travel routes from Atitlán to Flores?

We shall be making our way from Atitlán to Flores, probably via Cobán. This is the part of our trip which will allow us to get (at least a bit!) off the well-beaten gringo trail. I have a feeling I might be needing this, tho we shall see...

Two questions....

1. What would be a good highland village/town to base ourselves for a couple of days, a nice place in itself, with good walks around? Todos Santos is a bit off our route, I think.

2. Not sure whether to go from Cobán to El Estor, Río Dulce and thence to Flores (this was the original plan, to enjoy nature walks etc around El Estor and stay somewhere like Finca Tatin)
Or to go via Chisec, Lago Petaxbetún and Sayaxché to Flores. I haven't done a huge amount of research on this yet, but maybe there are possibilities of doing/seeing similar stuff to around Lago Izabal? Caves might be worth a look but it's not an area of huge interest for me per se. Aguateca looks a little underwhelming from photos I've seen - how about Ceibal?

Look forward to hearing your ideas :-)

I spent a week in August in and around Nebaj and loved it - great hiking.

Thanks - Nebaj seems the obvious place. I was slightly put off by reading somewhere that it's quite a large town, rather than a village.

It is a town, though it doesn't feel large. It's not especially "quaint" - lots of new building means they've removed clay roofs to add cinderblock 2nd stories, then left the rebar sticking up in case they want to do it again. That said, it is a very traditional town, interesting, nice people, gorgeous hiking in the surrounding hills, well worth a visit. I was sorry to leave at the end of my week there. Check out my photo if you haven't already - I took more than 700 photos there in 1 week (though only 40 or 50 are featured in the posted collection).

Yes, I had a look at your photos! I'm interested in the hiking and maybe a bike trip. What were your favourite walks?

I really loved the guided hike to Cocop. The guide was very knowledgable about the history of Guatemala and the war, Spanish only. He fought in the 80's when he was in his 20s, was shot and an American doctor named Alicia saved him. Views and villages and passersby, all fascinating. We had a traditional lunch in a village home, prepared as we watched - priceless memories.

Funny, that was one that struck me too! How about more nature-oriented walks?

The natural setting is gorgeous but much of the land is farmed. We only went on that hike and the waterfall hike which we liked but not as much as the Cocop trip. The waterfalls are lovely and the farms interesting but the path was strewn with garbage and it POURED the last 2 hours. The longer treks sound interesting to me but we didn't have time to partake.

Yes, I figured that was probably the case. Did you walk anywhere with native forest, cloud forest, etc?

I don't think there's anything like that around Nebaj. The Verapaces, maybe? Amazing jungle around Tikal, too.

Maybe I should look into the Verapaces. Still can't decide between the two onward routes from Cobán to Flores. Seems like the Sayaxché route would be easier transport-wise (can't see my gf being too happy about 7hrs in a chicken bus). But I'm loth to miss out El Estor and Lívingston/Río Dulce....