Top Guatemala hotels
Pacaya Volcano Antigua Guatemala
27 Reviews I found a great trip regarding a volcano hike and a thermal waters and spa bath, this was amazing and I truly recommend it for everyone!.. it was excellent. I found it on a website called...
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Antigua Ruins Antigua Guatemala
40 Reviews A collection of small museums housed in the 5-star hotel Casa Santo Domingo. The hotel, which is very upmarket, is built on and incorporates the ruins of the old Dominican church complex. Of the...
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Churches Antigua Guatemala
37 Reviews Yes, I am lazy period end of report. Use your guide book/internet if you want the facts on them. I came here to take some pics....not a very religious person except when I travel as these seem to be...
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Parque Central Antigua Guatemala
16 Reviews Central Park is a great place to get a quick feel for Antigua or if you get lost head here as it is a great reference point for to reorient yourself. Come here to relax, buy an ice cream off a local...
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Colonial Architecture Antigua Guatemala
22 Reviews This is perhaps the defining symbol of Antigua. It is a remnant of the once-enormous Convent of St. Catherine. This convent was founded in 1613 with only four nuns, but by 1693 its numbers had...
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Markets Antigua Guatemala
8 Reviews Antigua might strike you at first, as it did me, as something of a museum piece, but you only have to walk a few blocks from the centre to discover that “real” life happens here too. The market on...
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Nuestra Señora de la Merced Antigua Guatemala
10 Reviews The “Iglesia y Convento de Nuestra Señora de la Merced”, to give it its full name, is one of the loveliest in Antigua, and unlike many has been fully restored. On a sunny day its vibrant yellow paint...
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Language Schools Antigua Guatemala
12 Reviews I chose this school on the advice of a friend and it is working out very well. It is relaxed with 1-on-1 tuition and happens at tables under awnings or in the garden. The individual tuition allows one...
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Walking through the city Antigua Guatemala
12 Reviews While Parque Central is the undisputed hub of the city, Parque Union, lying a few blocks to the south-east, is also worth a visit. This is much more of a locals’ hang out than tourists’, although...
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Chichicastenango Antigua Guatemala
5 Reviews We drove 3 and a half hours from Antigua to "Chichi" on Thursday, although I heard that it is best to visit on Sundays. It seems as if time has stopped here. This village is very different than...
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Lago Atitlan Antigua Guatemala
5 Reviews WOW, I had read that Lago ("Lake" in Spanish) Atitlan is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and boy was my research correct. On Friday, our last day in Antigua, we traveled 2 and a half hours...
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Tikal Antigua Guatemala
3 Reviews Tikal is a definite must see. From Antigua or elsewhere. We took a weekend trip including flights and hotel, although you can do it by bus. Our hotel, Tikal Inn, was right next to the ruins and the...
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We dickered with a launcha driver (in Spanish, our daughter in law is fluent)to take us (4) for a short tour of the lake near Flores, (about 2 hours for about $40). It was worth it, to take in view of the country side and the city from off shore.
This is a must for visitors to Guatemala. It is pretty physical in some cases (a long walk into main ruins; a long rickety staircase up the side of temple 4, to the excavated top of the temple; the lower levels have not been excavated completely. There are many more pyramids to climb and plazas to explore, all indicating a high degree of civilization many years ago.
The second day we went into the park close after it opened its gate at 6am. We took a southern junlge path to the Temple with the inscriptions (temple 6) about 1,2 KM south of the Gran Plaza. It looked like we were the only visitors in the Parque Nacional Tikal around this time. Except some monkeys in the trees and a guard we didn't meet anybody. Between Grupo G and Temple 5 we followed a narrow jungle path with fallen trunks and roots. There was no sun, but by the high humidity in the air it was a very sweaty walk.After a walk along Mundo Perdido, the plaza with the 7 temples and complex 5C we met the first two other visitors. Then at temple 3 suddenly lots of stones were coming down ! At a closer look we saw a colony of -for me unknown- animals. These easily climbing animals were about 50cm long with a pointed snout and a broad tail with coloured rings. By digging in the ground with...
From Guatemala City we booked an excursion to Tikal by plane. We decided not to return the same day, but to stay overnight. So we could visit the huge complex during two days and more important after and before the crowds wandered around.Only the central part of the Parque National Tikal has allready more than 4000 structures. The first day we visited mainly these central parts. The Gran Plaza with the Temple of the Jaguar (Temple1), Temple 2 and the Northern Acropolis is very impressive and the most known image of the complex. We could climbed Temple 2 for having a breathtaking view at this part of the complex which is uncovered.Most other temples and structures are still part of the jungle. So I climbed the partly still covered temple 4 at the western end. The top of this temple- with 64m the highest one of the complex- is only reachable by steep wooden steps and ladders between the...
At sunday we took the local bus from Panajachel to Chichicastenango to visit the market, one of the largest local markets in the country. Two times a week at thursday and sunday it's marketday in Chichi. The day before many Mayan people from the villages in the mountians come allready to the town. Everywhere in the streets around the Plaza are marketstalls. Left behind the church are the stalls with vegetables, fruits, spices, clothing and other stuff for the local people. In front of the church in the streets leading to the Plaza are the stalls with embroidered clothes, masks and other touristy goods.When we visited the twon at the 1th of november there was a procession and all the streets were filled with colourfully dressed local people. We didn't hardly see any stall, but enjoyed the lifeliness of everything happening in the streets.
We visited Chichicastenango at a busy market day. On our way to the market in a crowded local bus we had suddenly all to go out of the bus. After the empty bus was disinfected with insecticide to kill all the insects in the fruits, we could move on in a strange smelling bus.At the Central Plaza in Chichicastenango stands the Iglesia de Santo Tomas, a white church dating back to about 1540. When we visited Chichi at the first november there was a huge procession going on with lots of loud firework. At the steps of the church we saw lots of saint images ornamentned with colourful feathers, we smelled th incense and heard the loud bangs of the firework. We saw also a ritual with a small statue horse rider, climbing along a rope to the clocktower.
Santiago Atitlan is one of the regularly visited villages at the lake side of the Lago Atitlan. On our way back to the docks we took a parallel street of the mainstreet wher all the shops with handicrafts are. This unpaved alleyway, lined by green like banana trees, has the atmosphere of the traditional Mayan lifestyle. We even saw some traditional dwellings with thatched roofs. The people were wearing colourful traditional Mayan clothes.
From Panajachel we visited Santiago Atitlan at the south shore of Lago Atitlan. Santiago Atitlan has a very scenic location at a lagoon between two vulcanoes Toliman and San Pedro.We walked to the Central Plaza with the massive white church. At the central square we saw a banner with the text 'Pueblo & ejercito por la paz. No al comunismo, si a la democracia'. At the corners of the square we saw restless soldiers with the 'finger at the trigger' staring to the roads leading to the mountains.Along the streets between the centre of the town and the docks were several shops and streetstalls.
We went to Panajachel from Guatemala City by local bus. Panajachel is also called Gringotenango after all the foreigners who came here in the 60s and 70s. Also a girl from my hometown used to live in this area for some time. During our first visit in the late 80s just after the civil war there were not many foreign visitors.In Panajachel are many budget guesthouses (hospedajes), restaurants and bars. From Panajachel as base we visited Chichicastenango and made a boattrip at the Lago Atitlan. We liked to sit at the lakeside to watch the liveliness around the boats and the beauty of the surrounding landscape.
Lago de Atitlan is originally a caldera, a collapsed volcanic cone. The lake of about 127 sq KMs has a depth of more than 320M. The setting of the lake, surrounded by hills and more than 3000 M high vulcanoes reflecting in the water, is very scenic. We stayed a few days in Panajachel at the northern lake side. We liked to sit at the lakeside to experience the serenity of the spectacular landscape with the vulcanoes Volcan Toliman, Volcan Atitlan and Volcan San Pedro, but we enjoyed also the lifeliness of the boats, the local Maya people with their colourful clothes and handicrafts. We made a boattrip to the southern lakeside to Santiago Atitlan. In contrast with Panajachel with lots of guesthouses, bars and restaurants Santiago Atitlan looks more original and traditional.
Palacio de Dona Leonor Antigua Guatemala
6 Reviews and 43 Opinions On a business trip we stayed at the Palace Hotel Dona Leonor. I really liked the decoration of the...
Jungle Lodge Parque Nacional Tikal
4 Reviews and 154 Opinions We stayed two nights here, choosing it because of its nearness to the ruins. The plan was to be able...
Barcelo Premium Guatemala City Guatemala City
1 Review and 202 Opinions Nice hotel in a comfortable safe neighborhood in Zone 9. An easy walk to the Los Procures Mall and...
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Q: My husband and I want to go to Guatemala for 5 weeks starting the last week of March 2012. We had planned to travel all over and...
A: I have two good friends that travel to Guatemala frequently. One supports an orphanage, the other does general social work with kids in the area. Both find the...
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