page_title: Lake Petén Itzá
section_title: Notable sites
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Petén Itzá / Notable sites
context_page_description: Lake Petén Itzá is a lake in the northern Petén Department in Guatemala. It is the second largest lake in Guatemala, after the Izabal Lake. It is located around 16°59′0″N 89°48′0″W. It has an area of 99 km² some 32 km. long and 5 km wide. Its maximum depth is 160 m. The lake area presents high levels of migration, due to the existence of natural resources such as wood, chewing gum, oil, and agricultural and pasture activities. Because of its archaeological richness, around 150,000 tourists pass through this region yearly. The city of Flores, the capital of El Petén, lies on an island near its southern shore.
  Several streams flow into Lake Petén Itzá, but it has no surface outflow. Although it loses water mostly by evaporation, it is not a salt lake.
context_section_description: There are at least 27 Maya sites around this lake and the archaeological remains of Tayasal, located across the lake on a peninsula close to the former Itza Maya capital, the last to be conquered in Mesoamerica in 1697.
caption: Lake Petén Itzá seen from space
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