Exploring ATM Cave: The Gateway to the Maya Underworld In Belize
If I asked you to close your eyes and picture a place where the ancient Maya once roamed, you'd probably conjure up an image of tall pyramids hidden deep in the jungle. There are many Mayan ruins like this. Walking through these forgotten cities, you can begin to understand what life looked like more than a thousand years ago, at the height of the Maya civilization.
But, in Belize, there is an important Mayan site that looks nothing like these cities. Here, you can see the extent of the desperation the Mayans felt in a dark chapter of their history. You can see how they reacted in the face of danger. You can see where they performed their most haunting and infamous ritual, human sacrifice, and begin to understand what drove them to do that.
That site is ATM Cave. And it's well worth a visit.
Our visit to ATM Cave needed to be incredible. I had planned it for Alex's birthday and I wanted it to be a day to remember. Thankfully, it lived up to the hype. Alex told me that exploring ATM Cave was in his top 3 favorite travel experiences he'd had around the world.
It can be hard to find information about ATM Cave online, especially since photos are strictly prohibited inside. So, I've written this article to walk you through exactly what our day looked like, tell you what it's really like inside the cave, and cover everything you should know before visiting for yourself.
A NOTE ON THE PHOTOS
Photography is strictly prohibited inside ATM Cave, ever since a tourist dropped a camera on an ancient Mayan skull in 2012.
Therefore, the photos in this article are courtesy of our tour operator, MayaWalk. They shared these photos with us after the tour.
WHAT IS ATM CAVE?
The Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave is one of the most important Mayan archaeological sites in the world. The ancient Maya believed caves were entrances to the underworld, so they performed rituals and sacrifices within many caves, including ATM, to communicate with the gods. When a severe drought threatened their survival, the Maya turned to these rituals more and more.
Today, the cave still holds many Mayan artifacts, including human remains from 20 individuals and roughly 1,400 pieces of pottery.
Because of its historical significance, National Geographic ranked ATM Cave as the number one sacred cave in the world.
WHERE IS ATM CAVE?
The ATM Caves are located in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve in western Belize, about 45 minutes away from the town of San Ignacio.
At the height of Maya civilization, an estimated 2.5 million Maya lived in what is now Belize. That's more than five times the population of the country today!
WHO WERE THE MAYA?
The Maya were an ancient civilization that built hundreds of cities across present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Their civilization thrived for thousands of years, with a golden age that lasted from ~250 to 900 CE.
Today, the Maya are known for their pyramids, their complex writing system, their impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics, and, yes, their practice of human sacrifice.
DO YOU NEED A GUIDE?
Yes, you need a licensed guide to visit ATM Cave. We went with MayaWalk and had a fantastic experience.
The tour leaves from San Ignacio. You'll meet at the Mayawalk office for a briefing and sign some paperwork before heading to the van for the 1 hour drive to ATM Cave. You will then walk for ~45 minutes to the entrance of the cave, crossing three streams in the process. There are ropes in place to help you cross.
For the next 3 hours, you will wander deep into ATM Cave, admiring the stalagmites and stalactites while learning about the history of the Maya and seeing objects they left behind.
Before heading back to San Ignacio, you'll enjoy a lunch back at the parking lot. I personally wasn't too impressed with the food options for non-meat eaters, but Alex ate the meat and thought it was delicious.
After lunch, you'll head back to San Ignacio.
The tour lasted ~8 hours in total.
OUR EXPERIENCE
The adventure started with a walk to the entrance of the cave. Our guide, Emil, steered me, Alex, and four other guests down the path, slowing down three times along the way to cross the river. The river crossings were relatively easy. The water levels were low that day, so the water only reached my waist and there was a rope to hold on to as we crossed.
The water at the entrance to the cave was much deeper. I braced myself for the cold and belly-flopped into the water, swimming a few feet until I made it to the point where I could stand up. It was a quick swim.
As soon as everyone reached the point where they could stand, we formed a line and started making our way deeper and deeper into the cave. The water was much shallower here. We walked and walked.
As we trudged through the water, I scanned left and right searching for the Mayan artifacts I had read about online. We had been in the cave for almost an hour and thus far we had only seen one shard of pottery.
Not long after I made that observation, Emil stopped us. We had reached the point where we would need to climb up a couple rocks to reach the upper chambers of the cave.
Emil helped us up one by one. It was just a couple steep steps before we were on even ground again. We left our shoes in a giant pile and proceeded onward in just our socks.
It was in the upper chambers of the cave that I found all the pottery I had been searching for. Shards of broken vases were scattered all over the floor.
Emil explained that the Mayans would deliberately break or "terminate" their pottery, as they believed this would send the spirit of the piece on to the gods. This is why, out of the 1,400 pieces of pottery found in ATM Cave, only 3 were fully intact.
And, of course, pottery wasn't the only offering the Mayans made to the gods. They also offered blood.
Human sacrifice evolved from the tradition of bloodletting: using a stingray spine or obsidian blade to cut a human's tongue and let it bleed. The gods would be appeased, but the victim would live.
When bloodletting didn't appear to appease the gods anymore, they switched to animal sacrifice, which eventually transformed into the sacrifice of human adults and finally, most tragically, the sacrifice of children (usually royals). The remains of 20 individuals have been found in ATM Cave, 12 of which belonged to children. There is even evidence of a child under the age of 3 being sacrificed.
Human sacrifice was not a new concept in Maya civilization. It had been practiced for centuries by the time the Maya began making sacrifices in ATM Cave. But, the frequency of the sacrifices made in the cave was certainly unusual.
The sacrifices took place during the Terminal Classic period, from ~750-900 CE. Severe drought and political instability put significant stress on the Mayans. As conditions worsened, they became increasingly desperate to appease the gods and their offerings became more frequent and more extreme. Evidence of this desperation was scattered all throughout the cave.
The first sign we found of human sacrifice was a skull. Emil explained that the victim was likely in their early 20s at the time of death based on the fact that the bones of the skull had not fully fused yet. We then saw another skull, this time with a massive hole in it. This is the reason cameras are no longer allowed in ATM Cave (a tourist dropped their camera on this ancient skull back in 2012).
Next, we made our way to the famous Crystal Maiden, a fully calcified, complete human skeleton. Because of the calcification, the skeleton sparkled in the light of my headlamp.
There is actually a lot of debate over whether the Crystal Maiden is a maiden or a male. The calcification of the skeleton distorted the size and shape of some of the bones that archaeologists usually examine to determine sex. Emil believes she was a female, somewhere between the ages of 18 and 22 at her time of death.
Interestingly, the Crystal Maiden was found in the same position as the Maya maize god on ancient stelae, with her left hand raised, right hand lowered, and legs splayed. Perhaps she was deliberately positioned this way as a plea to the maize god to save the Maya's failing crops.
We spent a few minutes theorizing about the circumstances of her sacrifice before continuing onward.
Instead of retracing our steps back towards the entrance, we headed in a different direction, towards a massive chamber filled with enormous stalactites hanging down from the ceiling. Alex was especially impressed with this part of the cave.
After a short while, we were reunited with our shoes. We climbed back down the rock ledge and into the shallow channel of water below.
This was when Emil asked the group if we were feeling adventurous. Everyone said yes, curious to see what he had in mind.
He steered us towards a tiny opening in the cave. To continue, we would have to squeeze our bodies through this narrow gap.
As we slowly shimmied through, our necks grazed the limestone. No wonder he called it Decapitation Point!
The tight squeeze lasted just a couple seconds. On the other side, we sat down in the rushing water and let the current carry us through the narrow passage like a natural waterslide. What a rush! I couldn't help but smile as I zipped down the passage.
"Is anyone scared of the dark?" was Emil's next question. No one said yes.
We all formed a Conga line, grabbing the life jacket of the person ahead of us, and turned off all the headlamps. At this point, we were the only group in the cave. As soon as the headlamps went out, we experienced complete and utter darkness.
My eyes instinctively kept searching for light, finding none of course. I blindly stepped forward, trusting that Emil knew the cave well enough to guide us forward without bumping into the wall. I had never been in such absolute darkness before. It was incredible.
Before long, Emil switched his headlamp back on and the rest of the group followed suit. We rounded a few corners and there it was, the entrance to the cave. We had made it back already.
We were all quite ravenous by the time we made it to the parking lot, where Mayawalk had set up tables for lunch. We changed out of our wet clothes and scarfed down our meal before piling into the van and heading back to San Ignacio. What a day it had been!
BEST TIME TO VISIT
The best time to visit ATM Cave is during Belize's dry season from December through April. Going during the rainy season is a bit of a gamble, because heavy rain can cause the water levels in the cave to rise too high, forcing the government to shut down access.
I especially recommend going in the second half of the dry season between February and April, when water levels are generally at their lowest. Early in the dry season, the cave can still be affected by heavy rainfall from the previous months. Our guide mentioned that ATM Cave was closed for 10 days straight at the end of December due to high water levels. By the time we visited in mid-January, the water had receded and we had great conditions, but I would still aim for February through April for the best odds of being able to visit.
GETTING TO SAN IGNACIO
To get to San Ignacio, I would recommend flying into the Philip Goldson International Airport in Belize City and booking a shuttle to San Ignacio. The drive will take ~2 hours.
Another option is to drive to San Ignacio from Guatemala. We spent 10 days in Guatemala before making our way to Belize so we flew into Mundo Maya International Airport in Flores and booked a shuttle to drive us from Flores to San Ignacio. The drive took ~2 hours although it can take longer depending on how long the lines are at the border.
OTHER MAYAN RUINS AROUND THE WORLD
Dozens of Mayan cities have been excavated and are open to visitors.
Mexico is home to many of the most popular ones, including Chichén Itzá, which is undoubtedly the most famous of them all. More than 2.5 million people flock to these ruins each year, excited to see one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Other notable sites in Mexico include Palenque, Uxmal, and Calakmul. Seeing Uxmal's giant Pyramid of the Magician is especially high on my bucket list. My guide at Chichén Itzá said that the most impressive ruins he had ever seen were at Uxmal and he had seen over 30 Mayan sites!
In Guatemala, Tikal is by far the most popular Mayan site to visit. It was one of the largest and most powerful cities of the Classic Maya world. We visited both Tikal and Chichén Itzá and were most impressed by Tikal.
Read about our experience at Tikal here.
Copán in Honduras is another particularly noteworthy site, famous for its extraordinarily detailed stone stelae. Sadly, Copán receives a fraction of the visitors that sites like Chichén Itzá get, largely due to Honduras' high crime rates.
Belize also has a number of impressive ruins, such as Caracol, another major Classic Period city. But the most unique Mayan site in Belize is arguably ATM Cave, which wasn't a city at all, but rather a sacred cave used for religious ceremonies and sacrifices. Many tourists visit both ATM Cave and nearby Xunantunich when they stay in San Ignacio. Xunantunich was a much smaller Maya city, but its main pyramid is 130 feet tall, taller than Chichén Itzá's famous El Castillo.
IS IT WORTH IT?
ATM Cave is definitely worth visiting.
The experience offers a little bit of everything. There's adventure in the moments where you're swimming through the cave, adrenaline when you're squeezing through Decapitation Point, natural beauty when you're staring up at the stalactites, and history when you're learning about the Maya who stood where you're standing centuries before. The combination makes ATM Cave unlike any other archaeological site I've visited.
I also felt that our trip to ATM Cave nicely complemented our experience in Tikal a few days earlier. At Tikal, we learned about a thriving civilization and its greatest achievements: the temples they built, the calendars they created, and the wars they managed to win. At ATM Cave, we didn't talk about the names of important people or the dates that this or that structure was built. We learned about what the Maya believed, what they feared, and how they confronted the challenges they faced. In a lot of ways, I felt more connected to the Maya than any other ancient civilization whose ruins I had visited, including the Incas and the Romans.
I don't know if I'd go quite as far as Alex and rank it among my top three travel experiences, but I completely understand why he did. I highly recommend a visit to ATM Cave.
FAQS
How physically demanding is the tour?
I didn't find the tour to be particularly strenuous. You will need to be able to walk on uneven surfaces for long periods of time, make one short climb that lasts just a minute or two, swim for just a minute or two, and squeeze through a couple tighter spots. If that sounds manageable, the ATM Cave tour is likely a good fit for you.
Can I visit ATM Cave if I'm claustrophobic?
Yes, you can. Most sections of the cave you'll walk through are wide, open chambers, with only two or three narrow squeeze points along the entire route. We went through one tight space called Decapitation Point, but that particular point was optional and the guide will only lead you there if the entire group is comfortable with that.
Do you need to know how to swim?
You don't need to be a strong swimmer to do this tour. You'll need to swim through a deep pool immediately after entering the cave, but the swim is quite short and you'll be wearing a life jacket. The rest of the time, you'll wade through water rather than swim.
If you're not a strong swimmer, I would recommend reaching out to the tour operator in advance for their recommendation, but my opinion is that it's doable without knowing how to swim.
What should I wear?
I would recommend wearing shorts or leggings paired with a T-shirt or rash guard. MayaWalk explicitly calls out that the clothing should be modest. Thin straps, bathing suits, and tank tops are prohibited.
You also need to wear socks (these are mandatory for preservation reasons) and hiking shoes or sneakers that you're comfortable getting wet. Water shoes are strictly prohibited.
What should I bring?
You should bring an extra set of clothes and flip flops for the van ride back to San Ignacio, a towel, a water bottle, snacks, bug spray, your ID, and any medications you need for the day.
It's worth noting that you cannot carry bags into the cave. Only the guide is permitted to bring a bag. All of your belongings will be left in the van while you explore the cave.
What if I need to bring something in the cave, like medication?
If you need to bring something into the cave, your guide can hold it in his or her dry bag. We asked our guide to hold some medications and an Epi-pen for us.
Can you take photos inside ATM Cave?
No. Photography is strictly prohibited inside ATM Cave, ever since a tourist dropped a camera on an ancient Mayan skull in 2012.
What is the bathroom situation?
There is a bathroom on the walk to the entrance of the cave, but there are no bathrooms beyond that point. You should plan on going for ~3-4 hours without a bathroom.
How much does the tour cost?
The tour costs $145 per person.
How many people are in each group?
All ATM Cave tours are limited to a maximum of six guests per guide, regardless of which tour operator you choose.
Where should I stay in San Ignacio?
We stayed at Ka'ana Resort in San Ignacio. We felt lukewarm about this property. The food was expensive and a little underwhelming and the pool (one of the main draws of the resort) was ice cold.
Can you visit ATM Cave as a day trip from Guatemala?
You could theoretically, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Many people want to visit both ATM Cave in Belize and Tikal in Guatemala.
The town of Flores (where many tourists who visit Tikal stay overnight) is only a 2 hour drive away from San Ignacio. However, the ATM Cave tour is a full day commitment. It starts early in the morning at 8am, meaning you would have to start the drive to Belize well before 6am, since you need to factor in extra time for the border crossing. You would then have an 8-9 hour tour and another 2+ hours in the car headed back to Guatemala. That is a long day.
If you're determined to visit both sites, I would recommend you base yourself in San Ignacio and do a day trip to Guatemala instead of basing yourself in Flores and taking a day trip to ATM Cave. A visit to Tikal lasts only a few hours (we spent 4 hours exploring the ruins), making it much more manageable to tack on the 4+ hours of driving.
