Guatemala: Antigua, Lake Atitlán, Chichicastenango and Tikal

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Antigua

   La Aurora International Airport, Guatemala City, to Antigua

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Antigua
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into La Aurora International Airport (GUA) in Guatemala City, ideally landing by about 3 pm (the latest arrival time is confirmed with your final itinerary). A driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive of about 45 km west to Antigua, roughly an hour, longer when afternoon traffic is leaving the capital. The road climbs out of the city and drops into the Panchoy Valley, where Antigua sits at about 1,500 m beneath the cone of Volcán de Agua. Founded in 1543 and the colonial capital until the earthquakes of 1773 drove the government away, it is a grid of cobbled streets, one-storey houses painted ochre and blue, and churches left as ruins, listed by UNESCO in 1979. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the days ahead: the Pacaya walk, the market day and the early start at Tikal. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Guatemalan dishes, such as pepián, a spiced stew, at a restaurant in the centre.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at La Aurora International Airport (GUA)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in Antigua

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   Activité : Antigua is at about 1,500 m. Drink water and take the first evening gently.

2. Jour 2 : Antigua on foot

   A walking day in Antigua, ending on Cerro de la Cruz

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Antigua
   Détail du jour 2

   We start after breakfast in the Parque Central, while the light is soft and the shoe-shiners are setting up. Your guide walks you through the town's layers: the arcaded Palace of the Captains General, the cathedral front with the roofless ruins of the older church behind it, the Arch of Santa Catalina, built in 1694 so cloistered nuns could cross the street unseen, and La Merced, its yellow church front covered in white plaster ornament. In the Capuchinas convent you see the circular tower of nuns' cells, a building found nowhere else in the city. Late morning we cross to the market beside the bus terminal, where painted former school buses, the camionetas everyone calls chicken buses, load up for the villages. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town. The afternoon is free for museums, coffee or a jade workshop. Before sunset we climb the steps to Cerro de la Cruz, about 20 minutes up, for the view over the rooftops to Volcán de Agua.

   Compris

   • Antigua walking tour with your guide: Parque Central, the cathedral ruins, the Arch of Santa Catalina, La Merced and the Capuchinas convent
   • The market and the chicken bus terminal
   • Sit-down lunch in Antigua
   • Cerro de la Cruz viewpoint before sunset

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Antigua

   Activité : About 4 km on foot over the day, on uneven cobbles; the Cerro de la Cruz path is a steady climb of about 20 minutes.

   

3. Jour 3 : A morning on Pacaya volcano

   Antigua to San Francisco de Sales and Pacaya National Park, then back to Antigua

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Antigua
   Détail du jour 3

   Pacaya is the most accessible of Guatemala's active volcanoes, and the morning is the time to walk it, before cloud builds over the ridges. We leave Antigua at 8 am for the drive of about an hour and a quarter to San Francisco de Sales, the village at the trailhead inside Pacaya National Park, where a local park guide joins us. The trail climbs through farmland and forest, then opens onto black lava fields from recent eruptions: about 6 km there and back with roughly 500 m of climbing, three to three and a half hours at an easy pace. Hikers stop at a lookout below the active cone; how close the rangers allow you depends on what the volcano is doing. On a clear day Agua, Acatenango and Fuego stand in a line to the west, and guides roast marshmallows over warm vents in the rock. We come down for a late sit-down lunch on the way back, and you are in Antigua by mid-afternoon with the rest of the day free.

   Compris

   • Pacaya National Park entry with a local park guide
   • Walk to the lookout below the active cone
   • Sit-down lunch on the way back to Antigua

   Option plus facile : Hire a horse at the trailhead for the steepest part of the climb (paid locally), or stay in Antigua for a coffee farm tour on the edge of town.

   Option plus active : A day hike on Acatenango instead of Pacaya, with a mountain guide: a steep climb to a viewpoint facing Fuego and back the same day, with no overnight camp. Booked in advance; the extra cost is confirmed when you book.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Antigua

   Activité : About 6 km return with about 500 m of climbing on loose volcanic grit. Wear shoes with grip and bring a layer: it is windy at the lookout.

4. Jour 4 : Chichicastenango market, then Lake Atitlán

   Antigua to Chichicastenango, then Sololá and Panajachel on Lake Atitlán

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Panajachel
   Détail du jour 4

   Departures are timed so this is a Thursday or a Sunday, the two days each week when Chichicastenango's market fills the town. We leave Antigua at 8 am on the Pan-American Highway, climbing through the highlands for about two and a half hours (about 105 km) to Chichi, at roughly 2,000 m. With a local guide we work through the stalls of huipils, carved masks, wooden saints and vegetables, then stop at the white church of Santo Tomás, built in the 1540s on a Maya platform. On its steps K'iche' prayer-makers swing censers of copal and leave flowers and candles; visitors use the side door, and photographs inside are not allowed. Around noon we sit down to lunch above the square, then drive about an hour and a quarter (about 40 km) south, stopping above Sololá for the first view of Lake Atitlán and its three volcanoes. You reach Panajachel by mid-afternoon, with the evening free on the lakefront.

   Compris

   • Chichicastenango market with a local guide
   • The steps and the side entrance of the church of Santo Tomás
   • Sit-down lunch in Chichicastenango
   • Viewpoint stop above Lake Atitlán near Sololá

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Panajachel

   Activité : The longest driving day, about 3.75 hours in two parts, broken by the morning at the market.

   

5. Jour 5 : By boat to Santiago Atitlán and San Juan la Laguna

   Panajachel by boat to Santiago Atitlán and San Juan la Laguna, then back

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Panajachel
   Détail du jour 5

   Lake Atitlán sits at about 1,560 m in a flooded volcanic caldera, ringed by the volcanoes San Pedro, Tolimán and Atitlán. Boats go out in the morning, because an afternoon wind locals call the xocomil often whips the water into chop after midday, so we board our own boat at the Panajachel dock straight after breakfast. The crossing to Santiago Atitlán takes about half an hour. In the largest Tz'utujil town on the lake we walk to the 16th-century church of Santiago Apóstol, with its memorial to Father Stanley Rother, the American priest killed here in 1981, and visit the house where a religious brotherhood is keeping Maximón this year; the folk saint moves to a new home every year. A short hop across the bay brings us to San Juan la Laguna, where women's cooperatives dye cotton with plants and weave on backstrap looms, and the streets are painted with murals. Lunch is in San Juan, and we are back in Panajachel by early afternoon, before the wind rises.

   Compris

   • A boat for the group on Lake Atitlán
   • Santiago Atitlán: the church of Santiago Apóstol and the house of Maximón
   • San Juan la Laguna: a weaving cooperative with natural dyes and a backstrap loom demonstration
   • Sit-down lunch in San Juan la Laguna

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free in Panajachel

   Activité : San Juan and Santiago are built on slopes: short, steep walks up from the docks. Bring a jacket for the boat; mornings on the water are cool.

   

6. Jour 6 : Iximché, then down to Guatemala City

   Panajachel to Iximché near Tecpán, then Guatemala City

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Guatemala City
   Détail du jour 6

   The early morning is yours on the lake: the water is often glassy at sunrise, and kayaks can be hired along the shore. We leave Panajachel at about 9:30 am and climb back to the highway for the drive of about an hour and a quarter (about 50 km) to Iximché, outside Tecpán. This was the capital of the Kaqchikel Maya kingdom, founded around 1470. When Spanish forces arrived in 1524 the Kaqchikel first allied with them, and the city became the Spaniards' first capital in Guatemala before the alliance broke within months. Today its grassy plazas, temple platforms and ball courts sit among pines on a narrow ridge, and Maya priests still hold ceremonies at its altars. After a sit-down lunch in Tecpán it is about two hours (about 90 km) on the Pan-American Highway to Guatemala City, where we stay one night at a hotel near La Aurora airport for the morning flight north. The evening is free; your guide can suggest a restaurant nearby.

   Compris

   • Iximché archaeological site with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Tecpán

   Temps libre : Early morning on the lake and the evening free

   Activité : About an hour and a half on foot at Iximché, on grass and low steps.

7. Jour 7 : Fly to Flores on Lake Petén Itzá

   Guatemala City by air to Flores, then by boat to San Miguel and the Rey Canek lookout

   • En avion
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Flores
   Détail du jour 7

   A domestic flight of about an hour takes us north over the highlands and the forests of Petén to Mundo Maya International Airport, a few minutes from Flores. Flying saves a road journey of about 500 km and eight or more hours each way. Flores is a small island in Lake Petén Itzá, joined to the shore by a causeway and covered in steep lanes of painted houses. It stands on the site of Nojpetén, the capital of the Itza Maya, the last independent Maya kingdom, taken by the Spanish in 1697. After a sit-down lunch by the water your guide walks you round the island and up to the church on its central hill. In the late afternoon a boat takes us across to San Miguel for the short walk up to the Rey Canek lookout, with the whole island laid out below. Back in Flores you can swim from a dock or watch the sun go down from the lakeside promenade, then get an early night before Tikal.

   Compris

   • Domestic flight from Guatemala City to Flores
   • Walk around the island of Flores with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Flores
   • Boat to San Miguel and the walk to the Rey Canek lookout

   Temps libre : Evening free in Flores

   Activité : Breakfast is at the hotel or boxed, depending on the flight time. Petén is hot and humid: bring a hat and water.

   

8. Jour 8 : Tikal at dawn

   Flores to Tikal National Park and back

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Flores
   Détail du jour 8

   This is the early start of the trip, and the reason we stay two nights in Flores. We leave at about 3:30 am for the drive of roughly an hour and a quarter (about 64 km) to Tikal National Park, enter on the sunrise ticket and walk by headlamp through the forest to Temple IV, at about 65 m the tallest structure at Tikal. From the top you watch the canopy come out of the dark, often wrapped in mist, while howler monkeys roar across the forest; on clear mornings the roof combs of Temples I, II and III rise above the trees. After a boxed breakfast your local guide takes you through the city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979: the Great Plaza between Temple I and Temple II, the North Acropolis, the palaces of the Central Acropolis and the stepped pyramid of the Lost World. Watch for spider monkeys, coatis and toucans. Lunch is near the park entrance around noon, then we drive back to Flores to rest through the afternoon heat before a farewell dinner together.

   Compris

   • Tikal National Park entry with the sunrise ticket
   • Sunrise from Temple IV
   • Guided walk with a local guide: the Great Plaza, the North and Central Acropolis and the Lost World
   • Lunch near the park entrance
   • Farewell dinner in Flores

   Option plus facile : Skip the 3:30 am start: a later transfer brings you in at the regular opening and you meet the group in the Great Plaza after sunrise.

   Option plus active : Walk out to Temple VI, the Temple of the Inscriptions, a quieter path of about a kilometre beyond the main plazas.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Flores

   Activité : The second demanding day: about 8 to 10 km on forest paths, with steep wooden stairs up Temple IV. Bring a headlamp, water, insect repellent and a layer for the cool dark start.

   

9. Jour 9 : Guatemala City and home

   Flores by air to Guatemala City, then Zone 1 and La Aurora International Airport

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 9

   A morning flight of about an hour takes us back to Guatemala City. If your flight home leaves after about 4 pm, we spend the late morning in Zone 1, the historic centre built after the capital moved here from Antigua. Around the Plaza de la Constitución stand the Metropolitan Cathedral, finished in the early 19th century, and the green-stone National Palace from the 1940s; behind the cathedral the Central Market has a floor of textiles, baskets and pottery for last presents. Lunch today is your own. Then it is about 20 minutes to La Aurora International Airport (GUA), where your guide sees you to check-in and says goodbye. With an earlier flight home we go straight from the domestic arrivals to your departure, and we help you choose the timing when you book. If you are going on to Belize instead, the border crossing at Melchor de Mencos is about two hours by road from Flores, and we can arrange that transfer on request in place of the flight.

   Compris

   • Domestic flight from Flores to Guatemala City
   • Zone 1 with your guide: the Plaza de la Constitución, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Central Market (for flights after about 4 pm)
   • Drop-off at La Aurora International Airport (GUA)

   Option plus facile : With a flight home before about 4 pm, we go straight to the international terminal.

   Activité : Book a flight home leaving after about 4 pm to see the historic centre.

   

Faune et météo : November to April is the dry season, with clear mornings for the volcano views; from May to October afternoons bring rain, so we keep the walks and boat trips to the morning. Sunrise at Tikal is often misty, but the forest wakes up either way, with howler and spider monkeys, coatis and toucans.

• Antigua3 nuits
• Panajachel2 nuits
• Guatemala City1 nuit
• Flores2 nuits