The American country is incredible, with many cultural and natural attractions to be explored. In this post, I share some of the process of building the Guatemala itinerary and give you some planning tips.
About 6 months ago, I got the news that a good friend was getting married in Guatemala. Until then, I knew very little about this country: it is in Central America, speaks Spanish, has a very abundant nature and a past linked to drug trafficking.
And then the question arose: should I just do a quick day trip to the wedding or is it worth taking a few extra days off vacation to get to know this place? Curious as I am, I took the second option and left to stay there for eight days. This was undoubtedly one of the scripts hardest I've organized so far.
In this post you will see:
Roteiro pela Guatemala per day
As we know, a trip never goes 100% according to plan – and even part of the fun is there, in being surprised and coming back with stories to tell –, but I hope that in general everything stays more or less within the script.
Day 1
We arrived at Guatemala City only overnight and we stayed in a bed and breakfast near the airport (Hostal Villa Toscana), since the next day the flight to Flores leaves at 6 am.
Day 2
Flight to Flores, Peten, at 6am and arrival in Flores at 7am. On the same day, visit Tikal, an archaeological city considered the center of the “Mayan World”. Accommodation at Las Lagunas Boutique Hotel.
Day 3
This is the only “free day” of the trip. As everything can get a little rushed, I left the schedule for that day open. The options: visit another Mayan archaeological city (Yaxhá would be our option) or enjoy the day at Hotel Las Lagunas – they offer a tour of the hotel's islands and the private forest reserve.
Day 4
Departure from Peten to Coban. This car trip takes about 6h/7h. Coban tour. Accommodation at Hotel Casa Qeqchi.
Day 5
Visit to Semuc Champey and the Lanquin grottoes. This tour lasts a full day. Accommodation at Hotel Casa Qeqchi.
Day 6
Departure from Coban to Lake Atitlan. This section takes about 8 hours by car. Accommodation at the Hotel Casa Palopó.
Day 7
Tour through the villages of Lake of Atitlan in the morning, organized by the Hotel. In the afternoon, departure to Antigua, which should take between 2 and 3 hours. Accommodation at Hotel Cirilo.
Day 8
City tour of Antigua offered by Elisabeth Bell Tours. The night is the wedding and, because of that, I ended up wasting a good part of the afternoon in the salon.
Day 9
Morning shopping in Antigua and return to Guatemala City (it is about 50 minutes by car from Antigua) to catch the flight to Panama City and from there back to Rio.
logbook
I started by heading to the nearest bookstore, looking for a guia from Guatemala (yes, I know there's a lot of information available online about anywhere in the world, but I'm an old-fashioned tourist and I like to have my little books). The bookseller's reaction has already brought the astonishment on the face of most people to whom I said I'm going to take a vacation there: “- Guatemala? But what are you going to do there?”
Opera summary: no guide.
Before starting to detail my Guatemala tour, it is necessary to make an observation: I am a traveler who, in general, values a certain level of comfort and likes to have full control of events. Just thinking about missing a flight or a train makes me sick. If possible, I leave the Spain with all the tour and restaurant reservations made and at most I'll make small adjustments to the script, along the trip, if necessary.
So I started gathering information on the internet – what a wonderful tool! –, I consulted national and foreign websites and blogs, I also started to follow several profiles about the Guatemala on Instagram (I'm in love with @quepeladoguate @conozacamosguate and @explorandoguatemala). That's when I realized that the 8 days I have won't be enough to get to know everything I'd like; patience, I will have more reasons to go back there one day.
Well, having fewer days than I would like and a wedding in the middle of the trip – which in my case involves a few (many) hours in the salon – I had to, more than ever, think about each step to be taken in this Guatemala tour. I started to build the screenplay based on what I considered to be a must, from everything I read and in order to reconcile my interests with those of my boyfriend, who will accompany me on the trip.
Thus, there are 4 central points of our Guatemala tour: at Mayan ruins in the north of the country – a region that concentrates several archaeological complexes, the best known of which is the Tikal; or Lake of Atitlan, which sits at the foot of three incredible volcanoes; Semuc Champey e Antigua, a colonial city that is considered the cultural capital of Guatemala.
Problem 1: these attractions spread across the country from north to south.
The solution was to try to draw on the map how the trip would be: I decided to start in the north and go down – somehow – to the south. I opened the good old Google Maps and I calculated how much time was needed for each trip between the attractions – some are quite long, more than 6 hours of travel.
When I saw that it was feasible to include everything in the itinerary, I booked the hotels – there will be 5 in total on this trip: at Guatemala City, Flores, Coban, Lake Atitlan and Antigua –, I bought a plane ticket from Guatemala City, where I arrive, to Flores, in the north, and started contacting travel agencies to find out what kind of transport they offer.
Issue 2: The system of transport in Guatemala it is very poor – public transport in general is not recommended for tourists and even the shuttles offered by local travel agencies have drawbacks: few timetables, many reports of delays and poorly provided services.
I didn't consider renting a car because my Guatemalan friend was emphatic that it wouldn't be a good idea, there are very bad roads and it's not safe. Thus, transportation was the most difficult part to plan, also because, in my case, there is no room for delays due to the few days and the need to be in Antigua at the end of the trip to the wedding.
Taking all this into consideration, I decided to spend a little more and do all the journeys with private drivers. At this point, it was essential to count on the help of the hotels where I will be staying: I contacted all of them by email and they were all very helpful in arranging the cars and drivers to take me from one city to another. I already have a very good impression of the Guatemalan povo!
Thanks to the recommendation of the manager of one of the hotels where we stayed, the Cyril HotelOn Antigua, we got the contact of a driver with whom we closed most of the routes, Edwin Muñoz (email: [email protected]), so he got good discounts for us, compared to the price offered by other drivers.
What I've noticed so far is that, although it's a country where, in theory, everything is very cheap, in practice it's not quite like that for tourists: as everything is priced in dollars, it ends up not being that cheap.
Anyway, everything I've said so far doesn't really apply if your intention is to travel there with a backpack on the coast and with more time – in my case, I decided to pay to have a trip completely planned and with the maximum comfort possible, since there will be many trips in a short time.
One last tip worth mentioning is that you check out our review of Lagunas Boutique Hotel. Worth knowing! ?
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