Should we book our rooms ahead of time in southern Guatemala?
 

We are heading to Guatemala in 2 weeks. Landing in Guatemala City and booking our first night in Antigua. We don't know how long we will stay there. Then we will head for Lake Atalan. We plan to stay here 3-4 days and may or may not use it as a base to go to Chichicastengo for the Sunday market. We may stay over night there. From there we plan to go to Copan for a 4-5 days. Then to Flores for 4-5 days. Then to Belize for 7-10 days. So any ideas about lodging?

Mike

That's really a lot of ground to cover in 2 weeks. Several of your transfers will likely take more than a day or at least a really, really long one: Atitlán to Copán and Copán to Flores. There are lots of photos and my lodging recommendations for all those places except Copán here:

http://flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

For Copán I'd look at La Casa de Café and Hacienda San Lucas.

http://casadecafecopan.com/
http://haciendasanlucas.com/

Happy trails!

Hi Hopefulist,

No we are leaving in 2 weeks we will be gone for a few days short of 1 month.

Mike

What I really need to know is should we make reservations or just go with the flow and book as we go.

Mike

Antigua fills up quickly on weekends this time of year. A lot of people come out from Guatemala City to spend the weekend there. It's a favorite wedding destination during these months too. If your time in Antigua falls over a weekend, I'd definitely make reservations in advance.

If you plan to be in Chichicastenango the night before the Sunday market, definitely make those reservations in advance too.

Oops - my bad on the dates. I prefer booking ahead because I fall in love with specific places that are what I want and great values. Often you'd find something if you scouted around but I never feel like risking the scouting time or settling for "something" when I could head straight to what I want. Some of my favorite places (like Mario's in Panajachel and Hotel Girón in Chichicastenango) don't have websites so you'd have to call ahead to reserve. Happy trails!