Copán Ruins

Copán Ruins, Honduras — one of the great Maya cities — elaborately carved stelae and the Hieroglyphic Stairway rise from a lush river valley near the Guatemalan border.

The site museum houses a full-scale replica of the Rosalila temple found intact beneath a later pyramid. Copán Ruinas, the walkable colonial town at the entrance, has a macaw sanctuary and a laid-back, low-tourist pace.