With incomparable ancient ruins, graceful churches, and colorful highland markets, Guatemala is the center of the Maya heartland. This landscape is known for its expansive stretches of rain forest that hide spider monkeys, toucans, and iguanas among mahogany trees draped with mosses and rare orchids. In a matter of days you can walk the cobblestone streets of a colonial capital, take a white-water rafting trip to the Pacific coast, and explore El Petén, where the stately pyramids of Tikal rise from the steamy jungle.
Top Destinations
Top Destinations
The Highlands
The region that locals call the Occidente (west) or the Altiplano (high plain) is the Guatemala that everyone comes to see. The highlands begin near...
Antigua
Filled with vestiges of its colonial past—cobblestone streets, enchanting squares, and deserted convents—Antigua, one of Latin America's loveliest cities, instantly transports you back hundreds of...
Guatemala City
Central America's largest metropolis has what you'd expect from an urban area of 2.5 million people—the best selection of hotels, restaurants, nightlife, and museums in...
Quetzaltenango (Xelaju)
Guatemala's second-largest city might seem quite provincial if you've first visited the capital. But we'll take friendly, old Quetzaltenango any day. Historically, the city never...
El Peten
The jungles of El Petén were once the heartland of the Mayan civilization. The sprawling empire—including parts of present-day Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador—was...
Las Verapaces
Northeast of Guatemala City, the scrubby landscape gives way to forested mountains drained by wild rivers. You may feel you’ve stepped into northern Europe. This...
The Atlantic Lowlands
Guatemala's short Caribbean shoreline doesn't generate the same buzz as those of neighboring Belize and Mexico. The coast—Guatemalans all call it the Atlántico, even though...
Panajachel
The quiet Cakchiquel village of Panajachel on the northern shore of Lago Atitlán began welcoming international visitors during the heady, hippie 1960s, and never looked...
Coban
Spanish King Charles V dubbed Cobán La Ciudad Imperial ("the Imperial City"), a designation that generates pride among residents even today. Little remains of the...
Chichicastenango
Perched on a hillside, Chichicastenango ("the place of the nettles") is in many ways a typical highland town. The narrow cobblestone streets converge on a...
Flores
The red-roof town of Flores, on an island in the waters of Lago Petén Itzá connected to the mainland by a main road, is on...
Huehuetenango
At the foot of the Cuchumatán mountain range, Huehuetenango—it's one of those fun Guatemalan place names to say (way-way-tay-NAHN-go), but everybody shortens it to "Huehue"—was...
Rio Dulce
The term "Río Dulce" denotes two geographic entities. First and foremost, it designates the beautiful waterway connecting the coastal town of Livingston with Lake Izabal...
Tikal
...
Livingston
Visitors always compare Livingston with Puerto Barrios across the bay, and the former wins hands down, for its sultry, seductive Caribbean flavor. Wooden houses, many...
Monterrico
Look up "laid-back beach town" in the dictionary, and you just might find a picture of Monterrico, the only town in the country with such...
Puerto Barrios
The friendly but down-at-the-heels port city of Puerto Barrios preserves the atmosphere of an old banana town. Its wide streets, mostly detached buildings—many are old...
El Estor
Although the vast majority of this little town's population is Q'eqchí, there's also a decidedly Caribbean influence. Locals describe El Estor as tranquilo, which means...
Biotopo del Quetzal
...
Santa Elena
Although it lacks the charms of neighboring Flores, gritty Santa Elena is pretty much unavoidable. Most services that you'll need for your trip to El...
El Remate
...
Santa Cruz del Quiche
A half-hour north of Chichicastenango lies the provincial capital of Santa Cruz del Quiché, which serves as a base for exploring the area. Quiché, as...
Santiago Atitlan
Across the lake from Panajachel lies its rival in size, Santiago Atitlán, a small city with a fascinating, tragic history. With a population of about...
North Shore, Lake Peten Itza, and Quexil Lagoon
The small villages of San Pedro, San José, and San Andrés, on the northwest shore of Lake Petén Itzá, have beautiful vistas of the sparkling...
Lanquin
This pretty village, founded in the 16th century, is on the doorstep of some impressive natural wonders, namely the caverns of Lanquín and the limpid...
Sayaxche and Ceibal
Though Ceibal can be reached via a dirt road that floods during the rainy season, it's best accessed by boat on the Río de la...
Retalhuleu
Guatemala has some pretty complex place names, but no one even bothers trying to pronounce this one. It's ray-tahl-hoo-LAY-oo if you care to venture a...
San Marcos La Laguna
San Marcos has acquired fame as a center of New Age devotion, thanks to the presence of the Pirámides del Ka meditation center/lodge. The tiny...
San Juan La Laguna
The tiny, one-hotel village of San Juan La Laguna bills itself as "the cleanest town in Guatemala," and it lives up to its claim. San...
Santa Cruz La Laguna
Your first view of Santa Cruz La Laguna is the hubbub of a couple of hotels and a few vendors who hang around the dock...
Puerto San Jose
Guatemala's oldest port dates from 1853, its construction spurred by the then-nascent coffee trade. Its importance has been eclipsed since the 1980s by the more...
Monumento Natural Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo
Southwest of Tikal lies a 430-square-mile (1,200-square-km) complex of three ruins from the Late Classic period. Yaxhá is the most easily visited of these, with...
San Miguel Totonicapan
This traditional highland village is famous for its wooden toys. "Toto" is full of workshops where a wide variety of handicrafts are actually produced. Come...
Jaibalito
So small that it rarely appears on maps of the region, Jaibalito is the most undisturbed of the villages surrounding Lago Atitlán. Santa Cruz La...
Lake Petexbatun
This impressive rain-forest lagoon was the seat of a 6th-century kingdom that extended south as far as the Verapaces and east to present-day Belize. It...
San Antonio Palopo
San Antonio Palopó is a quiet farming town, larger, but much less known, than neighboring Santa Catarina Palopó. Most people have plots of land on...
Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa
Tidy, prosperous Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa is the town that sugar built. The small city is worth a stop to visit a couple of lesser-known indigenous...
Escuintla
“Ghastly” and “exhaust-ridden” are two of the terms travelers use to describe the region’s largest city. If you’re negotiating the Pacific lowlands by public transportation...
Solola
The Atitlán area's "metropolis" of Sololá is the region's administrative capital. Sololá lies a steep, 20-minute climb up from Panajachel and offers stunning mountainside views...
Takalik Abaj
...
Santa Catarina Palopo
Santa Catarina Palopó provides an odd mix of deep-seated Cakchiquel tradition and sumptuous luxury in the vacation homes outsiders have built on the fringes of...
San Pedro La Laguna
"It's the new Pana," proclaim its growing number of fans. Indeed, as Panajachel and its international population have matured—a few wags would say "gentrified"—the young...
Semuc Champey
...
Quirigua
...
El Zotz
...
Zunil
At the base of an extinct volcano, the radiant village of Zunil is one of the prettiest in the highlands. Mud and adobe houses are...
Nebaj
A fascinating part of the highlands, although one of Guatemala's most inaccessible regions, is the so-called Ixil Triangle. It's home to the indigenous Ixiles, who...
San Lucas Toliman
San Lucas Tolimán, in the shadow of the Tolimán volcano, is the first town you encounter if approaching Lake Atitlán from the south. (It lies...
El Mirador
...
Salcaja
What you think is your first glimpse of Quetzaltenango is not Quetzaltenango at all, but actually the Quiché market town of Salcajá. With the growth...
Uaxactun
Uaxactún is surrounded by thick rain forest, so the trip can be difficult. The rock-and-dirt road is passable during the drier seasons and nearly impossible...
Almolonga
In this charming village just outside of Quetzaltenango you'll find women wearing bright orange huipils and beautiful headbands. At the busy Wednesday and Saturday markets...
Momostenango
It's "Momo" in local parlance and on the front of the buses that shuttle you here from Quetzaltenango. This is one of the few places...
San Andres Xecul
A quick detour from the Pan-American Highway brings you to San Andrés Xecul, notable for its canary-yellow baroque church of the same name, which is...
San Francisco El Alto
What is Guatemala's largest market? Everyone guesses Chichicastenango, but it's actually the Friday affair at this highland town an easy drive from Quetzaltenango. (It's Central...
Todos Santos Cuchumatan
Although it takes about three hours to cover the short distance from Huehuetenango to Todos Santos Cuchumatán, the bumpy ride is probably the best way...
Guatemala City
Central America's largest metropolis has what you'd expect from an urban area of 2.5 million people—the best selection of hotels, restaurants, nightlife, and museums in...
Panajachel
The quiet Cakchiquel village of Panajachel on the northern shore of Lago Atitlán began welcoming international visitors during the heady, hippie 1960s, and never looked...
Coban
Spanish King Charles V dubbed Cobán La Ciudad Imperial ("the Imperial City"), a designation that generates pride among residents even today. Little remains of the...
Chichicastenango
Perched on a hillside, Chichicastenango ("the place of the nettles") is in many ways a typical highland town. The narrow cobblestone streets converge on a...
Flores
The red-roof town of Flores, on an island in the waters of Lago Petén Itzá connected to the mainland by a main road, is on...
Huehuetenango
At the foot of the Cuchumatán mountain range, Huehuetenango—it's one of those fun Guatemalan place names to say (way-way-tay-NAHN-go), but everybody shortens it to "Huehue"—was...
Rio Dulce
The term "Río Dulce" denotes two geographic entities. First and foremost, it designates the beautiful waterway connecting the coastal town of Livingston with Lake Izabal...
Livingston
Visitors always compare Livingston with Puerto Barrios across the bay, and the former wins hands down, for its sultry, seductive Caribbean flavor. Wooden houses, many...
Tikal
...
Monterrico
Look up "laid-back beach town" in the dictionary, and you just might find a picture of Monterrico, the only town in the country with such...
Puerto Barrios
The friendly but down-at-the-heels port city of Puerto Barrios preserves the atmosphere of an old banana town. Its wide streets, mostly detached buildings—many are old...
El Estor
Although the vast majority of this little town's population is Q'eqchí, there's also a decidedly Caribbean influence. Locals describe El Estor as tranquilo, which means...
Biotopo del Quetzal
...
El Remate
...
Santa Elena
Although it lacks the charms of neighboring Flores, gritty Santa Elena is pretty much unavoidable. Most services that you'll need for your trip to El...
Santiago Atitlan
Across the lake from Panajachel lies its rival in size, Santiago Atitlán, a small city with a fascinating, tragic history. With a population of about...
Santa Cruz del Quiche
A half-hour north of Chichicastenango lies the provincial capital of Santa Cruz del Quiché, which serves as a base for exploring the area. Quiché, as...
Lanquin
This pretty village, founded in the 16th century, is on the doorstep of some impressive natural wonders, namely the caverns of Lanquín and the limpid...
Retalhuleu
Guatemala has some pretty complex place names, but no one even bothers trying to pronounce this one. It's ray-tahl-hoo-LAY-oo if you care to venture a...
Santa Cruz La Laguna
Your first view of Santa Cruz La Laguna is the hubbub of a couple of hotels and a few vendors who hang around the dock...
Sayaxche and Ceibal
Though Ceibal can be reached via a dirt road that floods during the rainy season, it's best accessed by boat on the Río de la...
San Juan La Laguna
The tiny, one-hotel village of San Juan La Laguna bills itself as "the cleanest town in Guatemala," and it lives up to its claim. San...
San Marcos La Laguna
San Marcos has acquired fame as a center of New Age devotion, thanks to the presence of the Pirámides del Ka meditation center/lodge. The tiny...
Lake Petexbatun
This impressive rain-forest lagoon was the seat of a 6th-century kingdom that extended south as far as the Verapaces and east to present-day Belize. It...
San Miguel Totonicapan
This traditional highland village is famous for its wooden toys. "Toto" is full of workshops where a wide variety of handicrafts are actually produced. Come...
Jaibalito
So small that it rarely appears on maps of the region, Jaibalito is the most undisturbed of the villages surrounding Lago Atitlán. Santa Cruz La...
Monumento Natural Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo
Southwest of Tikal lies a 430-square-mile (1,200-square-km) complex of three ruins from the Late Classic period. Yaxhá is the most easily visited of these, with...
Puerto San Jose
Guatemala's oldest port dates from 1853, its construction spurred by the then-nascent coffee trade. Its importance has been eclipsed since the 1980s by the more...
San Antonio Palopo
San Antonio Palopó is a quiet farming town, larger, but much less known, than neighboring Santa Catarina Palopó. Most people have plots of land on...
Escuintla
“Ghastly” and “exhaust-ridden” are two of the terms travelers use to describe the region’s largest city. If you’re negotiating the Pacific lowlands by public transportation...
Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa
Tidy, prosperous Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa is the town that sugar built. The small city is worth a stop to visit a couple of lesser-known indigenous...
Takalik Abaj
...
Santa Catarina Palopo
Santa Catarina Palopó provides an odd mix of deep-seated Cakchiquel tradition and sumptuous luxury in the vacation homes outsiders have built on the fringes of...
Solola
The Atitlán area's "metropolis" of Sololá is the region's administrative capital. Sololá lies a steep, 20-minute climb up from Panajachel and offers stunning mountainside views...
San Pedro La Laguna
"It's the new Pana," proclaim its growing number of fans. Indeed, as Panajachel and its international population have matured—a few wags would say "gentrified"—the young...
Zunil
At the base of an extinct volcano, the radiant village of Zunil is one of the prettiest in the highlands. Mud and adobe houses are...
El Zotz
...
Uaxactun
Uaxactún is surrounded by thick rain forest, so the trip can be difficult. The rock-and-dirt road is passable during the drier seasons and nearly impossible...
Semuc Champey
...
Quirigua
...
Nebaj
A fascinating part of the highlands, although one of Guatemala's most inaccessible regions, is the so-called Ixil Triangle. It's home to the indigenous Ixiles, who...
Salcaja
What you think is your first glimpse of Quetzaltenango is not Quetzaltenango at all, but actually the Quiché market town of Salcajá. With the growth...
San Lucas Toliman
San Lucas Tolimán, in the shadow of the Tolimán volcano, is the first town you encounter if approaching Lake Atitlán from the south. (It lies...
El Mirador
...
Momostenango
It's "Momo" in local parlance and on the front of the buses that shuttle you here from Quetzaltenango. This is one of the few places...
Almolonga
In this charming village just outside of Quetzaltenango you'll find women wearing bright orange huipils and beautiful headbands. At the busy Wednesday and Saturday markets...
San Francisco El Alto
What is Guatemala's largest market? Everyone guesses Chichicastenango, but it's actually the Friday affair at this highland town an easy drive from Quetzaltenango. (It's Central...
San Andres Xecul
A quick detour from the Pan-American Highway brings you to San Andrés Xecul, notable for its canary-yellow baroque church of the same name, which is...
Todos Santos Cuchumatan
Although it takes about three hours to cover the short distance from Huehuetenango to Todos Santos Cuchumatán, the bumpy ride is probably the best way...
The Highlands
The region that locals call the Occidente (west) or the Altiplano (high plain) is the Guatemala that everyone comes to see. The highlands begin near...
Antigua
Filled with vestiges of its colonial past—cobblestone streets, enchanting squares, and deserted convents—Antigua, one of Latin America's loveliest cities, instantly transports you back hundreds of...
Quetzaltenango (Xelaju)
Guatemala's second-largest city might seem quite provincial if you've first visited the capital. But we'll take friendly, old Quetzaltenango any day. Historically, the city never...
El Peten
The jungles of El Petén were once the heartland of the Mayan civilization. The sprawling empire—including parts of present-day Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador—was...
Las Verapaces
Northeast of Guatemala City, the scrubby landscape gives way to forested mountains drained by wild rivers. You may feel you’ve stepped into northern Europe. This...
The Atlantic Lowlands
Guatemala's short Caribbean shoreline doesn't generate the same buzz as those of neighboring Belize and Mexico. The coast—Guatemalans all call it the Atlántico, even though...
The Pacific Lowlands
Even old Guatemala hands scratch their heads when someone mentions its little-known Pacific coast. The country’s 266-km (160-mile) Pacific shoreline could lay the groundwork for...
North Shore, Lake Peten Itza, and Quexil Lagoon
The small villages of San Pedro, San José, and San Andrés, on the northwest shore of Lake Petén Itzá, have beautiful vistas of the sparkling...
All Destinations
Expand All Collapse All
The Highlands
- Almolonga
- Chichicastenango
- Huehuetenango
- Jaibalito
- Momostenango
- Nebaj
- Panajachel
- Quetzaltenango (Xelaju)
- Salcaja
- San Andres Xecul
- San Antonio Palopo
- San Francisco El Alto
- San Juan La Laguna
- San Lucas Toliman
- San Marcos La Laguna
- San Miguel Totonicapan
- San Pedro La Laguna
- Santa Catarina Palopo
- Santa Cruz La Laguna
- Santa Cruz del Quiche
- Santiago Atitlan
- Solola
- Todos Santos Cuchumatan
- Zunil
The Highlands
- Almolonga
- Chichicastenango
- Huehuetenango
- Jaibalito
- Momostenango
- Nebaj
- Panajachel
- Quetzaltenango (Xelaju)
- Salcaja
- San Andres Xecul
- San Antonio Palopo
- San Francisco El Alto
- San Juan La Laguna
- San Lucas Toliman
- San Marcos La Laguna
- San Miguel Totonicapan
- San Pedro La Laguna
- Santa Catarina Palopo
- Santa Cruz La Laguna
- Santa Cruz del Quiche
- Santiago Atitlan
- Solola
- Todos Santos Cuchumatan
- Zunil
The Highlands
- Almolonga
- Chichicastenango
- Huehuetenango
- Jaibalito
- Momostenango
- Nebaj
- Panajachel
- Quetzaltenango (Xelaju)
- Salcaja
- San Andres Xecul
- San Antonio Palopo
- San Francisco El Alto
- San Juan La Laguna
- San Lucas Toliman
- San Marcos La Laguna
- San Miguel Totonicapan
- San Pedro La Laguna
- Santa Catarina Palopo
- Santa Cruz La Laguna
- Santa Cruz del Quiche
- Santiago Atitlan
- Solola
- Todos Santos Cuchumatan
- Zunil
Top Experiences
Recent Forum Posts
Recent Forum Posts
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H
Trip Report: Guatemala, late March/April 2023
Hopefulist started May 6, 2023 |Last reply May 10, 2023 View Post 5 replies 369 views View Post -
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Southern Mexico/Guatemala/Belize in March (probably!)
Crellston started Apr 27, 2023 |Last reply May 2, 2023 View Post 8 replies 569 views View Post -
H
Trip Report: Guatemala & Belize in March/April 2022
Hopefulist started Sep 12, 2022 |Last reply May 2, 2023 View Post 5 replies 1441 views View Post -
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14 days: Guatemala only, or add a few days in Belize
Getran started May 5, 2022 |Last reply Sep 12, 2022 View Post 6 replies 1505 views View Post
