2 Best Sights in Guatemala

The small but lovely Botanical Garden at the northern end of Zona 10 contains an impressive collection of plants managed by the Universidad de San Carlos. Your ticket price also includes admission to a small, adjoining natural-history museum.

Run by the friendly Millie Mittelstaedt de Hernández, this magnificent orchid farm is a good place for an afternoon jaunt. The farm grows 400 different species native to Guatemala, and Mittelstaedt clearly enjoys sharing her passion with visitors, pointing out breathtaking blossoms and describing the painstaking process of coaxing the temperamental ornamentals to bloom. The orchids flower in late November through February; Cobán's International Orchid Festival is held annually the last week of November.