Maya temples, superlative snorkeling sites, and more of the Central American gem’s best bets for travelers.

Deep in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve in western Belize, archaeologists recently made a monumental discovery: Beneath the floor of a shrine in the ancient Maya city of Caracol, they uncovered the 1,700-year-old tomb of Te K’ab Chaak, the city’s founding ruler. Along with his skeletal remains, several artifacts – including jade jewelry, a shell-mosaic death mask, and pottery carved with animal motifs – were buried inside the Caana pyramid, aka the Sky Palace, a 141-foot-tall complex that still towers above the surrounding rainforest. At its height, Caracol was home to more than 100,000 people – a metropolis powerful enough to conquer the mighty city-state of Tikal.

Caracol is one of the country’s more than 600 known Maya archaeological sites, from Belize City’s Altun Ha (where the Western Hemisphere’s largest carved jade object, a 9.75-pound head of the Maya sun god, was found in 1968) to the palatial hilltop temples of Cahal Pech, one of Belize’s oldest Maya settlements, near San Ignacio.

But Belize offers much more than intriguing Maya history: Travelers who venture to this Central American country find rainforests that echo with howler monkeys, rivers that disappear into limestone caverns, and a barrier reef teeming with parrotfish, rays, and sea turtles. Here, four ways to explore Belize’s culturally rich, biodiverse landscape.

Venture into the Maya Underworld

For the Maya, caves are pathways to Xibalbá, or the underworld. Across Belize’s 8,805 square miles of mountains, foothills, and river valleys, hundreds of geologically fascinating caves provide insight into Maya mythology and culture. While many aren’t accessible, plenty of others are reachable on guided tours. From the 20-room Blancaneaux Lodge in the 107,000-acre Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, for example, travelers can head out on a three-and-a-half-hour excursion to the famous Actun Tunichil Muknal, known by locals as the ATM.

In the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve, the ATM dates to at least AD 250, when the Maya used the sacred site for human sacrifice. After a 45-minute trek through the jungle, travelers must wade or swim to reach the ATM’s entrance. The complex cave system extends for three miles and houses more than 1,500 Maya artifacts, from maize-filled vessels to jade beads and the calcified skeletons of sacrifices from over a thousand years ago. The most haunting skeletal remains – known as the “Crystal Maiden” – shimmer with mineral deposits.

Blancaneaux Lodge concierges can pair ATM excursions with cave-tubing adventures down the Caves Branch River. During the two-hour float, the river’s gentle current leads tubers through underground chambers lined with crystalline formations and glistening stalagmites and stalactites.