Tenosique is a small city in eastern Tabasco, on the banks of the Usumacinta River near the border with Guatemala. It is not one of Mexico's polished tourist towns, but that is part of the point: the riverfront, the humid lowland air, and the nearby Maya sites give it a frontier feel that is hard to find in the bigger Yucatan Peninsula stops.
The town is best known in Tabasco for the Danza del Pocho, a pre-Hispanic Carnival tradition performed from late January to Shrove Tuesday. Masked characters, jaguars, wooden men, drums, flour-throwing, and a story of good defeating evil turn the season into Tenosique's biggest event. Rooms can disappear far ahead of Carnival, even though the town is quiet the rest of the year.
Tenosique also works as a base for two archaeological sites: Pomona, west of town, and San Claudio, toward the Guatemalan border. Neither has the crowds of Palenque, and both reward travellers who like their Maya ruins with trees, heat, and a little effort.
The Tren Maya stops in Tenosique on the Campeche-Palenque section, making the town easier to reach than it used to be. Most visitors will still want a taxi for the ruins and the riverside sights outside the compact centre.