Help with itinerary for late November
 

Hello Everybody:
My husband and I are trying to put together an itenerary for Antigua/Tikal/Lake Atlitan for the last week of November. I have been doing a lot of reading in this forum, and thanks to all of your great help here is what we have so far:

Day 1 (th) fly NY to GUA, head to Antigua, stay @ Hotel Aurora for 4 nights

Days 2, 3, 4 see the sights around Antigua, maybe climb Pacaya Volcano, maybe bike tour. And of course enjoy the great food and ambiance of this city that sounds so great.

Day 5 (mon) early flight to FRS, shuttle to Tikal, stay @ Tikal Inn x 1 night. See ruins.

Day 6 (tu) do they still do the sunrise tour at Tikal? I think I read somewhere that they don't do it anymore. Anyway, I still would like to get up early and walk around the park during the day. In the afternoon head to Flores and stay there to catch the early flight back to GUA the next morning. Would love any hotel recommendations for Flores.

Day 7 (wed) early flight to GUA. Shuttle to Lake Atlitan, we haven't decided yet on a hotel here, but we are leaning towards Hotel Regis in Panajachel. I think we would like to stay in Pana because there seems to be more options for restaurants and for boats to the diferent villages, eventhough it sounds a little bit more touristy than the other towns around the lake.
Stay here for 4 nights??

Day 8 (th) go to Chichi market

Day 9 and 10, visit diferent villages, Naturall Reserve, maybe some hiking?

My big questions is: should we say in Panajachel on day 10 and then get up early on day 11 to get a shuttle to GUA for a midday (12:40 PM) flight back to NY? Or should we play it really safe and leave Pana around noon of day 10, get to Guatemala City and stay there for the night to be close to the airport the next morning.

Fodors forums have helped us plan many vacations thought the world and have always got excellent advice! Thank you in advance.

Great plan.

In Antigua I stayed at the Aurora. Loved it. Good choice. Be sure to check on Pacaya hikes - when i was there, people could only go about half way up.

In Flores I stayed at the Villa del Lago which, while it is on the lake, could not really be considered a villa. It is pretty basic but clean and convenient - very close to the causeway.

Staying in Panajachel is a good idea. People like to complain about it because it's touristy but the plus side is there are lots of shops and restaurants and transportation is really easy - both getting there and crossing the lake to the villages. Don't know Hotel regis but I can recommend Hotel Dos Mundos. Nice rooms, nice courtyard with pool, great location fairly close to the lake. Do not miss the sunsets from the well-named Sunset Cafe.

Lake Atitlan is really beautiful.

Pana is about 3 hours from GUA on a good day. Me, I would stay overnight in Guate rather than worry about getting to the airport on time. Get to Guate late afternoon, stay in Zona 10 (I liked the San Carlos), dinner at Tamarindo or Jake's (or drinks at one and dinner at the other), and leave the next day.

Another idea is to rearrange your itinerary a bit so that your last night is in Antigua. Antigua is only 45 minutes from the airport so no need to spend that night in Guate.

I will also mention that it is possible to get to Tikal in one day if you wanted to start your trip there. There's a flight that leaves GUA at about 630pm and a driver from the Tikal Inn can pick you up at the Flores airport. Wake up the next morning and there you are.

Thank you Robertino for all the great advice.
I had been thinking about connecting our flight to FRS on the day of our arrival to GUA, but the more I think about it, 3 flights plus one hour ride from Flores to Tikal is going to be too much for one day.
I just rechecked the flights, and now it looks like the flight from GUA to NY leaves around 8:00 am, so we will leave Atitlan on day 10 after all.
I also thought about rearraging the trip to end in Antigua, but now that the flight leaves so early from GUA, we might as well spend the night in Guatemala City. The reviews for Jake's sound really good and we would love to try it.
Next, I'll check your hotel recommendations for Flores and Guatemala City.
Thanks for all the help!

You are welcome!

Agree - 8am is really early, so it will cause less worry to stay in Guate the night before your flight. If you get to Guate in the afternoon, you could go to one of the museums, which unfortunately I did not do. Instead I went to Zona 1, which I happily could have missed.

I am trying to think of the restaurant on Flores that I really liked and will write again when I think of it. There is also a fun bar very close to the Villa Del Lago whose name also escapes me.

You will have a lot of fun taking the boats from Pana to the various villages around Lake Atitlan. I really enjoyed San Pedro and San Marcos.

Flores - the restaurant was called La Luna. The bar was called Las Puertas.

Another place I would recommend in Guate is the bar at Otelito.

You will have a great trip! I always stay at the Aurora in Antigua and agree with Robertino about Dos Mundos in Pana. Ask for a room in the back by the pool. Restaurant there is spotlrss & good Italian food at night. Staff is wonderful. We like to have a late lunch at Hotel Atitlan, the view there is so fabulous, I would stay there if your budget allows it. Might go there after the Chichi market (dont miss that!) We love Pana but we are shoppers/collectors of old textiles. There is a fun market at the firestation on Tuesday AM if you are there then. Coffee in Pana is wonderful!!You are right to stay in Gua City the night before flight, who needs extra stress on a vacation?