120 Best Hotels in Guatemala

A private boat transports you to this posh hideaway, where you're given five-star service in the jungle. Generous, light-filled private bungalows provide luxe linens, comfortable beds, and spacious bathrooms, some with rain showers and Jacuzzi tubs. There is a swim platform on the lake, a beautiful pool, and an open-air spa that is not to be missed.

This hotel in a century-old house offers great in-town value and gives old Cobán standby La Posada some competition. The building is constructed, colonial-style, around a lovely garden. Rooms contain two queen-size beds, tile floors, huge bathrooms, and lots of wrought iron. Enjoy the evenings on the chairs outside your room on the wide veranda lining the perimeter of the garden. Top it all off with a knowledgeable owner, and you have one of our favorite lodgings in the area. The restaurant serves local cuisine and is open daily except Monday.

A twice-remodeled, half-century-old house designed in typical Antigua colonial style is one of the city's best small inns. You'll most remember the comfy four-post beds about this place: all are king- or queen-size and furnished with Italian linens and down pillows. Only one second-floor room contains two beds, making it the only option if you're not here as a couple. Getting to Room 7 requires a bit of sure footing: large stepping stones lead to its door over a small pond with floating votive candles. An amply sized rooftop suite has its own private hot tub.

By far the best B&B on the lake, and one of the country's loveliest hotels, luxurious Casa Palopó has an almost mystical atmosphere. Each of the seven rooms in the main house, decorated with religious-theme artworks from around the world, offers incredible views of the volcanoes. Muted blues run throughout this former villa, mirroring the colors of the lake. Most baths have giant tubs perfect for prolonged soaks. Just down the road, an annex offers two equally sumptuous suites, each with its own pool and hot tub.

This string of waterfront bungalows can best be described as Guatemala's most luxurious way of roughing it. Each is furnished with bright highland furniture and a pair of beds draped with mosquito nets. Don't be scared off by the shared baths; they're clean and comfortable, and the showers have hot water. The main building houses a restaurant serving excellent meals on a pretty patio overlooking the water. The dinner menu changes daily, but always includes lobster and other favorites. Dinner, at 7 sharp, is by candlelight.

On the north bank of the Río Dulce, this lovely resort takes advantage of its location with a restaurant built right over the water. The specialties are grilled steaks and fresh fish, including the delicious robalo plucked from the river. A string of spacious bungalows is cooled by river breezes, the nicest feature of which are the porches, perfect for watching boats. The staff can arrange boat trips along the river and to Livingston.

Keep any disappointment in check until you arrive. You turn into a quiet cove northwest of Panajachel, and will spot an ugly high-rise building. That isn't this hotel. This Spanish-style inn consists of a main building flanked by two-story wings that surround a pool. The extensive grounds border on a long stretch of shoreline and the Reserva Natural Atitlán, a wooded reserve crossed by footpaths and hanging bridges. The rooms, each with tile floor, carved wooden furniture, and handwoven bedspreads, have balconies overlooking the gardens or the lake. Even if you don't stay here, stop by for views of the lake at sunset. The restaurant is reliable, if a bit overpriced. The hotel also offers weekly rates, which include all meals if you like.

This small hotel is in a secluded cove, and each of its stone-floor, stucco bungalows is shaded by avocado and papaya trees. Ask the friendly German owner to make you a tropical drink, one of his favorite pastimes. If piña coladas aren't your thing, request a massage—he is rumored to be the best masseur on the lake. The restaurant serves up great curries and other international dishes.

True charm pervades La Posada, a lovely colonial home overlooking Cobán's central plaza, which the current owner's grandmother opened as a hotel in 1939. Rooms have wooden floors and exposed beams and are furnished with antiques. Some have special touches like wardrobes and writing desks, and three have fireplaces. Painted blue chairs and cloth hammocks fill the porch overlooking the pretty garden. In the reception area is a Ping-Pong table, which is popular with families. Request a room away from the street if you're bothered by traffic noise. A cozy restaurant with a fireplace serves international as well as Guatemalan favorites.

Built in the Spanish style around a central courtyard, Hotel Santo Tomás is one of the town's best lodgings. Breezy passageways in which hundreds of plants spring from rustic clay pots lead past two trickling fountains. Spacious rooms are decorated with traditional textiles and antique reproductions. Each has a fireplace to warm you when the sun goes down. The back of the hotel is quieter, and has views of the surrounding countryside. The large restaurant ($$) is a quiet lunch refuge from the market cacophony.

Livingston's finest hotel, the Villa Caribe has some great views of the Caribbean from its hilltop perch. The extensive grounds overflow with foliage. Spacious rooms, in a thatch-roof building, all have private balconies and ocean views. Palm trees surround the large pool, where you can relax in one of the lounge chairs or order a drink at the bar. The restaurant serves seafood dishes, such as coconut shrimp and robalo, but is almost always empty. The staff can arrange trips up the Río Dulce and to spots around the Bahía de Amatique.

Perhaps the best accommodations in Tikal, this lodge's cobblestone footpaths will lead you through a tamed jungle (but not so tame as to deny you a hello from a spider monkey or an iguana) to remodeled bungalows, painted with elegant interpretations of Maya motifs. The original structure was built almost 60 years ago to house archaeologists working at Tikal; those rooms are now the budget options with shared baths. If your budget allows, choose one of the bungalows or suites instead. The Jungle Lodge remains an affordable option in the park, but recent upgrades have made some rooms more luxurious—with outdoor showers, Jacuzzis, and other tropical amenities—and more expensive. The food is underflavored and overpriced: stay here and eat elsewhere (the two other park hotels have restaurants).

Don David Kuhn has lived in the area for 40 years and is a great source for Tikal travel tips, while his lakeside hotel, an institution in Petén, also offers much to the visitor. In fact, you can consider this little inn as the area's semiofficial tourist information center. (The hotel's website also has a wealth of information on travel to Tikal.) Rooms are simple and clean, all with private baths and most with air-conditioning. The gardens, though, really deserve your time, as does the lakefront deck. (Remarkably, food and drinks can be delivered to you there via a mini hand-cranked ski lift, the \"Toucan Express.\") The casa has an open-air restaurant with good home cooking and winning views of Lake Petén Itzá.  The hotel offers good, well-priced tours to Tikal, Yaxhá, and other sites, along with horseback riding and boat rides on the lake. Choice of breakfast or dinner included.

A fresh sensibility, which includes distressed wood and acid-washed concrete tastefully layered over historic architecture and original beams, makes this Flores's most stylish hotel and very easy to recommend. A sister hotel to Jungle Lodge in Tikal, La Isla de Flores uses the same style of painted motifs to make the walls look like beautiful, oversized screen prints. A bar has opened on the rooftop with a Jacuzzi where you can loosen your muscles after climbing all those temples. The restaurant Achiote is on-site.

Francis Ford Coppola's Guatemalan lodging is decorated in exquisite taste, with rich textures and all casitas glimpsing Lake Petén Itzá; espresso makers and craft toiletries make it decadent, and a combination of Balinese and local furnishings make you want to import some of the aesthetic home. The nice full-lake-view units are many steps farther down the hillside and treacherous for some; however, there is a hillside elevator to bring you back up from the lake. The restaurant's Guatemalan fare, such as chilaquiles, beef tenderloin served with peppercorn sauce grilled on the open parilla, is delicious; however, it's local food at resort prices. A gift shop above the restaurant sells crafts at fairly reasonable cost. A split-level pool just below the restaurant lets you cool off if you don't care to swim in the lake. You're about an hour's drive from Tikal. Ask about the sister properties in Belize.

Las Lagunas, lagoon-side luxury on the expansive grounds of a nature reserve with spider monkey acrobats giving frequent shows, has spacious waterfront wood cabins with soft, decadent beds and hot tubs, and the infinity pool is perfect for cooling down after a hike. A complimentary boat tour will carry you through the lagoon to Monkey Island, where you can delight in feeding the rescue critters. Certainly, the most special part of this resort is its setting, but the service is exceptional and the restaurant is world-class. A slim breakfast is included, as is an airport shuttle. Guests can also enjoy a complimentary boat tour.

A beautiful courtyard with a fountain and colorful gardens welcomes you to this retreat. The elegant rooms downstairs open onto small gardens, whereas the romantic suites upstairs have four-poster beds piled high with down comforters and terraces where hammocks swing in the breeze. The rooftop patio is wonderful in late afternoon or early morning, and the restaurant is one of the best in town. The meat dishes are particularly good, such as the lomito (pork) bourguignonne with escargots.

The hotel and restaurant maintain an active evening cultural-events program open to the public.

The one-time palace of Leonor de Alvarado de Cueva, the daughter of Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, today serves as a lovely hotel and gives Casa Santo Domingo a run for its money in Antigua's top-notch sweepstakes. Just half a block off the Parque Central, it's the most centrally located hotel in the city. The large, flat-screen televisions in each room are a nice touch—one almost never seen in Guatemala—but look a bit out of place among the colonial elegance of canopied beds, period art, fireplaces, stone-tile floors, and garden. Descending the beautiful grand staircase will make you look just as gracious as we assume Doña Leonor did.

This little jewel of an inn on a quiet side street is exceptional, thanks to the couple that runs it. Built in 1873, the family's former home has been renovated just enough to combine quirky Old World charm with basic comforts. Rooms have tile floors, handwoven bedspreads, and walls decorated with Guatemalan paintings and weavings. Turtles roam the tiny garden, and a small but impressive collection of Mayan artifacts graces the dining room, where meals are served family style. The owners are also a great source of information about the city.

This longtime favorite has deluxe accommodations in private stone-wall bungalows with volcano views, as well as a few rooms and suites in the main building. Pass through the carved-wood doors of your bungalow and you'll find a fireplace and thick wool blankets piled high on the bed. The restaurant (¢–$) serves exquisite food, such as smoked chicken píbil in a tangy red sauce and Thai coconut shrimp. The wine list is surprisingly extensive. On the premises is a small store where you can rent canoes and mountain bikes.

You'd never know from the unassuming, borderline-rickety wooden gate that you're at the threshold of one of Antigua's most beautiful lodgings, but it's all part of the ruse at this truly angelic inn. Large corner fireplaces warm the rooms, each of which is decorated with well-chosen antiques. Those on the main floor look out onto a plant-filled courtyard, and the large suite on the second floor has a private rooftop terrace. The staff has catered to presidents and prime ministers—former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who stayed in the upstairs suite, is the most famous guest on the register—but you'll receive the same fine service.

Sprawling resorts like this waterfront complex are the newest trend in Guatemala. The beautiful natural surroundings are somewhat diminished by all the effort to make things luxurious. The impressive pool, complete with a replica of a Spanish galleon that shoots water from its cannons, has slides for children and an island bar for adults. Few of the sunny suites have views of the ocean, but they are equipped with everything you would find in a well-furnished apartment, including washers and dryers.

Magnificent views are the big draw at this rustic retreat. Rooms, in several wood-and-stone bungalows, are small but neat. The delicious home cooking is served family style in the main building, which resembles a New England farmhouse. The menu ($) changes constantly, but each meal comes with fresh vegetables and bread hot out of the oven. Electricity is solar-generated, with gas used to fuel the supply of hot water.

A wonderfully friendly Finnish–Guatemalan couple operates this bright, cheery hotel on the beach road west of town. The Guatemalan half of the pair brings her artist's talents—ask for a tour of her on-premises studio—to the rooms, which are decorated in bright tropical colors, with one or two beds per room, two chairs, small armoire, and a stone-basin sink and shower in the bathroom. A small staff whips up great food and serves it out in the thatch-roof rancho next to the pool.

On the beautifully tended grounds at the dock entrance to Santiago Atitlán is a string of rooms with private patios overlooking the lake. Stone pathways loop through a series of taxonomically arranged gardens (cacti in one, flowers in the next, and so on)—and most of the hotel's restaurant's fruits, vegetables, and herbs are cultivated out back. Canoes are available for paddling around the lake.

Although its facade won't win any awards, the lovely lounge offers rest to the weary; relax with a cocktail in one of the comfortable armchairs as you listen to jazz. Or you can always head to the Health and Racquet Club, a spacious spa and sports facility. Rooms are nicely furnished, and each has a small balcony with a view of the city.

For those who feel more at home in smaller hotels, Stofella is our pick in the mid-price category. A short staircase leads to a flower-filled reception area. Some of the guest rooms have small sitting areas. Ask for one in the original building, as those added during a recent renovation don't have the same character. If you're feeling social, join the other guests in the cozy bar.

This slightly ramshackle hotel a few blocks off the plaza is a popular spot with travelers on a budget. Rooms on two floors of a converted residence face a small courtyard overflowing with plants. Several are arranged dorm-style with bunks, and sleep eight to 10 people. Though simple, they're clean and comfortable. There's a separate lounge where you can chat with other guests.

This inn is a collection of little buildings about a block from the main street. Spacious, if sparsely furnished, rooms have sliding-glass doors that open onto the lovely garden. The rooms may seem a bit cool because of the tile floors, but they have fireplaces that warm you up in a snap. The grounds are surrounded by a wall, which makes the terraces by the pool a private place to sunbathe. The restaurant is one of the best in town, serving a wide selection of Guatemalan dishes. The agreeable chefs will sometimes even prepare dishes to order. You receive a 5% discount off the room rates if you pay in cash.

Rooms acquire progressively more amenities as you go up the stairs in this friendly hotel on a small street near La Merced church. First-floor rooms are a tad spartan, with only beds and tables. By the time you get to the second floor, there are televisions and nicer furnishings, and the two third-floor rooms offer art on the stone walls and nice views of the Volcán Agua. A rooftop terrace offers a 360-degree view of the city. The hot-water supply is limited here (only guaranteed between 4 and 11 am and 4 and 10 pm), but all in all, this is a nice budget find with free Wi-Fi and private bathrooms.