Cahal Pech Opening Hours, Entrance Fee and Who Runs It
Verified on 14 November 2026 on NICH’s ticket store page for Cahal Pech, the store’s terms and code of conduct, and the Institute of Archaeology’s Cahal Pech site record and unit page.
Cahal Pech is open every day, Sundays and public and bank holidays included, on two schedules that NICH labels by season: 6:00 am to 6:00 pm (April-October) and 6:30 am to 5:00 pm (October-April). Entry is BZ$20.00 for a non-resident adult and BZ$10.00 for a resident adult, or US$10.00 and US$5.00 at Belize’s fixed 2:1 peg (our conversion). Both come from the ticket store of the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH), read on 14 November 2026. NICH’s Institute of Archaeology lists Cahal Pech among the Cayo District’s archaeological reserves, and the ticket page puts it “only a short 10-minute walk from the town’s center” of San Ignacio.
Two seasonal schedules
| Season, as NICH labels it | Opens | Closes | Last tour (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| April-October | 6:00 am | 6:00 pm | 5:00 pm |
| October-April | 6:30 am | 5:00 pm | 4:00 pm |
NICH prints the rule as “Last Tour for the day: One (1) hour before closing”; the last column applies it to each closing time, so the last tour works out to 5:00 pm on the longer schedule and 4:00 pm on the shorter one. Both season labels include October, and the page gives no date on which one schedule hands over to the other.
What a ticket costs
Cahal Pech’s ticket data carries the same seven categories at the same prices as NICH’s Altun Ha ticket, and they are tabled in full on our Altun Ha page. In one line: non-resident adults and minors BZ$20.00, non-residents under 5 free; resident adults and minors BZ$10.00, residents under 12 and the Belizean Golden Citizen (65+) category free. NICH’s terms state “All prices are in Belizean Dollars (BZD)”. Operators’ prices for a guided Cahal Pech tour are on our San Ignacio and Cayo page; those are the operators’ figures, not NICH’s.
The reserve in the Institute of Archaeology’s record
The Institute’s record for Cahal Pech, dated 13 June 2024, gives its location as San Ignacio Town, the meaning of its name as Place of Ticks and its size as 22.39 acres. It calls the site one “that has yielded many Middle to Late Preclassic figurines, representing human and animal forms”, and describes its core as “complex architecture including two ballcourts, and a series of restricted inner courtyards” that, in the record’s words, serve as the residence of the ancient Maya elite. A visitor centre nearby, the record says, houses many of the artifacts found at the site.
The ticket page adds that the site overlooks San Ignacio Town and “features a series of interconnected structures that showcase the evolution of Maya architecture over centuries.”
Facilities and visitor rules
The ticket page lists six amenities: a visitor center, restrooms, a picnic area, trails, parking and gift shops. Its visitor-safety rules ask for outdoor-appropriate footwear, staying on demarcated trails and using handrails where provided; they ban loud noise, shouting, music and jumping on monuments, and set a “Maximum of 15 visitors allowed per Tour Guide”.
NICH’s code of conduct for every archaeological reserve applies here too. It bans drones and tripods, monopods and selfie sticks, keeps coolers and ice boxes at the parking lot and designated picnic areas, and names the Institute of Archaeology’s park staff as the authority within the reserves.
Where ATM cave tickets are sold
Cahal Pech’s ticket office also sells tickets for a different site, the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave. NICH’s terms state that, to manage visitor capacity at the ATM Cave, “entrance tickets must be purchased in advance via the Cahal Pech Archaeological Reserve Ticket Office or the e-ticketing website”, and that all ATM visits must be booked in advance with a licensed tour operator. The cave itself is covered on our ATM cave page.
Who runs Cahal Pech
The Institute of Archaeology states its legal mandate as the National Institute of Culture and History Act, Chapter 331, and its Parks Unit runs the Park Management program for “all public archaeological parks.” Under NICH’s terms a ticket is good for one visit, valid for entrance up to six months after purchase, and non-refundable. The schedules are NICH’s to set and change, so check them with NICH before planning around a closing time.
What NICH doesn’t publish
On the NICH pages we read on 14 November 2026:
- The October changeover date between the two schedules.
- Whether a guide is required at Cahal Pech. The page caps groups at 15 per guide but does not say a guide is compulsory; the guided-tour rule in NICH’s terms names three cave sites, not Cahal Pech.
- Opening hours or exhibits for the visitor centre beyond the record’s line that it houses many of the site’s artifacts.
- One set of hours for all its sites. NICH’s Altun Ha page says All sites open 8:00 am to 5:00 pm; this page prints Cahal Pech’s own, different schedule.
How we researched this
Scope: source research only; nobody visited the site for this page. All six pages listed below were read on 14 November 2026: NICH’s Cahal Pech and Altun Ha ticket pages, its terms and code of conduct, the Institute of Archaeology’s Cahal Pech site record and its unit page. The schedules, last-tour rule, amenities and safety rules come from the Cahal Pech ticket page, and the prices from that page’s embedded ticket data; the meaning, size, figurines, ballcourts and visitor centre from the site record; the ATM ticket-office rule and validity from the terms. The US-dollar figures and the two last-tour times are our calculations.
Sources
- NICH ticket store — Cahal Pech — the two seasonal schedules, days open, last-tour rule, prices, the 10-minute walk, the interconnected structures, amenities, safety rules and 15-per-guide limit
- NICH — Cahal Pech site record — 13 June 2024, San Ignacio Town, Place of Ticks, 22.39 acres, the Preclassic figurines, two ballcourts, inner courtyards and the nearby visitor centre
- NICH site tickets — Policies, Terms & Conditions — the BZD statement, validity and refund terms, the ATM tickets sold through the Cahal Pech ticket office, the three guided-only cave sites
- NICH site tickets — Code of Conduct — the drone, tripod and cooler rules and park staff authority
- NICH ticket store — Altun Ha — the matching ticket categories and the All sites 8:00 am to 5:00 pm line
- NICH — Institute of Archaeology — the legal mandate, the Parks Unit and Cahal Pech’s place among the Cayo District’s reserves
Last verified: 2026-11-14
Written by Estuardo Enriquez. This site is independent, carries no affiliate relationship with any operator or authority named here, and is not connected to any previous owner of this domain.