Advice on trip through Guatemala/Honduras/Belize

I totally agree. I always plan a lot and then end up changing everything! I am a bit worried however about being peak season, etc

My flight is at 2240 so should have a lot of margin for error!

That's a lot of very useful information Sonia, thanks again. Santa Maria or Acatenango sounds like what I am looking for. I will try to make enquiries and see if they have departures on the days I need. I changed things around a little bit and I could potentially have 3 extra days for Antigua and the volcanoes so could be feasible.
I will definitely do what you say and heat to Tikal on day 19 and stay there. I think I read somewhere they don't do afternoon tickets any more, will double check.
Regarding Atitlan I might do 2 nights in San Marcos and maybe the other 2 nights in a different village.

Good plan, if they have the availability I'd say jump on it. I remember last year around that time there was basically nothing and people were wandering the streets looking sad and accommodation-less. Personally I think it's most relaxing to stay in one village for the whole 4 days... a lot of people go to the lake thinking "do do do" and it ends up more like "be be be." Trust me, after 2 days of getting settled in you'll probably want to stay more. The trade-offs in transport are worth it; for example, even if it takes a bit longer to get to Santiago, you're also right next door to San Pedro and close to other villages like Tzununa. The real advantage for me is being able to wake up right there in the forest away from the hubbub, you'll see why many people come and end up staying for 1, 2, 3 months or more.

The reason I was going to maybe Split it is that Lush only have availability for the 24th and 25th. I could look elsewhere for all 4 nights but my dates could change slightly so prefer to not have to commit to specific dates but at the same time I want to secure accommodation for Xmas Eve and Xmas Day in advance

My Acatenango and Santa Maria trip reports are below.

The rules at Tikal change all the time but this is from a trip report from someone who went to Tikal in July:
"Park entry fee is Q150, but buying tickets after 3:30pm means they’re valid for the next day (we arrived at the gates at 3:15, and the guards kindly advised us to wait 15 minutes!), plus an extra Q100 for entry after 6pm (for evening tours) or before 6am (for sunrise tours)."

I agree with #33... I like waking up in a smaller village at the lake as well. I just find that for people who don't have much time it is more convenient to stay in a village (like Pana) from where it is easier to visit other places. You will still get to spend lots of time in the smaller villages even if you are not staying there. But it can all be done even if you are staying in a more isolated village. No matter where you end up I am sure you will enjoy the lake.

Acatenango:
So Saturday morning we made our way to the office of O.X. We got some more things to add to our backpacks (food…) and the van drove to the plaza where we stopped to get some breakfast. Then we drove to La Soledad. The road up to the trailhead was being widened. Acatenango has recently become a regional park. The guide handed us a stick and off we went, a steep climb through farmland. There were lots of clouds and when we entered the cloud forest clouds were all around us. After the cloud forest we reached the alpine forest and then came the last steep climb. By then the sun had appeared and our guide said we would be able to climb to the summit and camp there. We had wonderful views of the clouds beneath us and great views of volcano Agua. We were glad we were well adjusted to the altitude, we had started at 2270 meters and would end up at 3976. Acatenango is the third tallest volcano in Guatemala. The last part was hard… very steep and the volcanic scree made it hard to go up, we kept sliding down. But when we reached the top we did not even head down into the crater where we would camp, but went along the ridge to get a view of active volcano Fuego. We had a clear view of Fuego. Then an eruption and a cloud of smoke ! Later a bigger eruption with a black mushroom cloud and rocks (boulders probably) and debris flying in the air. It was magical. The view of Agua was wonderful too. Plus other volcanoes poking out of the clouds. We watched the sunset, the colours were unbelievable. After dinner we were all very cold and nauseous. It was very windy. We retreated to our tent but it was hard to get warm. The wind pressed the tent down into our faces. It was a miserable night. There was frost on the tent. At 2:30 am my husband could not stand it any more and we got up. We climbed to the ridge. The wind was howling. We sought protection between some rocks. We saw the top of Fuego appear out of the clouds. We had a headache and felt nauseous. But at 2:50 am Fuego erupted, we saw lava shoot up in the air ! Twenty minutes later another eruption, sparkling fire with lava flowing down the sides. We wanted to just stay there but were freezing so went back to the tent till about 5 am when we got up again for the sunrise. We saw the Pacific, Agua, Fuego of course and Lake Atitlan with all the volcanoes around it. Add to that a full moon. It was really breathtaking.
Going down was much easier and fun. The volcanic sand is hard to climb in but going down you can actually run taking large strides.

Santa Maria:
There was a lot of fog. Kaqchikel picked us up at 5 am and we drove to Llanos del Pinal (half hour). The fog was very thick and we were worried. But at the start of the trail our guide pointed to the sky and weirdly enough we could see stars. He said it would be a beautiful day for the hike so we set off in the dark. We had to conquer an elevation gain of 1300 meters climbing to 3772 meters. We were happy to be used to the altitude a bit after Nebaj and Todos Santos. Our guide was freezing but we liked the cold for climbing. It took us an hour to reach the mesa and we could see Santa Maria in front of us, bathed in the light of the morning sun. It would take us another 2 hours to the top. Apparently 3 hours is great… average time is 4 hours. It was steep but our guide had a slow and steady pace that suited us well. I loved staring at the white cloud blanket beneath us. When we were almost at the top we heard a boom… Santiaguito erupting. That is the best part of climbing Santa Maria : the views are incredible but as an extra bonus you look down on Santiaguito and that volcano has been very active lately. The boom made us walk a bit faster… summit fever ! At the summit we didn’t get any rest as our guide suggested hurrying to the other side so we could see Santiaguito. It was such an impressive sight. Santiaguito was emitting smoke and from time to time we saw venting from the sides and steam and rocks rolling down. We also saw all the volcanoes at Lake Atitlan and Antigua. We sat there for an hour just being amazed when all of a sudden Santiaguito had a major eruption, a big boom and a dark mushroom cloud of smoke coming from the top… we were ecstatic. We then walked to the other side, Maya people were chanting and praying and we enjoyed the view of Xela and of the other volcanoes. To top it all off we saw Fuego (near Antigua) erupt, a small puff of smoke on the horizon. It was a great hike, we enjoyed the flowers and saw a blue-green lizard. Our guide got a call on his cell phone : his wife had given birth to a baby girl ! So he was crying and we told him to hurry down. We made it down in record time although the trail was muddy and slippery now (it had been frozen on the way up).

great reports, thank you

If you have been to Mexico before I would add a couple of nights in Belize to go to the ATM caves (2 nights San Ignacio) and spend one more day in Caye Caulker. Cause if you go diving for one day, it will be nice spending another one or two day(s) just wandering around the island and do some swimming and relaxing.

thank you, all good ideas :)

I am starting to think it might be a good idea to skip Rio Dulce/Livingston and go directly from Copan to Flores/Tikal and together with the other 4 flexi days I had use to stay an extra night in Copan maybe, do Acatenango overnight (there is a departure on 30th December which only comes back on 31st 2pm which would make it too late to get the shuttle to Copan), extra day maybe in Caye Caulker and do Calakmul before passing through Bacalar en route to the beach for the last 4 days. Any thoughts? Another option would be to skip Caye Caulker and do straight Flores to Chetumal and the continue Xpujil (for Calakmul and other side), Bacalar and then beach.