My husband and I are considering going to Guatemala for a week in December 2024. We would spend one day in Antigua and 5-6 in Lake Atitlan. I saw that the state department of the U.S. put travel at level 3. Has anyone traveled recently, and have they felt safe in the tourist areas? Thanks!

I was there in January and felt perfectly safe. I really liked Lake Atitlan. Absolutely beautiful and met lots of cool people.

I have visited several dozen times, most recently in April 2023 and are heading back in September. Exercising common sense travel precautions I've never had a scary or negative experience there. Happy trails!

I never discourage people from abiding by the State Dept. warnings, though I usually do not do no myself. (Even some popular European destinations that no one ever worries about, like France, Sweden, and Spain, are up at Level 2.) My personal experience doesn't prove anything, but last September I spent a few days in Antigua, one of Guatemala's more popular tourist destinations, and neither experienced nor detected a even hint of danger. There were many conspicuously foreign tourists around, and they and the local residents were out and about, filling the streets, plazas and restaurants, nobody seeming afraid to be there.