Guatemala Odyssey

Arrive in Guatemala - to Antigua Guatemala

You will be met on arrival at Guatemala City airport and transferred 40km to Antigua, the beautiful historical and cultural capital of Guatemala. Here you stay for the next 3 nights at a characterfully restored hotel in the heart of the city.

Antigua walking tour p.m free

This morning you will be taken on a private guided walking tour of Antigua, one of the most impressive colonial cities in all of the Americas - a UNESCO world heritage site due to its well preserved Spanish Baroque architecture. Antigua was the capital of the Spanish Kingdom of Guatemala and flourished as an important administrative centre during the 18th century, until it was devastated by an earthquake in 1773. Today much of Antigua's colonial splendour is still visible in its plentiful and well-preserved churches, monastries, convents and ruins. It is an atmospheric place - encircled by three mighty volcanoes (Agua, Acatenango and Fuego), its picturesque cobbled streets are flanked by colourful low-rise colonial buildings - some of which are now hotels, cafes and galleries, their terracotta roofs brimming with bougainvillea and heliconia. Local Maya ladies sell vibrantly trinkets and textiles alongside tropical fruits such as papaya, mangos and limes. Church bells chime and the scent of wood-smoke and incense hang in the air. After your tour you have the rest of the day free to wander and enjoy Antigua at your leisure or do one of the many optional excursions available locally. Perhaps stop at one of Antigua's characterful cafes to sample some of the city's world-renowned coffee, or visit a nearby cooperative coffee farm and learn about the processes involved in bringing coffee to cup. You could try your hand at a local cooking class or chocolate making workshop, or do some dusk birding at local Finca El Pilar preserve, nestled on the slopes of a former farm and coffee plantation.

Free day in Antigua for independent sight-seeing

Atitlan lake villages

Today you will be taken on a boat excursion around the lake, visiting two of Atitlan's most interesting lakeside communities. San Juan La Laguna, an authentic, artistic local village where the population is almost exclusively Tz’utujil Maya. Here traditions of farming and fishing stand alongside production of reed mats, textiles, handicrafts, naïf painting, medicinal plants and leather goods – naturally dyed textiles are a particularly famous product from this village. Pastel coloured adobe houses, small shops and cooperatives line the paved clean streets, many of which are covered in colourful painted murals. Modernity and tradition side side - men dressed in jeans, shirts and cowboy hats walk by women riding motorbikes dressed in traditional huipiles. Visit some of the villages cooperatives such as “Asociacion de Mujeres de Colores Botanicos” where local ladies use plants, fruits, herbs, seeds and even coconut shells to produce dyes to colour wool and cotton and a local medicinal plant garden where you learn about the various used of herbs and flowers in local medicine. Almost all profits from these cooperatives go directly back to the women involved. Santiago Atitlan, the biggest and most important lakeside village in Atitlan, is a commercial and traditional town where the majority of residents are also Tz’utujil May. Many of the local ‘atitecos’ as they are known wearing indigenous dress, including the men who wear white and purple striped shorts adorned with colourful embroidered birds and flowers, cowboy hats and textile belts. A daily market (largest on Friday) fills the streets and is very much for the locals, as you start to walk towards the dock it is more geared to tourists with shops and stalls filled with souvenirs, trinkets etc. Santiago is home to Maximon, the Maya folk 'sinner' saint venerated by local Maya predominantly in western highlands. A mixture of Catholic saint and Mayan deity (although not endorsed by Catholic church) said to be ‘the saint of gamblers and drunks’. He is represented as an almost life-size effigy with a moustache, wide-brimmed hat and is often smoking a lit cigarette out if the corner of his mouth. He is passed between different members of the ‘cofradia’ or brotherhood each year, residing in a dedicated shrine-type room within their houses. Worshippers bring money, alcohol and tobacco goods to the shrine as an offering to Maximon, who they hope in return will bring them wealth, rain and fertility etc.

visit Chichicatenango market, to Lake Atitlan

This morning you will be privately transferred towards Lake Atitlan, nestled within Guatemala's dramatic western highlands, heartland of the country's Maya population. Here the bustling Panamerican highway which traverses the Americas cuts through vast expanses of striking mountainous landscapes dotted with Maya towns and villages and covered in a patchwork quilt of forest and agricultural land - the rich volcanic soils producing an abundance of crops including pineapples, coffee, cabbages, carrots and at higher elevations maize and potatoes. On route to Lake Atitlan stop off at one the largest indigenous markets in Guatemala, Chichicastenango or “Chichi” as it is known to locals (approx 2h15m drive from Antigua). This small town comes alive on its Thursday and Sunday market days, its streets a riot of colour and hustle and bustle, filled with stalls selling a variety of Guatemalan handicrafts from woven goods, trinkets made of colourful beads, wooden icons and masks, colourful local ‘huipiles’ (traditional dress worn by local women) to modern clothing, rugs, bags, scarfs as well as stalls selling meat, fish, flowers and medicinal herbs, puppies, ducks and turkeys! There is a large fruit and veg market in a covered hall in the middle of town, there is balcony pn the upper-level of the hall from here you can watch locals as they go about buying pineapples, tomatoes, cabbages, carrots etc. – noticeable is the size of the produce at the market, everything is huge! The Church of Santo Tomas is located in the heart of the market area, a 500 year old church built by Dominican priests on top of a Maya worship site. It is attended by locals who practice a unique blend of Maya and Catholic religions. The air just outside the church is thick with burning copal incense as worshippers perform their rituals at its entrance. There are 18 steps leading up to the church, (each of which represents a month in the Maya calendar) covered with local vendors selling flowers (hydrangeas, gladioli, roses) which are used as offerings. You can enter the church through the side door but no photos are allowed. It’s a fascinating scene inside – worshippers shuffling along the aisles on their knees in penance towards the altar, ‘spiritual’ men clad in red headscarf’s sitting cross legged in the aisles around makeshift shrines (e.g vegetables surrounded by candles to pray for crops). Popol Vuh, the ancient Maya sacred text, a manuscript of Maya creation was discovered in the convent here. Dominican friar Francisco Ximenez transcribed and translated the manuscript into Spanish in the 18th century. Time allowing visit Chichicastenango cemetery on the outskirts of town, a very photogenic spot filled with brightly painted crypts and gravestones and good views over the town and surrounding countryside. You will then be transferred approx 1h30m on to Lake Atitlan (which means “at the water” in nahuatl), one of the most picturesque destinations in all Guatemala. Created over 80,000 years ago by a violent volcanic eruption, the lake is recognised at the deepest lake in Central America. It is surrounded by three impressive volcanoes on its southern shores (Atitlan at 3,535m, San Pedro at 3,020m and Toliman at 3,158m) and small Mayan villages backed by steep verdant hillsides. The majority of villages here are Tz’utujil and Kaqchikel and traditional Maya culture still prevails in most parts - local residents wear vibrant traditional clothing, practice ancient Maya customs and gather at colourful weekly markets to sell their produce. Here you stay for 3 nights at a hotel located in a small lakeside village.

Free day at Lake Atitlan to relax at your hotel or for optional excursions available locally at additional cost e.g hike to Cerro de Oro, Soloa or climb the San Pedro volcano, kayak on the lake, bike, birding, scuba diving, tour a coffee farm or zip-line at Reserva Natural Atitlan

to Antigua p.m De La Gente coffee tour

This morning you will be transferred back to Antigua. In the afternoon you will be taken to San Miguel Escobar, a small village a 10 minute drive from Antigua for a 'De La Gente’ coffee tour, an organisation that works with local coffee farming communities to create economic opportunity that improves the quality of life for their families and communities. Lead by small-holder coffee farmers, you will have the opportunity to experience a day in the life of a farmer. After a short walk up Volcán Agua to see the coffee fields, you will be invited into the farmer's house to learn about and utilise the machinery used to process coffee. At the end of the tour you learn how to roast coffee in the traditional way over a wood burning fire and share a cup of coffee with the farmer and his family.

to Copan, Honduras

Today you will be privately transferred to the Honduran border (4.5hrs) and onto the small town of Copan Ruinas, gateway to the Copan ruins, just 9km from the Guatemalan border with its characterful cobbled streets and squares, quaint shops, small bars and restaurants. Stay here for 2 nights

Copan ruins

Today you will be taken on a full day tour of the highly impressive and expansive Copan archeological site, just 5 minutes drive from Copan Ruinas town. During the 1980’s and 1990’s Copan was the largest archaeological excavation project in world. Many buildings are still left buried or partially buried under green mound-like bumps due to lack of funds for excavation. We recommend starting with a visit to the ‘Maya Sculpture museum’ at the entrance to the site to fully understand the ruins and see original stelae (those outside are replicas so as to preserve originals) as well as artefacts and a full-scale model of the Rosalilla temple (found intact buried under Temple 16) Must see's are the main plaza, which houses most of the intricately carved stelae, with their deep carvings, detailed portraits and recordings and Copan's hieroglyphic stairway, a UNESCO world heritage site and the ‘pride and joy of Copan’, made up of 24 steps and has the largest text in stone in the Mayan world. Since 1979 climbing the stairway has been banned as a preventative measure. Numerous scarlet macaws live within the grounds of the ruins - they are wild but site staff leave food for them on bird tables.

to Rio Dulce, visit Quirigua ruins

Departing Copan in the morning, you are transferred back over into Guatemala and up to the Quirigua archeological complex, a UNESCO world heritage site set in the middle of a banana plantation which used to be run by the United Fruit Company. Quirigua was an important trading post between Copan and Tikal but mainly a ceremonial centre. It is best known for its various stellae (the tallest in the Mayan world) and where the Maya ruler “18 Rabbit” was killed. After the tour you are transferred to Rio Dulce, where freshwater river meets with the sea giving it a ‘lake’ feel with mini-harbours dotted around waterside. Rio Dulce is a popular retreat for wealthy Guatemalan City dwellers who have their second homes here. Stay for 2 nights at a hotel set on the lakeside.

Rio Dulce canyon & Livingston

Today you will be taken on a boat tour through the Rio Dulce canyon to reach the laid-back garifuna town of Livingston on the Caribbean coast. The journey weaves through gorges with soaring rock faces dripping in dense green foilage. Pass fishermen in colourful wooden canoes, and keep your eye out for elusive manatee who inhabit these waters. Stop to visit Bird Island, where large numbers of egrets and cormorants reside, and spend some time at local hot-springs. You will also be taken to visit Ak'Tenamit - an indigenous community development organization that promotes long-term solutions to poverty through education, health, income generation and cultural programs. Finally you arrive in Livingston, with its unusual fusion of Guatemalan and Caribbean culture, laid-back atmosphere and sliver of Caribbean coastline. After a tour and lunch at a local restaurant you return by boat to Rio Dulce.

to Peten p.m Yaxha sunset tour

After an early breakfast you will be privately transferred to Peten state in northern Guatemala (approx 3hrs). At around 14.00 you will be taken on a private sunset tour of the Yaxha archeological site, which means ‘green water’ in Maya, the third largest ruin in Guatemala with more than 500 structures, 40 stelae, around 7 times smaller than Tikal. Remain until sunset, which you can enjoy from the top of one of the temples for stunning views out over the forest and lake. Stay for 2 nights at a hotel within access of the National Park

Tikal archeological site

Today you will be taken on a private guided tour of Tikal, set within the 575km² Tikal National Park part of the much larger 16,000km² Maya Biosphere Reserve which was created in 1990 to protect the vast tropical rainforests of Peten state. The name Tikal is said to derive from the Itza Maya language, meaning ‘city of voices’. It is extremely impressive and atmospheric site - majestic palaces, tombs and stelae are dotted through the jungle, huge soaring limestone temples, over 60m high burst up through the forest, the temple-tops offering spectacular views out over the canopy, which is teeming with wildlife including 54 species of mammals, and 333 species of birds (63 of the 74 families in Guatemala). Includes lunch at a restaurant within the National Park. After your guided tour you will be transferred back to your hotel where you have the afternoon free.

a.m free p.m to Guatemala City

Morning free in Peten for optional excursions available locally at additional cost e.g visit to Yaxha archeological site or Ixpanpunjul Park for hanging bridges before you are transferred to Flores airport for your late afternoon flight to Guatemala City Fly Flores/Guatemala City You are met on arrival in Guatemala City and transferred to a hotel in Zona 10, the city's shopping/entertainment district where you stay for the night If you are interested in museums and spending some time in Guatemala City then you might prefer to catch the morning flight from Flores to Guatemala City so that you can spend the day visiting e.g the wonderful Ixchel Museum, dedicated to indigenous textiles and clothing and preservance of Maya heritage (closed Sundays) or the National Archeology and Ethnology Museum (closed Mondays).

Depart Guatemala

Today you will be transferred to Guatemala City airport in time to catch your international onwards flight