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Photo: Jorge Antonio Leoni de León, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This former ceremonial center and city of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization is best visited with a guide and arranged from an agency in Flores, Santa Elena or Melchor de Mencos. Its acropolis has been mostly reconstructed and is larger than that of Tikal. The city was able to benefit from its position on the Holmul River trade route, and had its peak in the period between the 8th and 10th century AD. It belongs with Naranjo and Yaxha to the so-called cultural triangle in the region. The city was discovered in 1905 by Maurice Perigny. An extensive restoration program was started in 1990. You can visit as either a round trip from Yaxhá or a one-way continuing onward to Tikal. From the main road between Flores (Guatemala) and San Ignacio (Belize) one branches off in the direction of Yaxha. From here an unpaved path leads to the ruins in Nakum. The path can only be mastered with a 4x4 car in dry conditions.
Nakum is a Mesoamerican archaeological site, and a former ceremonial center and city of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the northeastern portion of the Petén Basin region, in the modern-day Guatemalan department of Petén. The northeastern Petén region contains a good number of other significant Maya sites, and Nakum is one of the three sites forming the Cultural Triangle of "Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo". Nakum is approximately 17 kilometres (10.6 mi) to the north of Yaxha and some 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) to the east of Tikal, on the banks of the Holmul River. Its main features include an abundance of visibly restored architecture, and the roof comb of the site's main temple structure is one of the best-preserved outside Tikal.
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