Flores
If you’re entering Guatemala from Belize, Flores is likely to be your first stop in the country, as it is pretty close to the border. Flores is a tiny town situated on an island in the middle of a lake, only linked to the mainland by one bridge. It is also accessible by boat from various towns around the outside of the lake.
When I say tiny, it is an island which you can walk the whole way around in just 15 minutes, and so for that reason, there isn’t a huge amount to do here. The main activity is to go to Tikal. Tikal is the largest set of ruins you will visit whilst travelling, with over 400 hectares of excavated city and a wider area of 1200 hectares yet to be fully uncovered. I did a 6-hour tour here and barely touched the surface of what Tikal has to offer. Our guide estimated that to truly see everything in the site, you would need 3 days inside. For this reason, if you are just coming for one day, it is highly recommended to get a guide, as they will show you the most efficient ways to get between all of the most impressive and most important structures.
Of course, with a site as big as this, it goes without saying you are going to be walking a lot, and for the best views, you’ll be climbing a fair amount of stairs. The largest of the temples, Temple IV, stands at 70 meters tall.
One of the most fascinating things here is just how large the stairs of these pyramids and temples are. With some ascents as steep as 70 degrees, these buildings were meant to be climbed solely by the most elite of society. These priests and leaders had a far lower strain in life and were fed much better than others in society, and so they were often taller, and so their descent of these stairs was supposed to demonstrate this superiority or even be intimidating when necessary. Even with the advantage of being far taller than the Mayans, trying to walk down these stairs as you would back home is pretty challenging, and for those with a fear of heights, probably impossible.
While Tikal is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for culture, it is also designated as a site for its huge biodiversity. While walking around the park, you will see a huge number of species of birds and trees. The headline animals here, though, are monkeys, pumas and jaguars, which all live within the park. While we were here, we both saw and heard howler monkeys from just a few feet away up in the trees, and there have been sightings of the jaguars close to the ruins themselves; this is, of course, very rare though.
For food in Flores, you have to check out Bistro Puertas del Cielo. This is a restaurant run by a hugely passionate chef who prefers to work with no set menu. Instead he comes over to the table and speaks with you about your own preferences and what food he has fresh, and then goes away and creates a surprise dish for you. I ended up with a spicy shrimp spaghetti, which was right up there with the pasta in Florence and Rome for the best I have ever had. I even asked for extra bread on the side to wipe up every last bit of the sauce and leave the plate practically clean. This does come with a bit of a higher price tag, comparable but still cheaper than that of Europe, but it is worth every penny.
For local street food, there is Tacos Los Peces, a small taco stand in the main square which serves up delicious tacos, burritos and tostadas for literal pennies.
For a cocktail with a perfect view of the sunset, head up to the aptly named sky bar. Here, they have a happy hour over sunset, and their mojitos tick all the boxes.
I chose to stay just 2 nights here because before I came, I hadn’t seen a huge amount to do here, and because I already had my accommodation booked for my next destination, I couldn’t stay longer. However, if I could have, I think 3 nights here is perfect. The main reason for this is that the shuttles from Belize get into Flores quite late in the evening, and the shuttles leaving Flores leave early in the morning. This meant, despite it being 2 nights, I had barely more than 24 hours here.
With more time, there is Jorge’s rope swing and closeby the Mirador Ray Canes, which is great for sunset. Grab some friends and some beers, and this would have been a great way to spend an afternoon.
There is also a sunset boat party here hosted by Los Amigos hostel, which I have heard good things about. This runs every Saturday from 1 until 7 for just 150 quetzals and includes stops at gorges, rope swing and swim spots. They provide free rum punch for the first couple of hours, and I’ve heard this one gets pretty lively as a result.
Semuc Champey
If you’re heading to Semuc Champey, it is for one thing, which is, of course, the national park. The park itself is absolutely stunning and well worth spending the day here. How you do this depends on where you are staying, but they are largely the same. Each hostel runs a tour consisting of a bit of caving, a bit of river tubing and the national park itself. The main difference is that if you are at Greengos, the national park isn’t included in the tour, as the hostel is around the corner from the entrance, and so you can take yourself here practically whenever you would like. The other hostels are located in Lanquin, which is a 20/30 minute drive away and so the national park is part of the tour. You can still access Semuc Champey without a tour if you are staying in Lanquin you just have to grab a tuc tuc for the drive there and back which is usually 50 quetzals each way.
The caving that starts the tour is not your normal caving experience; in short, because it wouldn’t be allowed whatsoever in England. It feels like some sort of cult initiation. No head torches are used in this cave; only candles, with each person being given their candle to look after for the trip. At the entrance of the caves the guides use some candles to melt the rock of the cave onto their hands, they then procede to draw some kind of war paint design on your face. This is incredibly difficult to get off; I found heating it back up to be the easiest way, but some strong makeup remover also did the trick. You then walk in single file through these caves, with your candles, where you climb, jump, slide and swim through about a kilometre of cave before coming back out. Once outside the cave, there is the optional rope swing into the river, which the locals demonstrate with such elegance and then every tourist proceeds to do horrendously (my attempt shown) and almost without question becomes inured in one way, shape or form. I had a strain in my neck for weeks afterwards because of this.
After this is the tubing, which is pretty tame; the river runs slowly, and so you can chill out, chat and have a beer in the sun. There are even locals sitting along the side who will throw you more beer if you want, which, of course, you can then pay for once you are out.
That is basically the only activity to do in Semuc Champey; the only other attraction is that the area is home to two very, very good hostels in Greengos and Zephyr lodge. Both are fantastic in their own ways, and I don’t think you can make a wrong decision with which you choose to stay.
Greengos had more of a hostel feel to it for me; where the layout and atmosphere created by the staff makes socialising the norm and so it is so easy to meet new people and have fun; we ended up with about 15 of us all around the pool table one night playing Monkey ball ( which is potentially one of the best games to get going at a hostel). And it goes without saying that the hostel has fantastic facilities, food, pool, etc., and even a cinema. Greengos is also right next to the national park, and so if you want to go back more than once, or go early in the morning to truly have the pools to yourself, then this is the place to stay.
Zephyr is very good but in a different way; it is a hostel that feels like a resort, and even if you haven’t heard the name, it is likely you will have seen a photo of its picturesque pool overlooking the rolling hills and valleys which surround it. It has a pretty big hot tub, which everyone descends on when it is turned on at 4 pm, and they have both a pool bar and someone who will come and deliver drinks straight to the hot tub. While I was there, it was more of a chill vibe, but I have heard from others that while they were staying at Zephyr it turned into a proper party hostel, and so with all of these thing it does depend on who is staying there at any one time.
It is necessary to mention that Semuc Champey does come with a one big downside: the 10+ hour bus ride, which you have to take to get here from basically anywhere else you would want to stay. However, if you’ve travelled before, you should be pretty used to long travel days and not going somewhere because it requires a longer travel to get there defeats the object of travelling in my opinion. If you are going to come here, make sure you bring a fair amount of cash. Both hostels I have mentioned accept cards but with a high surcharge, and there is only one ATM in Lanquin which is unreliable at best. I haven’t mentioned restaurants here because at both Greengos and Zephyr, it is most common to eat at the hostel, as there aren’t many, if any, real restaurants close enough. Both hostels serve good food, but it is a little pricey and mainly western, not local dishes.
Antigua
Once the capital of Guatemala and the hub of culture and trade in the region, Santiago de los Caballeros, now known as Antigua, meaning ‘eldest’, is somewhere everyone who visits Guatemala will stop in. It is a particularly charming colonial city with amazing architecture and art everywhere you look. From the main square, which is surrounded by buildings formed of archways and columns, to each cobbled street and fruit stand, this city is a great place to reset and relax, which is much needed because the main reason you are coming here is to hike a 4000-meter volcano. Yes, this is, of course, the base from which you go on the Acatenago hike, which should be right up there at the top of your bucket list for activities you need to do in your lifetime.
The Acatenago hike is most commonly done across 2 days with one night spent up on the mountain, either in cabins or tents. You begin early on day one at the tour company’s office to pack your bags and ensure you have everything you need for the trip. Whether you are using your own gear or borrowing it from the tour company, this consists of a 40+ litre bag filled with food, water and warm clothing and usually weighs in at around 12-20 kilos dependant on how much you take. By 8/9 am youre at the bottom of the mountain and starting the hike.
The hike to base camp varies by tour company, but for me it was 6.5 kilometres over which you gain 1100 meters in altitude. Starting at 2500 meters above sea level and finishing at around 3600. This is by no means achievable for everybody, but it is also not that challenging of a hike; the pace is very modest, and the guides keep everyone in one big group by stopping every 15-30 minutes, depending on the difficulty of the section. This hike is also split into two, with lunch in the middle and while altitude will play a part for the whole hike, it is after lunch where symptoms are most common as you hike entirely above 3000 meters in altitude. On the way up we hiked entirely through clouds and started to fear if we would get a clear sight of Fuego on this trip.
Despite this, I decided to continue on the optional extra hike which takes you up onto the ridge of Fuego, an active volcano, from which you watch the sun set and the volcano eruption if you’re lucky. This hike is an additional 2.5 kilometres each way with no net altitude gain; however, for most base camps, it requires you to descend a coupleof hundred meters before climbing back up on Fuego and vice versa on the return leg. The Fuego ridge was Baltic with winds here consistently over 50 miles an hour and little cover from them. We sat just to one side of the 4th bridge to avoid the winds and watched as cloud after cloud drifted around us, shrouding Fuego from view. The sun went down, and just as we started our descent from the Fuego ridge, the clouds abated,d and we saw a fuego irruption from just meters away. This is an incredible sight which is difficult to compare to anything else I have experienced as you feel the ground shake beneath you, hear the explosions like thunder and then watch molten red magma shoot into the night sky and tumble down the sides of the mountain.
Others have said the Hugo hike is the hardest part of the trip, but for me, this is not skippable in any way, shape or form, and for me, I actually had the opposite reaction; the adrenaline and excitement of getting up to the volcano gave me more energy than I’d had all day.
Once back at camp, dinner is served and we could sit and watch as Fuego put on a show for us throughout the night with no clouds in sight anymore. The only downside to this is that you will be hard-pressed to have a good night’s sleep. As you lie on Acatenago, you can feel and hear every time Fuego irrupts and so every 20 minutes or so throughout the night, I was sitting up to watch the magma out of our cabin’s windows before lying back and taking my next nap in between eruptions. This isn’t the case for everyone, as other tours have tents or cabins which don’t directly face Fuego. For me, this is a huge reason to book with OX expeditions, who, all round were very professional and helpful with setting expectations and helping in any way they could.
In the morning, there is a sunrise hike to the summit of Acatenango. This starts at 4 am sharp and takes you the remaining 400 meters up in altitude to the summit. The last 20 minutes or so were the steepest and most tricky part of the hike; I was literally crawling upwards using my hands to cling onto any rock that I could use for leverage. The views from the summit are, of course, fantastic, and you can then say you’ve summited a 4000-meter peak while you’re away. however if you think you can only manage one of the extra hikes, either Fuego ridge or acatenango summit, this is the one to skip. The lack of sleep and no food before the hike put a little dampener on the hike, and you get an equally good view of the sunrisefromm most companies camps. The highlight of this hike was, for me at least, having the joy of running and sliding back down the mountain to base camp. This is because you take the same route down as you did on the way up; there are trails of pure gravel, which make the descent far more entertaining and less technical if you commit to the slide.
The descent is then like any mountain descent; far easier in terms of energy but far more taxing on your joints. Your knees will ache at the bottom of this without a doubt.
It is upon the return from Acatenago that you realise why there are so many massage parlours and healthy cafes in Antigua, as everyone commits to taking care of themselves for the day or two after. The food spots here are endless, so try as many of them as you can on your return. While some people did make the mistake of going drinking before acatenago, I would strongly advise saving this for afterwards. When you do go for a drink in Antigua, there are some fantastic rooftop terraces for a beer. My favourite was the Antigua Brewing Company, and just around the corner from here is El barrio. This is open until 1 am and is the perfect place for more of a night out/party vibe, filled with both locals and backpackers. There is, of course, a hostel pub crawl here swell but we skipped this one out.
Lake Atitlan
Lake Atitlan receives a lot of hype online, and it’s understandable why. A picture-perfect lake surrounded by small towns, each with its own distinct characteristics, cultures and activities. Where hailing a taxi is waving at the end of a pier, having a boat pull over and asking them if they’re going to the town you want to go to. Where there are volcanoes and mountains in the distance in every direction, and Amalfi coast style of hotels clinging onto rock faces around the lake. however for me, this wasn’t the 10/10 place that tie Tok makes it out to be. It is a fantastic place to relax and chill out, but for me, it misses that one big activity to really make it stand out. Whether that’s just where I’ve been spoilt by Acatenango, Semuc Champey and Tikal in the weeks prior or having expectations a little too high is equally likely. With that said, what should you do here, and which town should you stay in?
My first week here was spent in San Juan in a homestay with a local family and completing Spanish school every day. This was fantastic to get a much bigger insight into the way local people actually live, what problems they have day to day and how this is different from in Europe. This was a week to shift perspectives on a lot of values and beliefs from the UK for sure, and something I would urge anyone with enough time on their trip to do. San Juan Spanish school was a fantastic base for this as well; you learn 1 to 1, or in a small group if you would like to do it with someone you are travelling with. The school is set out in a garden, so you are always in open air and surrounded by trees and hammocks, which sets a perfect,t relaxed tone for you to learn in. The language is taught in a very different way here than in England, and my teacher spoke little to no English, so the learning curve was steep and at times frustrating. But I learnt so much in just one week, more than I realised at the time, with my Spanish being complimented several times afterwards by locals.
San Juan is a great place for this to be set, and the town offers many tours of the local products like chocolate, coffee and honey. In addition, the streets here are hugely colourful with murals everywhere through town and streets shaded by hanging sombreros or umbrellas. It is a truly authentic town where everyone is actually happy to have come from. The family I stayed with took great pride in their different lines of work and still live very much as a community comprising of family, friends and neighbours all helping each other in different ways; a stark contrast to how most live in the West.
The next town along is San Pedro la Laguna, which is the party town of the lake. It is the most touristic town on the lake and is filled with bars, restaurants and hostels. Mr Mullets is located here and is one of the most well-known party hostels in Central America for its pub crawl and boat party. However, for me, this hostel is a little too far down the party hostel vibe; the kind of place where the rooms are named things like the dictators or the lab and then each person’s bed is labelled a different dictator or type of drug. I stayed here one night for the pub crawl to have some fun after my Spanish school, and that was more than enough for me. If you’re not hungover, there are some good hikes you can do from here; both the volcano and the Indian nose hike; both are pretty good, but are a little let down after Acatenango. You do get high enough to wash Fuego erupt now and again just from a lot further away.
For the viral cliff jumping spot, head to San Marcos; here, there is the 12-meter jumping spot located inside the nature reserve, which charges 25 quetzals to enter. Besides the reserve, the town is a very hippie vibe with almost no one wearing shoes, a strong smell of incense and more coffee shops and yoga classes than you can count.
Santa Cruz is one of the most popular places to stay here because of the famous free curves hostel. Here, you get one hour of free beer every single night, hence the name. They also have big family dinners every night, and so it’s as easy as can be to meet new people and socialise. You stay in tents,s which are quite comfortable, but at night they can get seriously cold; wear a jumper to bed for sure. These don’t have privacy curtains or anything like that, and so it does generate a summer camp kind of vibe with everyone sitting around on their mattresses chatting into the night.
Their private rooms are small bamboo casitas with glass fronts, meaning you can wake up and look out onto the sunrise over the lake and surrounding volcanoes from your bed,d which looks perfect if you’re travelling with someone else.
The town itself here has nothing really to do other than a couple of short hikes, but the hostel provides. Great space to chill out during the day, sunbathe and paddle on the lake, and they have their own dock, so it’s pretty easy to grab a lancha and head out to the other towns of the lake.
Panajachel is the biggest town on the lake and comes with the markets to match. Every Thursday and Sunday, they open up and are the perfect place to find some souvenirs to take back home, update the travel wardrobe or grab some street food. Just outside Panajachel is the Reserva Natural de atitlan which offers zip lining for between 300 and 450 quetzals, depending not he length ofthe course you take. Of course, this is also a nature reserve, and so you’ll see waterfalls and all kinds of wildlife whilst flying through the air; a little bit of adrenaline sprinkled into the relaxed vibe of the lake.
El Paredon
El Pardon was my first surf town of the trip, and boy, is it an unbelievable place. Slightly ironic that probably my favourite place in Guatemala, and my longest stay at 7 days, has the least for me to write about. My whole time here was spent living the same day on repeat. Get up, surf, eat an açai bowl, work or work out, eat tacos, chill out, play beach volleyball through the sunset and then party in the evening if you’re up to it. What more could a place need?
To top it off, the place is filled with good hostels. Mellow and Cocori top the list for most; Cocori for its luxury vibe, beach volleyball court, and beachfront location. Mellow for its social vibe, possibly the best hostel gym I’ve ever found and its great food. These are also the two most expensive hostels here, but there are some great hostels for cheaper as well. I preferred my stay at Mellow. Cocori is just a little bit too big for me, and at that size and number of people, I can make socialising harder, not easier, which is a little counterintuitive, but because of how much smaller Mellow’s social areas are its far easier to bump into the same people and get socialising.
I can’t speak about El Paredon without mentioning the sunsets; unreal every single day right out over the ocean. The weather always seemed to be perfect, and the sun would slowly turn from yellow to orange to blood red right behind the sunset surfers and volleyball courts.
The surf here is good, great at times. It tends to be best on the transition from high to low tide. It’s a difficult place for intermediates to surf, though, as the waves break so abruptly, so you have to generate speed quickly to catch them well. A low tide here is fantastic for beginners, as there is plenty of whitewash to surf, and at times, out the back, there are some great waves for the advanced surfers out there. I rented from a little surf shop next to Cocori. Most hostels only rent out for a day or longer, whereas this shop you could just rent for a couple of hours, which made it a little cheaper. Their boards are also in better condition than those of the hostels.
This is also where I found the best parties in Guatemala, almost every night there is some event going on at one of the bigger hostels or at the beach clubs, and while most parties in the towns and cities only ran until midnight or 1 here there were parties all the way through until 4 am. The only downside of this is that the best surf is at 7 am, and so you have to choose every time between partying or surfing the next day, unless you’re one of those people who can get out and surf after 2 hours of sleep with alcohol still in your system, which unfortunately, I am not.
The food spots here are pretty endless for such a small town, but my favourite was the little taco stand just next to Super 24. They do 3 tacos de pastor for 25 quetzals (a little over £2) and their tacos de pulpo (octopus) are unbelievable. Cafecito del mar was my favourite for açai and coffee but it is a little on the expensive side.
