Falling in Love with Guatemala: History, Culture, and Cobblestones
"The only source of knowledge is experience." Albert Einstein
9/22/202510 min read
I was not sure what we were expecting when we planned the trip to Guatemala, but we definitely were not expecting what we found. We quickly fell in love with this charming town and its people. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage site with cobblestone streets, colonial architecture, and lots of charm. Guatemala may be Central America’s best-kept secret. The city of Antigua is clean, safe, full of unbelievable history, and surrounded by volcanoes. From Antigua, the Fuego Volcano can be seen smoking throughout the day and can even light up the night with small glowing lava “burps”.
Flying into Guatemala City Airport is straightforward but we recommend you prebook your airport transportation to Antigua before arriving. Depending on traffic, the drive can take between 45 minutes to two hours. Before your arrival, make sure to fill out the pre-arrival card online and have a picture of the barcode on your phone ready. The authorities will ask for it before you depart the airport. They also compare your luggage tags to the airline’s stickers before you depart baggage claim.
The hotels in downtown Antigua tend to be boutique with no major chains with one exception and that is a Marriott Design Collection hotel. We chose to stay at Porta Hotel Antigua because of its location and great reviews. We were not disappointed. See our article on the Porta Hotel for more information: https://allinglobaltravel.com/porta-hotel-antigua-colonial-charm-meets-comfortable-luxury
On our first full day in almost any new city, we book a historical walking tour. For Antigua we booked our tour through GURU Free Walking Tour and Vincent was our guide (https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/57566-the-prosperous-past-of-la-antigua). He did an excellent job sharing the history of Antigua, some of the beautiful buildings, and the best viewpoints in the city to see the volcanoes and appreciate the architecture. While in Antigua City Center, you must visit the Cathedral of Guatemala, the Santa Catalina Arch, the Cathedral of San José, and the ruins of the Convento de las Capuchinas. Each site has its own story and beauty.
There are plenty of boutique restaurants and cafes in downtown Antigua. Some of our favorites for breakfast were El Viejo Café, which had amazing almond and chocolate croissants, and Café Condesa, which had an amazing quiche. For dinners, we enjoyed Barriga Llena, which was featured on the Netflix series, Somebody Feed Phil, and also Thai Wow, a small Thai restaurant.
There are also beautiful areas outside the city of Antigua that you should see. To book these we recommend using Guatemala Tours VIP (https://guatemalatoursvip.com). The owner, Juan was an incredible resource and extremely helpful when planning our itineraries outside the city.
The first tour we booked with Juan was a trip to Lake Atitlán. Depending on traffic, it can take up to two hours to reach the lake. The drive is beautiful, offering many views of volcanoes and local life. There are plenty of rest stops along the way and places to eat. Guatemala has figured out how to do tourism and they do it well. We never had to worry about finding a clean bathroom. Once you reach Lake Atitlán, Juan and his team coordinated a water taxi to move us to other towns around the lake. You can book private transfers or use the public water taxi. We chose the public water taxi so we could see more of local life and more little villages. The water taxi stops at many points along the way, but our favorite spot was the town of San Juan which is known for local artists. Everywhere you look there are beautiful murals painted on walls and even at the local basketball court. The colors and images are beautiful. While in San Juan, take your time, stop in local coffee shops and enjoy amazing local food. Our guide took us to a restaurant which had great fried fish and the owner was wearing a Texas Longhorn hat. You know this place classy!
The second day trip we took outside of Antigua was to the archaeological site and ruins of Iximché. Juan arranged for a local guide to take us around the ancient capital city of the Kaqchikel Kingdom. Iximché flourished in the late 1400s and early 1500s and was one of the last capitals before Spanish conquest. The ruins themselves were amazing but what we really enjoyed was interacting with the local people who live nearby and sharing stories with our guide.
The next time we visit Guatemala we will make sure to have time to visit Tikal and Crater Azul. These require a quick flight to the northeast of the country and an overnight stay. Juan is able to coordinate this and has guides located in Tikal to ensure your transportation is smooth.
Tikal is an ancient Maya city in northern Guatemala in the Petén region. Its origins go back to at least the 4th century BC with early settlements and its heyday came during the Classic Period period between about AD 250 to 900. It was a political and cultural powerhouse during that time. In 1979 Tikal National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A museum at Tikal was built in 1964 to preserve many artifacts.
When the time comes to depart Guatemala we recommend staying the night before in Guatemala City. There are several Hilton and Marriott properties in the city. For convenience, we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is about a 15-minute ride to the airport. It was clean, convenient, and safe. The traffic from Antigua can be bad so this prevented us from having to wake up at four in the morning to make the drive into the city.
If you have any questions about our trip or are interested in booking hotels or tours in Guatemala, just let us know.
I was not sure what we were expecting when we planned the trip to Guatemala, but we definitely were not expecting what we found. We quickly fell in love with this charming town and its people. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage site with cobblestone streets, colonial architecture, and lots of charm. Guatemala may be Central America’s best-kept secret. The city of Antigua is clean, safe, full of unbelievable history, and surrounded by volcanoes. From Antigua, the Fuego Volcano can be seen smoking throughout the day and can even light up the night with small glowing lava “burps”.
Flying into Guatemala City Airport is straightforward but we recommend you prebook your airport transportation to Antigua before arriving. Depending on traffic, the drive can take between 45 minutes to two hours. Before your arrival, make sure to fill out the pre-arrival card online and have a picture of the barcode on your phone ready. The authorities will ask for it before you depart the airport. They also compare your luggage tags to the airline’s stickers before you depart baggage claim.
The hotels in downtown Antigua tend to be boutique with no major chains with one exception and that is a Marriott Design Collection hotel. We chose to stay at Porta Hotel Antigua because of its location and great reviews. We were not disappointed. See our article on the Porta Hotel for more information: https://allinglobaltravel.com/porta-hotel-antigua-colonial-charm-meets-comfortable-luxury
On our first full day in almost any new city, we book a historical walking tour. For Antigua we booked our tour through GURU Free Walking Tour and Vincent was our guide (https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/57566-the-prosperous-past-of-la-antigua). He did an excellent job sharing the history of Antigua, some of the beautiful buildings, and the best viewpoints in the city to see the volcanoes and appreciate the architecture. While in Antigua City Center, you must visit the Cathedral of Guatemala, the Santa Catalina Arch, the Cathedral of San José, and the ruins of the Convento de las Capuchinas. Each site has its own story and beauty.
There are plenty of boutique restaurants and cafes in downtown Antigua. Some of our favorites for breakfast were El Viejo Café, which had amazing almond and chocolate croissants, and Café Condesa, which had an amazing quiche. For dinners, we enjoyed Barriga Llena, which was featured on the Netflix series, Somebody Feed Phil, and also Thai Wow, a small Thai restaurant.
There are also beautiful areas outside the city of Antigua that you should see. To book these we recommend using Guatemala Tours VIP (https://guatemalatoursvip.com). The owner, Juan was an incredible resource and extremely helpful when planning our itineraries outside the city.
The first tour we booked with Juan was a trip to Lake Atitlán. Depending on traffic, it can take up to two hours to reach the lake. The drive is beautiful, offering many views of volcanoes and local life. There are plenty of rest stops along the way and places to eat. Guatemala has figured out how to do tourism and they do it well. We never had to worry about finding a clean bathroom. Once you reach Lake Atitlán, Juan and his team coordinated a water taxi to move us to other towns around the lake. You can book private transfers or use the public water taxi. We chose the public water taxi so we could see more of local life and more little villages. The water taxi stops at many points along the way, but our favorite spot was the town of San Juan which is known for local artists. Everywhere you look there are beautiful murals painted on walls and even at the local basketball court. The colors and images are beautiful. While in San Juan, take your time, stop in local coffee shops and enjoy amazing local food. Our guide took us to a restaurant which had great fried fish and the owner was wearing a Texas Longhorn hat. You know this place classy!
The second day trip we took outside of Antigua was to the archaeological site and ruins of Iximché. Juan arranged for a local guide to take us around the ancient capital city of the Kaqchikel Kingdom. Iximché flourished in the late 1400s and early 1500s and was one of the last capitals before Spanish conquest. The ruins themselves were amazing but what we really enjoyed was interacting with the local people who live nearby and sharing stories with our guide.
The next time we visit Guatemala we will make sure to have time to visit Tikal and Crater Azul. These require a quick flight to the northeast of the country and an overnight stay. Juan is able to coordinate this and has guides located in Tikal to ensure your transportation is smooth.
Tikal is an ancient Maya city in northern Guatemala in the Petén region. Its origins go back to at least the 4th century BC with early settlements and its heyday came during the Classic Period period between about AD 250 to 900. It was a political and cultural powerhouse during that time. In 1979 Tikal National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A museum at Tikal was built in 1964 to preserve many artifacts.
When the time comes to depart Guatemala we recommend staying the night before in Guatemala City. There are several Hilton and Marriott properties in the city. For convenience, we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is about a 15-minute ride to the airport. It was clean, convenient, and safe. The traffic from Antigua can be bad so this prevented us from having to wake up at four in the morning to make the drive into the city.
If you have any questions about our trip or are interested in booking hotels or tours in Guatemala, just let us know.
