Most people who visit the Chiapas do so by travelling in on bus from Mexico City or Cancun. Some people fly into Merrida when international flights are scheduled there as well. You can also take a flight from Mexico City to Tuxtla.

Travelling by bus, coming from the north you go through Tobasco then you are in the Chiapas. There is usually a military search, and then you go by the immigration checkpoint. Once in the Chiapas the bus will most likely not stop again until you reach Palenque bus station. There may however be another military inspection of your bus depending on what is going on at that specific time.

Once you are in Palenque you are ready to begin your Mayan experience as you have now entered Indian Territory. What you will find is a mixture of cultures and colors, politics and more politics. There is no hiding it. The Chiapas is a hotbed of political activity.

While you walk the streets of Palenque, a tourist with a backpack, you walk with every kind of person imaginable. From cowboys to artists, electricians to blacksmiths. Palenque is a modern culture driven by agriculture and living off of nature. The contradictions are everywhere. Electricity and plastic are not the same commodities here as they are elsewhere. In the Chiapas plastic is a political statement. Electricity, taken for granted in western cultures is looked at differently here. You will not notice this directly, walking the streets of Palenque, but this is where it starts.

The Chiapas has four ruin sites that have become popular. They are also reasonably close to one another and located in the northern part of the state. Getting to the sites is not too difficult and accommodations can be found within close proximity [except Bonampak].

• Palenque
  Of all the ruin sites in Chiapas, Palenque is the most popular. It is by far the easiest to get to being located not far from Palenque city. If you stay on the strip you can even walk to the ruin site from your hotel or simply take a collectevo and you can be there in minutes [7 pesos].

• Bonampak
  Bonampak is a small site with little uncovered. It is popular because there are large wall paintings still intact on the walls of the main building.

• Yaxchilan
  Yaxchilan is a beautiful site nestled on the side of the Usamanti River. You have to take a boat to get to the site. The boat ride is around an hour long and you can swim in the river if you wish. There are crocodiles.

• Tonina
  Tonina is an impressive site located near Ocosingo. The ruin site is one that is built on the side of a large hill. It is an interesting site to visit, especially in the early morning when the clouds are rolling over the ruins.

There are of course countless other sites in the Chiapas however most if not all of these sites still remain under dense foliage in the jungle. No one really knows what is out there and astonishing surprises occur regularly in the world of Mayan archaeology.