Air-con in Guatemala

patywolf, we found your site when we spent a month driving all around the Yucatan back in 2003. Great pics and inspiration for that trip.

A few of my own hotel picks:

Lake Atitlan: Hotel Pa' Muelle in San Juan la Laguna (a small, traditional town with a neat community tourism project and a great coffee cooperative but very few restaurants).

Antigua: Posada Dona Luisa, which is well-located, pleasant, and affordable. If you ask you may get a discounted rate.

Flores: I've only ever stayed in cheap places here, but a word of advice: rooms on the water or higher up the hill are likely to get a nice breeze off the lake and thus stay reasonably cool.

I stayed in nice places (always private bath) and they were all in that price range (February and March 2013), except for the lovely CazaAzul in Flores, which was slightly higher at 391 Q. Worth it for the beautiful verandah overlooking the lake! Lots of places to choose from in all your places, just have a look at what suits YOU best.

For a 9 week trip (half in Mexico) my hotels averaged under US$40 (for two), with many of them quite luxurious, fancy places. The cheaper ones allowed the more expensive ones, that were worth it, like Posada Santiago. I also splurged on the lovely Casa del Mundo at the lake (room 10, treehouse room), but while there we saw the rooms without a private bath (much cheaper) and they looked fine, bath was right outside the door. Look at rooms 8 and 9, they were just above us and very private. The dinners there were fantastic. https://www.lacasadelmundo.com/web/index.php/en/rooms

Btw, we were extremely cold in Quetzaltenango (Xela); if you can get a place with heat there it would be worth the extra cost.

Thanks aslukas. All are going into my notes and I sent an email to Posada Dona Luisa for our first couple days in Guatemala.

Thanks bcmum. You have really upped my confidence about getting rooms we can afford. You sound like our kind of traveler. I have copied all your suggestions in to my notes and Casa del Mundo looks great. We may make that one of our splurge places.

I watched the owner's video of Posada Santiago and just HAD to go there. I figured that I'd stay somewhere cheaper at another spot to allow it and in the end (I had booked almost all my 63 nights in advance) I stayed under the $40 average (Canadian dollars, but Canadian and US were close to equal then). Posada Santiago does give a discount for paying cash or traveller's cheques (versus credit card) and was so worth it. My daughter and I stayed in one of the stone cottages and lit a fire every night, it was really nice and would be romantic for a couple.

http://www.posadadesantiago.com/

A TT forum member convinced me that I really had to stay at Casa del Mundo, too. So we then went across the lake to stay there a couple of nights as well. Both places were wonderful.

In Copan (Honduras) we first stayed at a place that was too noisy so we had to move. To Hotel Mary, which was just lovely. The one queen-size bed room was about $29 per night http://www.comedormary.com/hotel.htm
Their restaurant makes great pupusas for your breakfast or lunch. We loved Copan, stayed 5 nights and it could have been longer.

In Xela we stayed at Casa San Bartolome; although the room was very beautiful I wouldn't return, didn't like the owner and it was just so cold there in the room. In Antigua we stayed at Casa Cristina, in their most expensive room. Same: I would not return there. The owner was not honest with me and that is one thing I don't forgive (especially when they do it in writing) and it was freezing there and we did not get hot water to shower. Antigua is very expensive compared to elsewhere in Guatemala, so choose carefully.

Are you going to Coban? Between Guatemala City and Flores. We stayed in a lovely place there, Pension Monja Blanca. Great expresso coffee place just around the corner from it. Can't remember the price, I think it was around $23, I did not book that one in advance. (my computer crashed and I lost 60 pages of trip notes, but not my booking forms which were in my email).
http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g612400-d1748145-Reviews-Pension_Monja_Blanca-Coban_Alta_Verapaz_Department.html

Here are links to some of my favorite hotels in Guatemala; they’re mostly in the $15­-30/double price range and some include breakfast:
Antigua: www.casa­cristina.com
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Panajachel: Mario's Rooms: http://www.mariosroomsatitlan.com ­­
San Pedro La Laguna (my favorite town on the lake):
http://www.mikasohotel.com/

http://hotel­sakcari.com/ (price has gone up recently)

Chichicastenango: Hospedaje Girón: http://www.sailing­diving­guatemala.com/hotels/giron.htm (this is a middle man site; much cheaper to call the hotel and reserve directly, don’t expect English ­ 502 7756 1156).
­­
Tikal: http://www.tikalinnsunrise.com/ (harder on the budget but worth it to stay in the park imo) ­­
Flores:
midrange options: http://corpetur.com/
good budget choice: Mesa de Mayas Flores ­ Alfaro Lopez <mesamayas@hotmail.com>
­­
My photo collections are here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections
with links to my blogs, travelogues, and review sites on the main page of each collection.

Happy trails!

Thanks again bcmum and hopefulist. I am checking it all out and my note book is filling up with great information.

bcmum, we were thinking about a stop at Coban. Thanks for the suggestion.

If anyone has suggestions for other destinations/rooms outside of the obvious "most popular" ones, we would love to hear about them.

Especially if you like to hike, Nebaj is fabulous. I wouldn't plan to head that way unless you have at least 3 or 4 nights to spend.

I quite like the area around Rio Dulce, and it's definitely worth taking the water taxi from there to Livingston via the Rio Dulce gorge. Excellent Garifuna food in that part of Guatemala as well.

If you find the weather in Peten isn't too oppressive, there are quite a few wonderful natural and cultural attractions in that region beyond Tikal. Yaxha is one of my favorite Maya sites (I know hopefulist likes it too), located on the edge of a beautiful lake. Right around Lake Peten there are all sorts of ruins (Tayasal, Motul de San Jose), natural areas, and interesting towns (like San Andres and San Jose).