A hillside village with a bishop's palace and homemade chocolate, and the town that was the capital before Antigua.
The slopes of Volcán de Agua south of Antigua are dotted with villages, and two make an easy half-day trip by tuk-tuk or bus.
San Juan del Obispo, ten minutes up the hill, grew around the 16th-century palace of Francisco Marroquín, the first bishop of Guatemala. The palace and church can be visited, the nuns' convent next door sells chocolate and preserves, and the village looks back over the whole valley to Antigua.
Ciudad Vieja, on the valley floor, marks the area where the Spanish capital stood before Antigua. In 1541 a flood of mud and water from Agua destroyed that city, and the capital moved to Antigua's site.
Today Ciudad Vieja is a working town, rebuilt around its colonial church and plaza, with few tourists and a good market.
A tuk-tuk loop from Antigua.
Take a tuk-tuk up the road towards Agua to San Juan del Obispo.
Visit the palace and church, and look out from the terrace over the valley.
Buy chocolate or fruit preserves from the convent shop.
Drop down to Ciudad Vieja and walk round its church and plaza.
Catch a bus or tuk-tuk back to Antigua, a short ride along the valley.
Tuk-tuks wait near Antigua's market; local buses to Ciudad Vieja leave from the bus terminal.
The palace in San Juan del Obispo keeps irregular hours; ask locally or go with a guide.
These are working towns, not museums; be considerate when taking photos.
Antigua practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
