The Mayans are one of archaeology’s great mysteries. Authors of unparalleled advances in architecture, mathematics, and astronomy, they vanished into Central America’s jungles 1,000 years ago—and no one knows why. When you travel to Guatemala, you’ll explore the remnants of one of history’s great civilizations. After departing from Antigua, with its quaint cobblestone streets and quaint colonial squares, you’ll experience the legendary ruins at Tikal, Yaxha, and Iximche, where you’ll have the chance to talk with the Mayans’ descendants, who maintain their ancestral traditions to this day. We’ll also make excursions allowing you to soak up the splendors of one of the region’s loveliest landscapes (snow-capped volcanoes near the coast, crystalline waters at Lake Atitlán. An unforgettable glimpse into to the hidden treasures of one of the world’s most remarkable peoples.
Guatemala Tours
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Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and Tikal
8 Days/7 Nights from $2,329
Guatemala offers the visitor a fascinating combination of restored colonial cities, breathtaking natural attractions, and Maya cultural heritage. This tour begins in Antigua, a UNESCO…Guatemala Tour Information
The Best Places to Visit in Guatemala
Alone among Central America’s destinations, Guatemala has been a royal stronghold not just once, but twice. First, when its towering, jungle-bound pyramids served as citadels for Maya kings; and second, when it became capital to the Kingdom of Guatemala in the 1500s under imperial Spain. Today, this twin legacy has left a culture shimmering with regal splendor, making choosing the best places to visit in Guatemala no easy task…
1. Tikal & El Petén
For 700 years, this city-state in the Petén rainforest held sway over the Maya world from Yucatan to Belize. Pyramids, temples, stelae: a throng of stunning ruins crouches amidst the brush—climaxing with the staggering Temple I, tomb for the Maya king Ah Cacao. At sunset, the views from the 213-foot Temple IV…
2. Antigua
Shadowed by three live volcanoes, this impossibly picturesque town bewitches with its iconic arch and pastel-colored colonial mansions. Once the capital of all Central America, Antigua attracts today due to its gorgeous ruined convents and cathedrals, product of a 1773 earthquake that reduced the town to rubble…
3. Lake Atitlan & the Highlands
“Like Italy’s Lake Como, but with the embellishment of several immense volcanoes”: so wrote Aldous Huxley after visiting this turquoise-colored jewel in Guatemala’s central highlands. Boat rides on its windswept surface show why today’s Maya continue to revere its sacred waters. In the market for handicrafts? The lakeside villages…
4. Guatemala City
Noisy and chaotic? Sure. But Guatemala’s sprawling capital is also ablaze with energy, in its revitalized center no less than in its superb museums and restaurants. From jade masks and intricate textiles in its Maya galleries to hip cafés and live-music hotspots in downtown’s Paseo la Sexta, “Guate” is on the upswing…
5. The Caribbean Coast
From Lago Izabal, Guatemala’s largest lake, down the Río Dulce to Lívingston, a ramshackle town swayed by the African rhythms of the Garífuna people, this exotic region is a sleeper. A tangle of colonial forts, steamy jungles, and palm-lined beaches, it’s a place you’re as apt to spot a manatee on a riverboat tour…