The ancient Maya city of Palenque amazed me in its diversity.  After walking in the main upper entrance, you first come across a row of pyramids. The last of these is the famous Temple of the Inscriptions, which holds King Pakal's elaborate tomb.  I was disappointed that you can no longer enter this famous pyramid and the burial chamber inside.  But you can enter the adjacent Pyramid/Tomb of the Red Queen for a look around.

 

Next, I proceeded to the huge Palace complex at the center of the site.  This elaborate structure has a lot of interesting details such as the astronomical observatory tower. It has several parts to explore, as well as providing nice views over many other buildings of the city.  After exploring it, I walked down to the Temple of the Count and the North Group, a set of lesser buildings that are near the site's ball court. I then made my way towards one edge of the site, visiting Group B and the Group of the Murcielagos (bats), which are some lesser buildings, but still sort of fun to wander through the small labyrinth of their remaining walls. By coming to this part of the site, you get to see the pretty cascades that form the Queen's Baths, a set of small pools along the ruins. 

Heading back up the stairs, I found the path to Group C was blocked off temporarily, so I went back through the Ball Court and past the back side of the Palace. I initially went past the Cross Group uphill to see the other temples back there that have some famous carvings, such as the Tablet of the Warriors.  I came back down to the great temples of the Cross Group, including the Temple of the Foliated Cross, the tall Temple of the Cross (which provides nice views back toward the main plaza) and the third side of the Cross plaza with the short but long Temple of the Sun and ruins of another smaller temple.

I visited without a guide.  I had a map showing me where I wanted to go and the various buildings all have good signage in English and Spanish.

After I was done with the ruins, I headed to the site's museum.  Don't skip the museum!  Some people even say go there first.  I pretty much had the museum to myself. It has a fantastic replica of Pakal's ornate sarcophagus, with tons of signs explaining the significance of the figures adorning it. I spent quite a while there reading about it all.  There are other great things in the museum, also, such as a collection of incredibly detailed incense burners looking like masks stacked upon each other.

 

All-in-all, a really great site, although the nearby modern city is pretty chaotic. I was really surprised by how many people come here since it is pretty out-of-the-way -- mostly non-US tourists. I was in Palenque for only 3 nights, and was touring things at full speed nearly all that time. If you come, make sure to take at least a long day-trip to see the other Maya sites of Yaxchilan and Bonampak, which are very different and more remote than Palenque,  and each very interesting in its own unique way.