Consultants
  • Excellent Service & Support

Complete a form or call our specialist advisors to start planning your trip. Please provide as much information as possible, and we will aim to respond to your enquiry the same or next working day.

Travel Plans
Your Details

Specialist Knowledge

Since 1999, we have crafted unique itineraries using our technology and extensine first-hand travel experience and local inspections

Your Perfect Tour

Your holiday is tailored by our specialist advisors to match your preferences, interests and budget using our kowledge of each destination

The Best Local Guides

Our local guides are specialy selected as your hosts providing an authentic insight into local life, culture, activities and visits

Travel Confidence

Our organisation provides local tour services and guides so you travel with confidence, reliability and 24-hour support

X

READY - 16 June 2025

LANDMARK TOURS - Multi-Country Itineraries

BRAZIL - New Tour NE, Fortaleza - Sao Luis, Dunes & Delta

INDONESIA - Rich Culture, Wellness, Lodges, Nature, Wildlife

PERU - Stunning Mountain, Ancient Culture, Wildlife & Luxury

PATAGONIA - Chile & Argentina Best from October to April

HONEYMOONS & CELEBRATIONS - "en Tete-a-Tete"

TRAVEL INSURANCE essential comprehensive cover