1 Week Guatemala Itinerary

We'll be in Guatemala for 9 days (Saturday - following Sunday) in December. Given the short time period, we do not want to spend too much time in transit; we've decided to focus this trip on Antigua and Lake Atitlan, and save everything else we want to see for future trips! We're 40, relatively active, enjoy hiking, cultural sites, good food/drink. Not into clubs/nightlife.

Saturday: Arrive GUA at 12:45pm. Transfer to Antigua. Spend the afternoon exploring the city. We're thinking about staying at the Hotel Aurora.

Sunday - Tuesday: Coffee Tour, Zipline/Canopy Tour, exploring the city. We also want to do the Pacaya hike, either with Adventure Guatemala or Guatemalan Guide. Tuesday is a special occasion--any suggestions for a nice restaurant? Are there towns nearby that would be worth exploring?

Wednesday: Transfer to Lake Atitlan in the morning. I think we're going to stay in Santiago Atitlan at la Posada de Santiago.

Thursday - Saturday: Chuitinamit, Cerro de Oro, Kayak/Canoe on the Lake, Nature Reserve, explore the other towns.
Perhaps a volcano hike, although it could only be a day trip. We think we'll stay in Pana on Saturday night. I haven't looked at any hotels here yet, and am open to suggestions.

Sunday: early morning shuttle back to GUA for 1:40pm departure.

Thoughts?

If only one week well spend it in Antigua. So much to see and to do there. The lake is lovely but not near by so save it for another trip. This isn't the first world shuttles don't run on time. Stuff happens. Photos of Guatemala see wolf calls.com. You need to allow for what can happen when you travel in Guatemala.

I think your itinerary sounds good. I like Antigua but the lake is amazing. You have a lot planned for Antigua already, if you are looking for more you could also visit the Valhalla macadamia nut farm. You mention ziplining somewhere around Antigua... just wanted to tell you that the ziplining in the nature reserve in Pana is excellent (the views are great and the "cables ultra-Xtremos" are fast and long and go over the lake).

At the lake I would suggest visiting Santa Catarina Palopo. You could walk there from Pana. You can just follow the road. It is a safe nice hike, great views and Santa Catarina is a traditional quaint village. Make sure to climb the streets in the village (maybe all the way to the onion fields). You can take a pick-up back to Pana.

The walk from Jaibalito to Santa Cruz has amazing views as well. We were told by several locals that that stretch is safe and it was. Both villages are also worth a visit.

Don't forget Maximon, the church and the weaving museum in Santiago.

I also highly recommend the Solola market (Tuesdays and Fridays) : authentic market, hardly any tourists, lots of Maya people from the surrounding villages. You can take a chicken bus there and back (10-15 minutes from Pana).

Going by the Antigua and Santiago hotels you mention this hotel in Pana should be within your budget : hotel Sueno Real, Calle Ramos, run by a Maya family, Q250 for the nicest double (top floor), amazing rooftop view.

I think you're getting the balance right between Antigua and Atitlan.

My favorite "nice" restaurant in Antigua is Saberico, which has a lovely garden setting and a good range of traditional Guatemalan and international food. Epicure is similar in many respects, and a little fancier. Many of the boutique hotels have nice restaurants as well--the Panza Verde is very much a fine dining establishment and the food is excellent, though on balance I still prefer Saberico.

The Panza Verde is also a lovely hotel worth looking into.

I don't know Santiago very well, but if you're on the lookout for other towns to explore, I highly recommend San Juan la Laguna. There's a weaving cooperative and a community eco-tourism group based there, as well as an excellent coffee-growing cooperative called La Voz, whose facilities and farms you can tour quite easily.

This is my 6th trip to Guatemala and your itinerary is almost exactly ours. This is my 50th birthday celebration and I just wanted to spend it in a very cool, very fun, and very unique way. I also think you've struck a nice balance between the two areas. I LOVE the San Marcos vibe so I will be staying there as my base for my lake travels. Good luck. I am sure you will have a blast!

Thank you all for your replies! I was looking for additional activities in the Lake region, and have added many of these to the list, as well as the restaurant in Antigua.

As far as transfers between the towns, we plan on booking via a tour company rather than taking the chicken buses with the hope that they will be faster/on time. That said, I still do worry about our transfer from the lake to GC on Sunday morning...I'd hate to miss our flight home, but I also don't want to go back to GC on Saturday.

Finally, it looks like Pana is the hub for a lot of activities around the lake. I'm a little worried it will be too touristy, but perhaps it will be easier to get around from there. For our first trip there, is that a better base of operations?

I can recommend Atitrans as a solid and generally punctual shuttle operator that covers the Pana-Antigua-Guate route pretty thoroughly.

Pana isn't without its charms, but I think you'd enjoy your time at the lake more if you based yourself somewhere else. Pana is the main transport hub but boats leave for the rest of the towns around the lake all the time, so they're easy to get to (and leave).

I would shell out for a private shuttle from Panajachel to GUA for your flight out. In general I think it's better to stay closer to the airport - Antigua or GC, depending on how early the departing flight is - because of the potential of delays due to accidents, construction, or protests. That said, some friends and I stayed in San Pedro La Laguna our last night in July, caught 1 of the 1st lanchas across to Panajachel, and caught a prearranged private shuttle from there to the airport for a 2pm flight - with a private shuttle we made it in a record-breaking 2 and a half hours. The share shuttles all stop in Antigua and usually switch vans and add on other riders; the last 2 times I did that it took about 5 hours.

Here are 2 transportation providers I’ve been pleased with in Guatemala for share shuttles, private transfers, and flight arrangements:
Adrenalina Tours: http://www.adrenalinatours.com
Rainbow Travel: http://www.rainbowtravelcenter.com

My photos with blog, travelogue, and review links on the main page of each collection are below in case you're interested - all my recommendations are embedded there.
Happy trails!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

I stayed in three different places around the lake, Panajachel being one of them. I didn't find it too touristy, I quite liked the place. We stayed there as our base for visiting Chichicastanango, Solola, doing ziplining and touring the Nature Reserve. I also wanted to visit the Mayan garden, but that didn't work out. We walked all over the town, into the residential areas and toured neighbourhood stores, as well as getting some great pupusas.

I stayed at Posada Santiago--loved it! The cabins are beautiful and you can light a fire every night, they bring you kindling and wood, though I needed extra paper to get it going one night. Their food is wonderful. My daughter had an in-house massage. Pool area very pretty and weekends they may have live music. I'd say that it was the best value of any place I stayed (not the cheapest but best value) during my 9 week trip. Discount if you pay by cash or traveller's cheques.

I was not an Antigua fan, although it is certainly very pretty. For me, it was better looking back at my photos, than being there. I got a kinda sinister vibe from the place after dark.

We quite liked Pana too. As for transport... one time we took chicken buses from Pana to Antigua while my father-in-law took a shuttle and we arrived before he did ! You can never tell. We also once took a chicken bus from Pana to Guate at 7:30 am. Took 3 hours. The bus let us off at a spot close to the airport (10 minutes away I believe) and we took a taxi from there. But of course easiest is to be back in Antigua the night before your flight and take an airport shuttle in the morning.

Thanks, everyone! We've decided to head back to Antigua on Saturday so what we're closer for our flight on Sunday, just in case!

Saturday night can be an especially nice 1 in Antigua, live music.