Day Trip from Guatemala City

The lovely colonial city of Antigua remains the most popular day excursion from Guatemala City for tourists and residents alike—the latter head out especially on weekends, many to attend weddings in Guatemala's most popular wedding locale. (We admit that the majority of international visitors stay in Antigua and make the capital their day trip instead.) The Mayan ruins of Mixco Viejo lie 60 km (36 mi) north of the capital and make an easy, do-it-yourself trip if you have a vehicle. Many operators lead ascents to the Volcán Pacaya south of the city. Although many people do this excursion on their own, we recommend going with an organized tour for safety reasons, both criminal and volcanic.

Tourist attractions around the country can be your excursions, thanks to numerous tour operators who offer organized trips. Antigua and Mixco Viejo are among the offerings, as are day trips to Lake Atitlán. Chichicastenango appears on the tour lists on Thursday and Sunday market days. (Most Chichi trips include a stop at the lake.) Operators organize day excursions from the capital farther afield to the Mayan ruins at Copán, Honduras, or to Guatemala's very own Tikal in El Petén. Flying is the only way to do Tikal in one day (although it's preferable to overnight at the ruins). The flight takes less than one hour, as compared to 10 hours overland.

Mixco Viejo

North of Guatemala City lie the 12th-century Mayan ruins of Mixco Viejo. The mountaintop site, thought to be largely ceremonial, was one of the last Mayan sites to fall to Pedro de Alvarado and the conquistadors in 1525. Excavation began on the site's 120 structures in 1954.

Temples and palaces make up Mixco Viejo, but most notably, it contains several ball courts used in the Mayan ballgame of pitziil, a game with many variations seen throughout pre-Columbian indigenous civilizations. (Historians today group the games under the general heading ulama, a Nahuatl word meaning simply "ballgame.") Objectively, it resembled a mix of soccer and volleyball, but for the Maya, pitziil transcended mere sport, providing a cosmic link between mortals and gods, between past and future.

Mixco Viejo is no Tikal or Quiriguá, but it's a favored destination for weekend visitors from the capital who come for the splendid views of the surrounding countryside. A small museum documents the history of the site. 60 km (36 mi) north of Guatemala City. No phone. Q20. Daily 7-4:30.