Volcano-ringed Lake Atitlán, the weaving towns of the western highlands, colonial Antigua under three volcanoes, and a flight north to the greatest of the Maya cities standing in rainforest.
Antigua
Land at Guatemala City and drive straight to Antigua, an hour away — cobbled, low-built, ringed by three volcanoes and full of the ruins of churches that successive earthquakes brought down. Acclimatise gently at 1,500 metres.
Ruins, coffee and a volcano
The Santa Catalina arch, the cathedral ruins and Las Capuchinas convent in the morning; a working coffee finca on the slopes in the afternoon. Acatenango, opposite, is climbed overnight to watch Fuego erupt through the dark — a hard, cold and genuinely spectacular trek if you have the day for it.
To Lake Atitlán
Three hours west to a caldera lake 300 metres deep, ringed by three volcanoes and a dozen villages. Base in San Pedro, Santa Cruz or San Marcos depending on whether you want noise, quiet, or the yoga end of the spectrum.
Village to village by boat
The lanchas are the road here. San Juan La Laguna for natural-dye weaving cooperatives, Santiago Atitlán for the strongest surviving traditional dress and the shrine of Maximón, San Marcos for the cliff jump and the quiet.
Indian Nose at dawn
The ridge above San Juan gives the lake with all three volcanoes at sunrise, before the wind gets up. Afternoon free — a weaving workshop is the best two hours you will spend at Atitlán.
Chichicastenango
The Thursday and Sunday market: an enormous regional trading day under tarpaulins, with the church of Santo Tomás at one end where Maya ritual and Catholic liturgy operate on the same steps without apology. Go early.
Quetzaltenango
Xela to everyone who lives there — the second city, cool, unpretentious, and the base for the western highlands. Spanish schools, a neoclassical centre, and the Fuentes Georginas hot springs on the slope of Zunil.
Villages of the west
Zunil and San Andrés Xecul, whose church front is painted a yellow so aggressive it has become the town’s entire reputation. Almolonga’s market supplies vegetables to half the country from volcanic soil.
North to Petén
Back to Guatemala City and fly to Flores — a small island town on Lago Petén Itzá connected by causeway, and the base for Tikal. The change from highland cool to lowland heat happens in an hour.
Tikal
The greatest of the Maya cities, at its height a metropolis of tens of thousands, abandoned by the tenth century and swallowed by rainforest until the nineteenth. Temple IV rises above the canopy; howler monkeys make a noise that visitors reliably mistake for jaguars. Go at opening or take the sunrise entry.
Yaxhá, or the lake
Yaxhá sits above two lakes an hour east, is far quieter than Tikal, and has a sunset from Structure 216 that most people rate above its more famous neighbour. Otherwise: swim at Flores and do nothing.
Out
Fly Flores to Guatemala City for the connection home, or cross overland into Belize for the coast — the border is two hours east.
Dobré vedieť
Chichicastenango’s market is Thursday and Sunday only — build the highland days around it.
The Antigua–Atitlán–Xela corridor is served by tourist shuttles that are comfortable and by chicken buses that are cheap, crowded and an experience. Both are fine; the highland roads are winding either way.
Acatenango is an overnight trek to 3,976 m with a genuine cold-exposure risk. Go with an operator that provides proper equipment and check the weather.
Kratšie či dlhšie?
Antigua, Atitlán and Chichicastenango — the highlands alone, with no flight north.
Add three days for the limestone pools at Lanquín on the way to Petén — the road is rough and the place is worth it.
Cross east from Flores to the cayes for a week of reef after the ruins.