Essence of Guatemala | 10 Days

On your arrival, meet & greet our team at La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City, then transfer to your hotel in the colorful colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala.

Antigua Guatemala, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is renowned for its well-preserved Spanish Baroque architecture, cobblestone streets, and vibrant atmosphere. Once the capital of Guatemala, this charming city is surrounded by majestic volcanoes and offers a glimpse into the country’s rich colonial past.

Today, you’ll meet your guide at the lobby of your hotel as it is time for our journey to visit ruins, churches, and museums in Antigua, Guatemala. In this city, the stories and legends of colonial times are still present along with the old, paved streets. As part of the tour, today you will visit La Merced Church, Convent Las Capuchinas, San Francisco El Grande Church, The Choco Museum, and the central market.

Afterward, visit FUNBA Organization, which is a private museum treasure trove of Guatemalan art and history.

Enjoy a tour through the villages around Antigua Guatemala, where you will learn their history through ruined buildings, live culture, and the incomparable view.
In this cultural tour you will visit San Juan El Obispo (The first bishop in Guatemala founded by Francisco Marroquín), San Pedro Las Huertas, Ciudad Vieja (home of Guatemala’s former second capital, which was buried by an earthquake-triggered mudslide in 1541), experimental Organic Macadamia Farm, San Antonio Aguascalientes women’s cooperative. After the tour, return to your hotel.

After breakfast begin your trip towards your hotel in Lake Atitlán in the heart of the Guatemalan highland, driving through incredibly colorful landscapes: indigenous people wearing their typical suits that shepherd their sheep and dairy cows, hillsides planted with vegetables and flowers, towns which witnessed our history and can now been seen in the paintings and crafts made by local artists.

Today you will take a boat to the Village of San Juan La Laguna where you will visit the women’s textile cooperative to see hand weaving and the natural dye process. Then participate in a Traditional cooking class in The Ancestral Delight Project that offers a unique culinary journey into the heart of Mayan gastronomy.
This immersive cooking class is more than just a lesson in preparing traditional dishes; it explores the flavors that define the region.

This morning you will take a scenic boat ride across Lake Atitlán to the Village of Santiago Atitlán for a visit to the Maya God Maximon, a revered folk saint who embodies this syncretism. Explore the colorful market, where artisans sell textiles and handicrafts that tell stories of their ancestors.

Then you will continue your tour to the Village of San Antonio Palopó, perched along the lake’s eastern shores. This lesser-known gem is famed for its pottery and textile artistry. The village’s steep and narrow streets lead you to local workshops where artisans craft exquisite ceramics, each piece a testament to their skill and the rich heritage of the region. Participate in a pottery workshop and feel the clay transform under your fingers, connecting you to centuries-old traditions.

After breakfast, transfer from your hotel in Lake Atitlán to La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City where you will catch a domestic flight to Flores Area.

Today, you will have a transfer from your hotel to Tikal National where you will begin the guided tour going through the most important city in the Mayan world, a mixture of nature and archaeology. Abundant wildlife, the Mayan Forest, millennial temples, silent witnesses of birth and splendor as well as of the collapse of one of the most important civilizations on the planet, all this is in our visit to Tikal, The City of the Voices.

Today you will have a transfer from your hotel to Yaxhá National Park. Here we will walk through its causeways under an exuberant tropical forest, where howling monkeys flood the atmosphere with their howls to impress the females or to move away an intruding male in their flock.

We will climb some temples that are the photographers’ accomplices, as they offer wonderful views. We will conclude the day in the high part of Temple 216, the highest structure in the place, where we will enjoy an unforgettable evening listening to the birds sing.

After breakfast, transfer to La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City in time for your flight home.