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There's plenty in Guatemala City to occupy you for a couple of days. A textile and an anthropological museum will enhance your appreciation of ancient and indigenous cultures and get you ready to head into the highlands or El Petén. A pair of art museums display paintings and sculpture by Guatemalan masters; one focuses on the 20th century while the other goes back to colonial days. For families traveling with kids, there's a zoo and a children's museum. And if you're in town on a Sunday, you can stop by the Plaza Mayor, which explodes in a riot of music and color, with vendors selling handmade textiles and indigenous people wearing traditional dress. If you're lucky, you may even see one of Guatemala City's goatherds guiding his flock through the streets of the Old City and charging Q5 for a glass of fresh-squeezed milk.
It's small, but the capital's zoo is well arranged and well maintained. The facility contains several exhibit areas, including the African savanna, the Asian subcontinent, the Mesoamerican tropics, and a down-home farm. You'll see everything from giraffes and elephants to cows and ducks.
The zoo's proximity to the nearby Children's Museum makes a convenient outing for families with kids.
Via interactive exhibits, the capital's splendid Children's Museum takes the young and young-at-heart on a journey through space, the human body, a coffee plantation, and a giant Lego exhibit. Multiple tickets are available at a slight discount Friday afternoon and weekends. We recommend making a kids' day out by combining this museum with a visit to the nearby zoo.
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