Flores is the capital city of El Petén department of Guatemala.
Flores is located at 16°93' N, 89°89' W. The population is 13,700 (2003).
The old part of the city is located on an island on Lake Peten Itza, connected to the mainland by a short causeway. On the mainland are the suburb towns of Santa Elena and San Benito.
In Pre-Columbian times, Flores was the Maya city of Tayasal. See also: Spanish conquest of Yucatán
Tayasal is mis-named, since the original Itza capital was on what is the present island of Flores (now obliterated by the church and hotels).
What is called Tayasal today is an earlier Classic period Maya site, same time period as Mayan archaeological ruins elsewhere such as Tikal, Yaxha, and everywhere else.
When you go over to Tayasal to climb up the observatory, you are climbing up a Classic period pyramid; a second pyramid is on top of the first one.
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