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Pro
Magnificient Colors, Fragrant Odors, Exciting Sounds
Con
Take care of vendors trying to cheat you
In a nutshell
Still good deal for shopping - if you have the nerves
Twan Says: Every Thursday and Sunday there is a large market in Chichicastenango. Thousands of Mayans and many tourists visit the largest market in Central America to animals, flowers, souvenirs or any other special items to buy. On the stairs and in the 400 year old St. Thomas Church...
OH_DK Says: When you are in Chichicastenango you have to go to the market - the biggest in Guatemala.Here you can meet indians from many places who come to sell their products - you can really get anything, and it's very colorful and diverse.On this link you can see what days they have...
Hopkid Says: Located on the opposite side of the Parque Central from the Iglesia de Santo Tomas, the Capilla del Calvario is a smaller whitewashed church in Chichi. This is another interesting site in Chichi and another diversion worthy of exploration from the hustle and bustle of the...
Kieq Ik Wai'm Ja Restaurant & Steak House: Above the Crowd
Stephen-KarenConn Says: While walking through the jostling, crowded market of Chichicastenango I saw a restaurant sign pointing up a flight of stairs leading off the sidewalk. I decided to check it out and was very pleased to find the Kieq Ik Wai'm Ja Restaurant & Steak House. The restaurant was a...
Restaurant Kieq-ik Wai'm Ja: A great people-watching place
bougalou Says: This restaurant is situated on the second floor, overlooking the public market, so you can eat and watch the action in the market at the same time, which is great fun, as the market is busy all day.The food is good and the portions are generous. This is one of the few...
La villa de Don Tomas: This is a rip-off!
bougalou Says: La Villa de Don Tomas was recommended to us for lunch, as being one of the best restaurants in Chichi. This large upstairs restaurant is indeed quite attractive with white linnen tablecloths on the tables. The menu is so-so...featuring pretty routine dishes, local and...
Restaurante San Juan: Good breakfast spot
Hopkid Says: Ideally located above the ruckus of the market, Restaurante San Juan is located on the north end of the Parque Central opposite the Iglesia de Santo Tomas. It's upstairs and has a balcony from which you can observe the fray over a cup of coffee, orange juice, or your...
More than a day trip: Sleep Over, but bring a lighter!
acemj Says: Chichicastenango is more than just the market. It's an important Mayan spiritual center and a traditional, quiet town on non-market days. Ryan and I arrived on Wednesday afternoon, the day before the busy Thursday market and we enjoyed being virtually the only non-locals in...
Stephen-KarenConn Says: I was staying in Antigua, Guatemala, for a week and on Sunday took a mini bus shuttle to Chichicastenango to visit the market. The cost of $16US was very reasonable but the trip was long and ardorous. I spent a total of seven hours (round trip) crammed into the back of the...
Little local bus to big indian market
OH_DK Says: I took the local bus to Chichicastenango - a fantastic experience. I was the only Gringo (white man) in the bus, and I was squesed in between some indians. Everyone was going to the biggest indian market in Guatemala, and many of them brought big bags and boxes with stuff...
euzkadi Says: Chichi market is maybe the best place in Guatemala for buying handicrafts, with good prices and a lot of local art shops. But is also a good place to see traditional religious practices in the higlands, like the Pascual Abaj.
acemj Says: The market in ChiChi is the largest in Guatemala, although you can get many of the same items elsewhere. I noticed many of the same things on sale in Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. However, no other place has the depth of selection and makes for quite the spectacle as does the...
OH_DK Says: When you visit an indian market you are expected to bargain the prices.Keep your eyes and ears open, and dont accept the first price you get. Some vendors are very persistant and will maybe walk after you if you show the slightest interest - their last offer could easily be...
acemj Says: We headed out of the hotel at 6:45 on Thursday morning and as we made our way around the town, we noticed a lot of the locals taking a quick break from setting up their portable stalls to eat breakfast. Most people appeared to be eating a kind of porridge that looked like...
Srechko Says: Maybe I am naive but my approach did not work very well while trying not to be overcharged in Guatemala. Here was the same. While I was looking for a place to eat, food market was quite empty. I choose one place based on my natural instinct, thinking I am not going to ask...
Babzz Says: This might sound weird given that Chichi is THE marketplace, but I found that the crafts were better in Panajachel and Antigua. A lot of the masks had chipped paint or looked otherwise worn, and there were hardly any paintings, which was a huge disappointment for me since I...
acemj Says: You're in the highlands here, so it's not uncommon to have a morning fog or mist that quickly burns off as the sun gets higher in the sky. I took this picture around 7:30 am on market day and it appeared that it would be a cool and dreary day, but by 9:30, it was bright...
euzkadi Says: From Chichicastenango you can travel to the nearby town of Santa Cruz del Quiche, the capital of the Department of Quiche, a good paved road will take you to this off the beaten track city, where you can feel the real indian way of life out of the touristic crowd.
Hopkid Says: Bargaining in many of the craft shops/stalls in Chichi is totally expected. When asked, the shop/stall keeper will give you a price that is more than they are expecting to get. Don't be afraid to counter with an offer that is less than 50% lower than the initial price....
acemj Says: Just behind the main square on the eastern end of town, there is a little courtyard off of the road that has a few shops, a cafe and an internet cafe that is an inexpensive way to stay in touch with relatives back home.
Plan a Chichicastenango vacation with reviews, tips and photos posted by real travelers and Chichicastenango locals
it s one of the most interesting cemeteries i ve ever been( and i love wandering around this kind of places...)very colourfull and extremely mistycal with many...
Q: How do you get from Chichicastenangto to Lake Atitlan by shuttle bus, not the chicken buses...
A: Hmmm...I was just in Chichi and Atitlan. We had a driver though which could be a way to go...sorry don't know about the shuttles.
Read 4 Replies
1
Thursdays and Sundays in Chichicastenango (also referred to as "ChiChi") are market days and if this were your only reason for visiting this highland town, it would be good enough. The colors, smells...
2
Chichicastenango-Best Marketplace in Guatemala
We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and checked into the Villa Grande Hotel. We made the short walk from the hotel to the city center to get a preview of the vendors setting up for the big Market Day...
3
The best indian market in Guatemala.
Chichicastenango is a nice and interesting town. On sundays and thursdays you can visit the market. Full of indians of the surrounding villages (also full of tourists). Very interesting pagan...
4
All the guidebooks will tell you that the market (Thursdays and Sundays) in Chichi is possibly the largest indigenous market in Latin America. The tour operators in Antigua, Pana, and throughout...
5
The biggest indian market in Guatemala
These 2 San Antonio girls sold their weavings on the market in Chichicastenango. I bought some shirts from them and they let me take the photo. Chichicastenango aka "Chichi" is well known for it's...
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