The ATM Cave (Actun Tunichil Muknal) tour is one of the most unique travel experiences we’ve had and the best thing to do in Belize. Imagine climbing over rocks, swimming in a clear river, navigating by headland, and tiptoeing around Maya pottery and human remains. Adventurous, yes. Kinda creepy, yes. An amazing experience, YES! The ATM Cave tour was our favorite thing to do in Belize. Keep reading to find out about this amazing experience.
About ATM Cave
The Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave, aka ATM Cave, aka Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre, aka Cave of the Crystal Maiden, is a cave of many names located near San Ignacio, Belize.
This cave is famous for being the resting place of a fully calcified human skeleton. The skeleton looks like it is covered in crystals and earned the nickname “The Crystal Maiden”. Of course this nickname was given before skeletal analysis discovered that it was likely a young boy. The young boy is presumed to be a sacrifice victim. And he is not the only human remain you’ll see in the cave. 14 skeletal remains have been found thus far. All of them are believed to be the victims of human sacrifice and in some cases ceremonial torture.
In addition to the human sacrifices, you’ll see many other sacrifices left for the gods in the hope of bringing water back to the area. Other sacrifices were brought to the cave in beautiful pottery that was intentionally broken as part of the sacrificial ceremony. However, you can still see beautifully preserved examples of Maya pottery in the cave.
About ATM Cave Tourism
Tourists used to be able to explore the ATM Cave freely. However, due to the precious archeological site and the not so careful tourists, you can only visit the ATM Cave with a tour guide today. The Belize Tourism Board specially certified a small group of tour guides and those are the only people allowed to lead tours in the ATM Cave. These people are trained in special preservation techniques specific to the site.
Even after this protection, the cave was still in danger. In 2012 a tourist dropped their camera on a human skull. Now cameras are not allowed, hence the lack of pictures in this post.
Getting There and Around
Your journey to the ATM Cave starts in San Ignacio where you get your guide. You need to book your tour ahead of time as tours depart at o’dark thirty. We booked our tour the day before and there were still available spots. We booked our tour with Xplore Inland Tours. We booked our Caracol Tour with MayaWalk so we can recommend them both. You can check out MayaWalk’s website here for some authorized photos from within the cave.
Do not drive there yourself. You can drive to the entrance if you plug the cave into your GPS, but you will be forced to turn around at the gate. Even if you flag down a guide at the gate, you will not be able to enter with them as they have to buy their tickets in San Pedro before driving to the park and tickets are not available at the gate.
All group tours are small group tours. So don’t worry about that. Guides are limited to 8 people at a time.
Once your tour is booked, you either meet your guide in San Pedro or get picked up at your hotel by your guide. From here, your guide drives you about an hour from San Pedro. The drive is actually pretty beautiful. And if you’re lucky, your guide may make a stop to spot some wildlife like toucans.
What To Expect At ATM Cave
Journey to the Cave
If you need to go to the bathroom or get a drink, do it before leaving the parking lot. There is no running water from this point on. In the parking lot you suit up with a helmet and a headlamp.
First, expect to get wet… right away. Below we have a section on what to pack and wear. And we did wear the proper clothing but we had no idea that within steps of the parking lot we had to traverse through a neck deep river.
Once across the river, you hike a bit through the jungle. If you have a good guide, they will point out some cool wildlife to you. You then have to cross a few smaller streams.
Into the Cave
Once you get to the mouth of the cave, you jump in the water again. Here you have to do a small swim before entering the cave. It was the only section of water that we had to swim in. We did choose to swim in other sections but this was the only time swimming was required.
Next, you spend quite a bit of time climbing over rocks and exploring different cave “rooms” before you get to the large sacrificial “room”. Here you need to take off your shoes and walk around in socks. First, you climb a ladder onto a ledge that contains all of the archeological finds you’ll see on the tour. The guide will give you strict instructions of only stepping where they step from there, onward. Listen to them and follow the or you will get yelled at.
Maya Offerings In the Cave
Next, you see offerings of pottery as you walk farther into the cave. Farther into the cave, you begin to see the human remains. You see human skulls that were shaped into a cone-head like shape, filled teeth and dental implants. All of the modifications were performed in life and indicative of high-born individuals.
You also see very small children sacrificed in this area and they skeletons and skulls are much smaller.
Finally, you come to the skeleton that makes the ATM Cave famous: The Crystal Maiden. This skeleton appears to be complete and is completely covered in crystals. This skeleton is actually a teen boy. And when viewing him in the glow of your headlamp he shines.
Once you see this final human remain, your guide escorts you back out of the cave, through the jungle, and to the picnic area where most tours include a lunch.
How Hard is The ATM Cave Tour?
This is a physical day. There is no denying that. You need to be able to be walking/swimming for 3-4 hours. You also need to be bendy enough to climb boulders and navigate rocky paths. However, if you can do those things, you should be able to do this tour. We’re not exercisers or triathletes but we are in shape and we were fine doing the ATM Cave Tour. I’d rate this as a long but moderate day.If you are claustrophobic this tour is most likely not for you. You will be in a cave for a very long time and there are a few very tight spots you have to squeeze through. However, a majority of the time you are in very open and airy cave rooms.
If you cannot swim, this tour is also not for you. While there is only a little bit of swimming needed, you still need to swim. You do not need to be a strong swimmer but you do need to know how to not die when being in water over your head. Your guide will offer you a life jacket but if you accept you have to wear it for your whole hike.
Kids can do this tour as long as they can swim, be active for 3-4 hours, and follow directions. You know your kids so make sure this is right for them before taking them on this tour. Don’t take them on this tour if they can’t do it, because once you start, if they give up, you can’t take them back on your own.
What Will The Guide Help You With?
I did ask the guide what happens if someone feels they cannot complete the very physical hike into the cave. And our guide told us that they have to sit in place until the tour is on its way back out. So if you feel like you are claustrophobic and quit mid-cave, you still have to sit in the cave until the tour group is on its way back out.
However, a great guide, like ours, will also assess your skill level and adjust the route accordingly. He told us that on our way out, he took us on the “adventure” tour, where we got to do more rock scrambling, crawling and navigating slots in the walls. Even without the Maya history and artifacts, ATM Cave was the absolutely best cave tour we have ever been on!
Safety in ATM Cave
We felt really save during this whole tour. Our guide was clearly very well trained.
However, weather can flood the cave or make the water too challenging to navigate. If there is any chance of this happening, your tour will be cancelled. This typically happens during or after rain storms.
What to Budget
Cave tours are all about the same price. They all are about $125/person. You will also want to thank your guide with a tip as they are amazing guides. We gave our guide $20. This price includes your transportation to and from the cave, the tour, and lunch.
What To Pack For ATM Cave
This experience includes lots of short swims mixed with hiking in the jungle and cave climbing. So dressing is a challenge as you will be hot, cold and wet all in turns.
First, you have to wear socks and they will get soaked. You are required to wear only socks in the section of the cave with the offerings. We wore small wool socks that we knew would dry easily. We wore these under our water shoes (PS: Scott loves these water shoes more than anything!). Also, we packed our slip on sandals to change into after the cave tour.
For clothing, you’ll want a bathing suit as your base layer. But you’ll also want to pack insulating and fast drying layers for over top of your swimsuit. We wore moisture wicking long sleeve shirts. You’ll need to pack a second set of dry clothes to keep in your guides car to change into after your tour.
Since you’ll be getting wet, you’ll also want to bring your fast drying towel to dry off at the end of your tour.
What Not To Pack?
Leave all of your packed belongings in the tour guide’s vehicle. You won’t be allowed to bring them into the cave anyways.
I’ll start with what not to pack. Leave behind all electronics including cameras. Cameras, including those on your phone, are not allowed in the cave due to an obtrusive past visitor that broke a human skull. If you try to sneak one in, your guide with catch you and not allow you to continue on the tour.
We absolutely loved the ATM Cave Tour in Belize. It was our favorite thing we did on our one week Belize vacation. And it was the best cave tour we have ever done! We recommend this to everyone who doesn’t have a crippling fear of small spaces or swimming. If you have any questions or comments on your own experience, please leave them below.
