Has anyone traveled to/through Guatemala?

Question

How was it? Any good/bad experiences?

I hear it's a pretty cheap vacation with lots of freedom in the countryside. But the government has a lot of warnings posted.

Answer 1

I have lived in Gua City for four years. As some of the others have said, if you take precautions as you would in any U.S. city, you should be okay.

If you are visiting highlands (G. City, Antigua, Atitlan, etc.) you need a sweater or light jacket at least in the evenings all year (over 5,000 ft. elevation avg) and rain gear for March through October. Winter months are dry, but move the jacket to daytime and have something warmer for night. (Most of the local type hotels will not have central heat/air... U.S. chains do have)

If you try to not look like a tourist (shorts, etc), it will help on the security issue and maybe on some of the market prices. (There are a lot of European ancestry that are Guatemalan or that have lived here for years, so no one can tell for sure what you are until you speak (G. City, Antigua, Atitlan, etc.) or wear "tourist clothes". (Unfortunately, there not many African ancestry that live in the central pat of the country, but as there IS a large population on the Carribbean side, the same advice applies for this case also.)

In the capital, stay with one of the U.S. chain hotels (Marriott, Radisson, Holiday Inn, etc). In Antigua, I recommend the local style hotels such as La Quinta de las Flores (my favorite),Casa de los Suenos, or Lion's Inn (expensive B&B). Casa Santo Domingo or Hotel Antigua are worth sightseeing visits, but you get a much better "feel" and ambience in the smaller hotels. (While walking around, just pop in to any of small hotels that have their doors open, just to see their courtyards.)

Atitlan is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world and most of the cities, like Panachel ("Gringotenango") should be about as safe as Antigua. The Maya ruins in Tikal are worth a visit (You probably already know Temple 4 because it was an Ewok temple in Star Wars), as is Rio Dulce area (try to find Finca Paraiso if you go there -- a great surprise awaits you if you go... hint: walking shoes and a swim suit).

There are tours of Volcan Pacaya for the adventurous, but both coasts have rather poor beaches. (You can get to a Carribbean white sand beach on a water taxi in Livingston, and the Pacific Coast black sand beaches are rather treacherous (currents, depth) for swimming. I haven't been to Monterrico yet, but I hear that it is one of the better beaches. However, it is no Cancun, so you better be prepared to entertain yourself or have a really lazy time if you spend more than a couple of days there. (Sea level areas ARE typically tropical hot all year)

Lastly, speaking of entertainment, there is a surprising array of cultural events (music, art, museums, etc.) especially in Antigua and G. City. Again, if you plan on this, have something nicer than "tourist clothes" if you would like to attend. (business attire recommended if you attend anything classical)

I hope this helps. Guatemala has a lot of potential and it is truly one of the hidden jewels of the world. Just be careful.

Answer 2

I would recommend a trip to Guatemala to everyone. It is a country on the rise, but hindered by high crime. I was like you and got nervous about the travel warnings, but I've never had an issue the two times I've been. I spent 3 weeks there last year and will return later this year. If you use common sense you will be fine.

The bad part of the trip is it takes a little while to get from one place to another (high volume of traffic up and down mountains). Try to plan your trip in the winter, as summer is the rainy season and mudslides and washouts of roads are common making travel even more difficult.

The good is the natural beauty of the country at a great price. If you hang out in tourist areas, you will pay roughly the same as if you were in the U.S., but if you find somewhere to stay in a local hotels run by a family you will enjoy your trip much more. They are cheap (about $10 or less a night.) Stay somewhere on Lake Atitlan. Semuc Champey is an absolute must see. It is gorgeous and you can stay in a hotel in a nearby town. If you want to go to Tikal, you can fly out of Guatemala City for about $130.00 or you can take the long drive up, but the roads there can be more dangerous (bandits). Lago Izabel, in the Rio Dulce region, is a beautiful lake too. I stopped in a small town and rented an innertube for my kids from a local boy who charged $1.00 for the day.

It's hard to find a place that is as beautiful and inexpensive as Guatemala.

Answer 3

We just returned from Guatemala 2 months ago. It was a wonderful experience. My husband and I are in the process of adopting a 2 year old boy from Guatemala City and we went for a week long visit. We stayed in Guate City at the Radisson with the little boy and had a great time. We felt just as safe there as we would have in any large city in the states. As others have said, you just have to use common sense. You wouldn't go down a dark alley at midnight in NYC either would you? Well I wouldn't advise it in Guatemala City either. But as for during the day in the downtown area....it is a normal city.

The other city we toured was Antigua. It was breathtaking and completely safe as far as we could tell. Get a knowledgeable guide to give you the stories behind the buildings and you can spend an entire day just walking the original cobblestone streets.

Even though Guatemala is near the equator the days were not extremly hot. We were comfortable in short sleeves and jeans (and a thin jacket in the cool evenings). (It does rain alot in the afternoons, however, in the summer months.)

Drink only bottled water (which is VERY easy to come by). And enjoy the cuisine, which is similar to Mexican food but not quite as spicy.....Guatemala has it's own flavor....which I love even more than Mexican!

We never went into the countryside (other than Antigua) since we had a little one; but I've heard it is beautiful and worth the trip.

If you want souvenirs....skip the malls and buy from the vendors in the markets...that way the family's that actually make the product get the money rather than the "middle man". Plus, you save ALOT. You can get unbelievable gifts, toys, linens, furniture, musical instruments, clothing, for half what it sells for in the states...just stick to the markets.

Don't take alot of cash with you. We kept an ATM card with us and just drew out about $100 at a time. ATM's are pretty much everywhere.

Have fun and take tons of pictures. My husband plans on going back and taking a hiking tour of one of the active volcanoes.

We had absolutely NO bad experiences and plan on taking our son back on a yearly trip to his homeland to keep in touch with his heritage.....and hopefully learn more about it ourselves.

Answer 4

The bad...
Guatemala was fine but I have enjoyed travelling in other countries more. My main criticism is that I didn't feel safe much of the time, particularly in Guatemala City itself or in areas just off regular tourist spots.

The good...
Antigua de Guatemala is a good city to hang out in with plenty of "colonial charm" and there's some mountain biking and hiking nearby.
Tikal in the north west is also fantastic, if a little hard to get to.

The cost...
Overall, backpacking was fairly cheap but, again, sometimes not very safe. If you wanted to go up a level in terms of comfort to be more secure I got the impression it wouldn't be that cheap as there were few "mid-range" options.

Answer 5

Guatemala is a cool to travel, i lived there for 10 years and just moved to florida.

Guatemala is a very cool place to go to, but as always you must be careful going from place to place, the main problem is security issues, but this should not scare anyone, it depends where you want to go and how your going to get there.

Just don't wonder by yourself, make sure to visit areas that are common to turists like the city of Antigua,Guatemala, this city is cool and it takes like 40 minutes to get there from the city or you can do some research online and find a hotel in Antigua, one hotel which is the best is a hotel called "Casa Santo Domingo", you can find this online by typing these words. Antigua is pretty much safe and you can go around at night without problems, just make sure you are not by yourself.
In Antigua there is tons of things to explore and do, also you can arrange any trips or tours to any place in the country like going to the ruins of tikal which you can go there by bus or plane, i would say getting there by plane is fast but either one is fine.

If there is any question because this im just starting to tell you how guatemala is. my email is [e-mail]

Answer 6

Guatemala is great my favorite place in guatemala is panahachel, and rio dulce(mansion del rio hotel) that was great they have everything there, they have this thing where you ride a boat and take you to waterfalls, a place called isla de los pajaros also known as bird island. guatemala is great i highly recommend it for a vacation

Answer 7

is CHEAP i only been to the state division in between El Salvador and Guatemala it was great but i went lost of people that was the only reason i was not scare

Answer 8

When I was there it was a private tour courtesy of Uncle Sam.... we were all very well armed....lol.But it is a beautiful place and very low cost for just about everything.

Answer 9

Yeah, Actually I'm from there. Well scince I'm from there I would say I love it. But It's good to expierence it!.....

Answer 10

Pretty cheap yeahh !
But you don't want to be kidnap do you ?