Cahal Pech sits on a hilltop above San Ignacio town and is the easiest Maya site in the region to visit — twenty minutes on foot from Burns Avenue, no guide required, and small enough to cover comfortably in an hour. The acropolis consists of a tight cluster of plazas, temples, and elite residential buildings, with a partly restored ballcourt and a small museum at the entrance.
The site was occupied from about 1200 BC through 800 AD, making it one of the oldest known Maya settlements in the Belize River valley. The views from the upper plazas reach across the Macal valley to the Maya Mountains. Go early in the morning when the temperature is bearable and the howler monkeys are still active in the canopy.