Antigua Guatemala Flights

There is a 20-30 Q flight tax payable before you get on every flight...even domestic. We thought it would be only on international flights. I guess the real warning is its not $20.00-30.00 ...money was hard to come by and I hated tuling away cash that I could have spent!!

We had booked a ships tour from Puerto Quetzal to Antigua. The long journey (2 hours?) was awful because the coach had poor ventilation in the back. We complained, twice. The guide did nothing about it. We complained for a third time and he moved his things from an unused seat at the front so that we could sit there. Wow! Fresh air!
So, it was only a problem at the back of the coach.
The yellow coach was run by the 'Rutus Orientales' company.

As I didn’t have a guidebook for Guatemala and because the journey was long and included changes in Guatemala City I decided to book the shuttle service at one of the offices in Flores for the trip between Flores and Antigua. It was 250 quetzales (July 2009).

The bus was supposed to leave Flores at 9.20 but it didn’t arrive until later. In Flores it picked up tourists and then went on to the bus terminal in Santa Elena. In Santa Elena the new passengers were scanned for metal and they had to show their bags before going on the bus. Around 10.15 we left Santa Elena. There were many foreign tourists on the bus, but they all went off in Rio Dulce, except one. At three o’clock we stopped at a restaurant to eat. When we were on the road again a pickup car had an accident and landed on the roof in front of the bus, but luckily the driver of the car could come out of the car himself. An ambulance arrived quickly and then we continued.

At 18.30 we arrived at the small bus terminal of the bus company in Guatemala City. Someone with my name on a sign was waiting and I was taken to a minibus, in which I was the only passenger. It was rush hour and lots of traffic out of Guatemala City. In Antigua the driver wanted to take me to another hotel than the one I had intended to go to, but I didn’t want to so he drove on to Casa Amarilla. It was then eight o’clock and I was happy I had paid for the shuttle. It was good to be driven to the door of the hotel as it was dark and it was good not having to change buses (and probably bus terminals) in Guatemala City in the evening.

Antigua is about 45min to 1 hr ride from Guatemala City's airport. Shared van is probably the safer more econmical way to get there as the vans leave right from the arrivals level of the airport and will take you directly to a hotel for 10 USD or so..time can vvary based on traffic and or road conditions as there was a rock slide than shut down one lane of the road into Antigua when I was leaving. The Chicken bus is another option but those will take you from the bus stop in Antigua to another bus stop in Guatemala city - one in district 3 the night I tried..yes it is cheaper but then you still may have to haggle with a cab once you arrive in Guatemala city to get to your final destination. The vans are morder passenger vans with seatbelts and comfortable interiors while the chicken buses are retired American school buses that are sold to locals in Guatemala and then rebuilt with new engines, undercarriage and paint in most cases and a bit slower than the vans as they tend to make stops and only leave the origin point once they are full.

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Have that special someone with you and want to impress them or create a memory then check out the carriage that is available for hire in Central Park. On the other hand you could just be tired or walking around the cobblestone streets and still want to see more of the city. Whatever the excuse this is a creat way to see the historic city.

Anyone can please give me names of websites of those privates companies that bring you from Guatemala Airport to Antigua?

Thanks

Buses depart from main Bus Terminal behind the Municipal Market.
There will be a sign on the front of the bus indicating its destination(s) and there will usually be someone yelling these out as well.

Here are some abbreviations: Guate = Guatemala City, Xela = Quetzaltenango, Chichi = Chichicastenango, and so on.

Buses generally run from about 6am to 6pm.

It costs about 8Q for an hour and a half ride. Make sure you find out the price of the ride before you pay for it. there will be a man coming around to collect.

to get to/from the following destinations:

Guate(mala City) - Frequent buses about 5.30 to 19.00. Buses run down 7a Calle to Calle Chipilapa before leaving the city. On the way to Antigua get off as you enter the city if the bus says Jocotenango on it. From Guate you can catch buses to Rio Dulce, Flores/Tikal, Copán(Honduras), Cobán and other locations. check my Guate page for more info.

Chimaltenango - take a bus here and exchange as soon as you reach the main hwy (before you get to the Terminal) and catch buses going North on the Panamericana. Cross the footbridge to the other side of the highway. (to Chich, Atitlán, Huehue, Quiché, etc.)

From Chimaltenango you can head northward to these destinations. if you're lucky you'll get a bus going all the way to your destination but if not you please read through the whole thing because it is a multi-stepped process depending on your point of arrival:

Panajachel - direct or change at Los Encuentros (direct bus from Antigua at 7am from Bodegona)
Chichi - direct or change at Los Encuentros
Quiché - direct or change at Chichi
Sacapulas/Nebaj - change at Chichi
San Pedro la Laguna - direct or change at km ?
Xela - direct or change at Cuatro Caminos
Huehue - direct (only with transporte Velasquez) or change at Cuatro Caminos
La Mesilla (border) - direct (w. Velasquez) or change at Huehue

Email me if you have specific questions

Tourist Shuttles are available direct from your hotel / street address to these locations and more:

Guatemala City (airports and bus terminals)
Tikal
Lanquín/Semuc Champey
Monterrico
Chichecastenango
Panajachel
Copán (Honduras)

Shuttles are significantly more expensive than regular buses but take you basically door-to-door.
Hundreds of Antigua agencies can organize a shuttle.