Guatemala, Copán and El Salvador: Antigua, Lake Atitlán and the Ruta de las Flores

1. Day 1: Arrive in Antigua

   La Aurora International Airport, Guatemala City, to Antigua

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Antigua
   Day 1 details

   Fly into La Aurora International Airport (GUA) in Guatemala City, ideally landing by about 3 pm on the Friday (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 below Volcán de Agua. It was the Spanish colonial capital until the earthquakes of 1773, and its grid of cobbled streets, painted houses and ruined churches has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the route ahead, including how the two border days work and what to keep in your day bag. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Guatemalan dishes, such as pepián, a spiced stew, in the centre.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

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

2. Day 2: Antigua on foot

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

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Antigua
   Day 2 details

   We start after breakfast in the Parque Central while the light is soft and the plaza is still quiet. Your guide walks you through the layers of the old capital: the arcaded Palace of the Captains General, the cathedral front with the roofless ruins of the older church behind it, the yellow Arch of Santa Catalina, built so cloistered nuns could cross the street unseen, and La Merced, its church front covered in white plaster ornament. Inside the ruined church of San Agustín, now a small museum, you see how archaeologists have dug through the earthquake rubble to the floors and burials below. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town. The afternoon is free for the Capuchinas convent, a jade workshop or a coffee on a rooftop. Before sunset we climb the steps to Cerro de la Cruz, about 20 minutes up, for the view over the tiled roofs to Volcán de Agua.

   Included

   • Antigua walking tour with your guide: Parque Central, the cathedral ruins, the Arch of Santa Catalina and La Merced
   • The San Agustín church ruins and museum
   • Sit-down lunch in Antigua
   • Cerro de la Cruz viewpoint before sunset

   Free time: Afternoon free in Antigua

   Activity: 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. Day 3: Chichicastenango market, then Lake Atitlán

   Antigua to Chichicastenango, then Sololá and Panajachel on Lake Atitlán

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Panajachel
   Day 3 details

   Every departure starts on a Friday so that today is a Sunday, the bigger of Chichicastenango's two market days; stalls are up from early morning and start packing away in the early afternoon, so we arrive mid-morning. We leave Antigua at 8 am on the Pan-American Highway, climbing through pine and maize country for about two and a half hours (about 105 km) to Chichi, at nearly 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.

   Included

   • Chichicastenango Sunday 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

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Panajachel

   Activity: About 3.75 hours of driving in two parts, broken by the morning at the market. The market is crowded and uneven underfoot; keep valuables close.

4. Day 4: By boat to the lake villages

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

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Panajachel
   Day 4 details

   Lake Atitlán fills a volcanic caldera at about 1,560 m, 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 up 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. Lunch is in San Juan, and we are back in Panajachel by early afternoon, before the wind rises.

   Included

   • 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

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Panajachel

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

   

5. Day 5: Down to Guatemala City

   Panajachel to Guatemala City, with an afternoon in Zone 1

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Guatemala City
   Day 5 details

   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 10 am and climb back to the Pan-American Highway for the drive of about three hours (about 140 km) east through Chimaltenango to Guatemala City, with a sit-down lunch on the way. We stop here for one night because the road from the lake to Copán is too long for a single day; from the capital it is about five hours. In the late afternoon your guide walks you round Zone 1, the historic centre laid out after the capital moved here from Antigua in the 1770s: the Plaza de la Constitución, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the green-stone National Palace, and the Central Market behind the cathedral with its floor of textiles, baskets and pottery. The evening is free; your guide can suggest a restaurant near the hotel.

   Included

   • Sit-down lunch on the road to Guatemala City
   • Zone 1 with your guide: the Plaza de la Constitución, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Palace from outside and the Central Market

   Optional experiences

   • Kayak hire on Lake Atitlán before breakfast (paid locally)

   Free time: Early morning on the lake and the evening free

   Activity: About an hour and a half on foot in Zone 1, on flat pavements.

6. Day 6: Across the border to Copán

   Guatemala City to Chiquimula, the El Florido border and Copán Ruinas, Honduras

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Copán Ruinas
   Day 6 details

   This is the first of the two long road days, about 240 km and roughly five hours of driving, plus the border. There is no town on the way with a hotel worth a night, so we break it instead: we leave at 8 am, follow the Motagua valley east and stop for a sit-down lunch in Chiquimula. From there a mountain road climbs to the El Florido border. Your guide collects passports and walks the group through: the Guatemalan exit stamp, a short walk across, then the Honduran desk, where officers take a photo and fingerprints and a small entry fee is charged, which we pay. It usually takes 30 to 60 minutes. Our vehicle, or a partner vehicle that meets us on the Honduran side, takes us the last 12 km to Copán Ruinas, a small town of cobbled streets and red tile roofs at about 600 m. You arrive mid to late afternoon, with time for a coffee on the plaza.

   Included

   • Sit-down lunch in Chiquimula
   • The El Florido border crossing with your guide, including the Honduran entry fee

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Copán Ruinas

   Activity: About five hours of driving, over the 4 hour cap because there is no good overnight between the capital and Copán; broken by lunch and the border. Keep your passport and a pen in your day bag.

   

7. Day 7: The Maya city of Copán and the macaws

   Copán Ruinas to the Copán archaeological park, then Macaw Mountain Bird Park

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Copán Ruinas
   Day 7 details

   We walk the kilometre out of town to be at the gate of the archaeological park for its 8 am opening, before the heat and the day visitors. Copán, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980, was a Classic Maya royal city whose sculptors carved deeper and rounder than anywhere else in the Maya world. With a local guide you walk the Great Plaza among the stelae of the ruler known as 18 Rabbit, climb beside the Hieroglyphic Stairway, the longest known Maya inscription, and read the line of sixteen kings carved around Altar Q. Scarlet macaws, reintroduced to the valley, often perch in the trees above the ball court. Late morning we visit the Sculpture Museum at the site, where a full-size replica of the painted Rosalila temple stands as it was found, buried inside a later pyramid. After lunch in town a short drive takes us to Macaw Mountain, a bird park and rescue centre on forest trails by a river. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Copán archaeological park entry with a local guide: the Great Plaza, the Hieroglyphic Stairway, the Acropolis and Altar Q
   • The Copán Sculpture Museum and the Rosalila replica
   • Sit-down lunch in Copán Ruinas
   • Macaw Mountain Bird Park entry

   Optional experiences

   • The tunnels under the Acropolis (separate ticket, paid at the site)
   • Hot springs in the hills outside town in the late afternoon (paid locally)

   Easier option: See the Great Plaza and the museum with the group, then rest in town through the heat and skip Macaw Mountain.

   More active option: Walk on to Las Sepulturas, the residential quarter of the Copán nobles, about 2 km along a forest path from the main site.

   Free time: Evening free in Copán Ruinas

   Activity: About 3 to 4 km on gravel paths and stone steps at the site, in heat; bring water, a hat and insect repellent.

8. Day 8: Two borders to the Ruta de las Flores

   Copán Ruinas to El Florido, Esquipulas and the Anguiatú border, then Juayúa, El Salvador

   • Drive about 6.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Juayúa
   Day 8 details

   The longest day of the trip: about 280 km and six and a half hours of driving, with two border crossings. No town between Copán and western El Salvador has a hotel at our standard, and a night short of Juayúa would cost the Saturday food fair, so we break the day into legs instead. We leave at 8 am, cross back into Guatemala at El Florido and drive about 100 km of mountain road, under two hours, to Esquipulas, where we stop at the white Basilica, home of the Black Christ, Central America's best-known pilgrimage shrine. After a sit-down lunch it is about 45 minutes to Anguiatú. Here we leave Guatemala and enter El Salvador; under the CA-4 agreement this is usually a quicker passport check than El Florido, and any arrival fee is paid by us. From Metapán the road runs south to Santa Ana, where we stop for coffee on the cathedral square, then climbs to the Ruta de las Flores. We reach Juayúa in the early evening, our base for two nights.

   Included

   • The El Florido and Anguiatú border crossings with your guide, including any fees
   • The Basilica of Esquipulas
   • Sit-down lunch in Esquipulas
   • Coffee stop in Santa Ana

   Free time: Evening free in Juayúa; dinner close to the hotel

   Activity: About six and a half hours of driving, well over the 4 hour cap because two borders sit between Copán and El Salvador with no good overnight between them; broken by the basilica, lunch, both border stops and a coffee stop in Santa Ana. Copán is a two-night stay so this is never the day after another long drive.

9. Day 9: Coffee, the food fair and Ataco

   Juayúa to a coffee finca, the Juayúa food fair, Apaneca and Concepción de Ataco, then back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Juayúa
   Day 9 details

   Departures are timed so that today is a Saturday, when Juayúa holds its weekend food fair. We start early at a coffee finca on the slopes above town, walking between shade trees and coffee bushes with the grower, who shows how the cherries are picked, washed and dried, and ends with a tasting. By late morning the stalls are filling the streets around Juayúa's church, which houses a Black Christ carved in the 16th century, and we sit down to lunch at the fair: grilled meats, river fish, pupusas and dishes you will not see elsewhere on the trip. In the afternoon we drive about 40 minutes west through Apaneca, one of the highest towns in El Salvador, to Concepción de Ataco, where house fronts are painted with murals and small workshops weave and dye cloth with indigo. You have time to wander before we drive back to Juayúa in the early evening.

   Included

   • Coffee finca walk and tasting
   • Lunch at the Juayúa weekend food fair
   • The church of Juayúa
   • Apaneca and Concepción de Ataco: the murals and an indigo workshop

   Easier option: Stay in Juayúa after the food fair for a slow afternoon instead of the drive to Ataco.

   More active option: The Ruta de las Siete Cascadas waterfall walk from Juayúa in the morning with a local guide, about 3 to 4 hours with river crossings and a rope climb, in place of the finca. Booked in advance; the extra cost is confirmed when you book.

   Free time: Evening free in Juayúa

   Activity: Easy walking on finca paths and cobbles. Juayúa is at about 1,000 m and Apaneca higher; evenings are cool.

10. Day 10: Joya de Cerén and Suchitoto

    Juayúa to Joya de Cerén, then Suchitoto and a boat on Lake Suchitlán

    • Drive about 3 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Suchitoto
    Day 10 details

    We leave Juayúa at about 8:30 am and drive about an hour and three quarters (about 80 km) past Santa Ana to Joya de Cerén, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Around 1,400 years ago an eruption of the nearby Loma Caldera buried this small Maya farming village in ash so fast that the houses, storerooms, a sweat bath and even the pots and garden furrows were left in place. With a local guide you walk the covered excavations, which show daily life rather than kings and temples. Then it is about an hour and a quarter (about 55 km) north-east to Suchitoto, a hill town of cobbled streets and whitewashed houses that grew rich on indigo, with lunch on arrival. In the late afternoon a boat takes us out from Puerto San Juan on Lake Suchitlán, a reservoir that draws herons, egrets and hawks, as the light drops behind the hills. We finish with a farewell dinner near the white church of Santa Lucía.

    Included

    • Joya de Cerén archaeological site with a local guide
    • Sit-down lunch in Suchitoto
    • Boat on Lake Suchitlán from Puerto San Juan
    • Farewell dinner in Suchitoto

    Free time: Early afternoon free in Suchitoto

    Activity: About an hour on foot at Joya de Cerén on flat paths, in heat. Suchitoto's streets are steep and cobbled.

11. Day 11: San Salvador and home

    Suchitoto to San Salvador, then Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport (SAL)

    • Drive about 2 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 11 details

    The morning is free in Suchitoto. Walk the plaza and the lanes around Santa Lucía before the heat, or, in the rainy season, take the short walk with your guide to the Los Tercios waterfall, which falls over a wall of hexagonal basalt columns just outside town. We leave at about 11 am for the drive of about an hour and a quarter (about 47 km) to San Salvador. If your flight home leaves after about 4 pm, we stop in the centre to see the Metropolitan Cathedral, where Archbishop Óscar Romero, killed in 1980 and canonised in 2018, is buried in the crypt, and the modern church of El Rosario, lit through bands of coloured glass. Lunch today is your own. Then it is about 45 minutes south to Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport (SAL), where your guide sees you to check-in and says goodbye. With an earlier flight we go straight to the airport, and we help you choose the timing when you book.

    Included

    • San Salvador with your guide: the Metropolitan Cathedral and the church of El Rosario (for flights after about 4 pm)
    • Drop-off at Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport (SAL)

    Easier option: With a flight home before about 4 pm, we go straight to the airport.

    More active option: The Los Tercios waterfall walk before we leave Suchitoto, about an hour return.

    Free time: Morning free in Suchitoto

    Activity: Book a flight home leaving after about 4 pm to see central San Salvador; flights after about 1 pm work for a direct transfer.

Wildlife and weather: November to April is the dry season, with clear mornings over the lake and the volcanoes; from May to October afternoons bring rain, so we keep the boat and the ruins to the morning. Scarlet macaws, Honduras's national bird, fly over the Copán ruins all year, and Lake Suchitlán draws herons, egrets and hawks. The Los Tercios waterfall near Suchitoto flows mainly in the rainy season.

• Antigua2 nights
• Panajachel2 nights
• Guatemala City1 night
• Copán Ruinas2 nights
• Juayúa2 nights
• Suchitoto1 night