Wanderlines
Sunset over Lake Atitlán with a volcano in silhouette
Guatemala · Sololá · 1,560 m

Lake Atitlán

A caldera lake 340 metres deep, three volcanoes on its southern shore and a dozen Maya villages round the rim, each with its own language, dress and reason to visit, linked by small boats that stop running when the afternoon wind arrives.

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Overview

Twelve villages, one lake, no road round it

Atitlán fills the crater of an eruption 84,000 years ago, 130 square kilometres of water at 1,560 metres with no outlet, the deepest lake in Central America. Volcán Atitlán, 3,537 metres, Tolimán and San Pedro stand on its south shore; the Kaqchikel and Tz'utujil Maya towns stand on the rest of it, and because the road reaches only some of them, the lancha, the public boat, is the bus. Panajachel on the north shore is the gateway with the shuttles and the ATMs; San Pedro is the backpacker town under its volcano; San Juan is the weavers' village; San Marcos is yoga and cliff-jumping; Santa Cruz and Jaibalito hang off cliffs with no cars at all; Santiago Atitlán across the water is the biggest Maya town and keeps the cigar-smoking saint.

The lake has a rhythm. Mornings are glass, for kayaks, crossings and photographs of the volcanoes. Around one o'clock the Xocomil, the wind that carries away sin, comes up from the south and turns the water to chop; boats slam, decks get wet, and the last ones leave the villages around five. Evenings belong to whichever village you chose, and most of them are asleep by ten.

Three days covers Santiago, a hike and two villages. Four adds the lakeside trail and the weavers; five adds Chichicastenango's market if it falls on a Thursday or Sunday. It is two and a half to three hours by shuttle from Antigua and three to four from Guatemala City's airport.

Lake Atitlán with a volcano across the water
North shorePanajachel for arrivals, Calle Santander, the Reserva Natural and the boats; Santa Catarina and San Antonio Palopó to the east.
West shore, by boat onlySanta Cruz, Jaibalito, Tzununá and San Marcos, strung along a cliff path with the best hotels and the quietest nights.
South-westSan Pedro under its volcano, bars and Spanish schools; San Juan ten minutes away for cooperatives, murals and coffee.
South shoreSantiago Atitlán, the Tz'utujil capital, Maximón, the market and the trailheads for Tolimán and Atitlán.
Highlights

What to see first

Nine places. Everything on the lake is a boat ride of five to forty minutes; do the long crossings before the wind.

Aerial view of the Panajachel shoreline under a cloudy sky
North shore · The gateway

Panajachel and Calle Santander

Every shuttle ends here and every boat starts here. Calle Santander runs a kilometre from the main road to the water through textile stalls, cafés and travel agencies, and ends on a public shore with the three volcanoes lined up across the lake. The Sunset Café and the lawns of the Hotel Atitlán are where the evening goes; the two docks, the main embarcadero at the foot of Santander for San Pedro and the west shore, and Tzanjuyú for Santiago, are where the mornings start. Four or five ATMs: fill your wallet here.

Panajachel in detail →
Stacks of colourful handwoven Guatemalan textiles
San Juan La Laguna · Weavers

The cooperatives of San Juan

Ten minutes by tuk-tuk from San Pedro, San Juan is the lake's arts village: dozens of women's weaving cooperatives dyeing cotton with indigo, cochineal, chipilín and campeche wood on backstrap looms, with free demonstrations and three-hour workshops for a few hundred quetzales. Casa Flor Ixcaco and Artesanos de San Juan are the best known. The main street climbs from the dock through naive-art galleries, murals and coffee co-op cafés to the painted-umbrella lane; the Cerro de la Cruz above the village is the sunset.

San Juan in detail →
A lake set among green mountains
San Marcos · Cliff jump

San Marcos and Cerro Tzankujil

The village of yoga centres, cacao ceremonies and vegetarian cafés has, ten minutes' walk west of its dock, the lake's best swimming: Cerro Tzankujil nature reserve, a wooded point with shaded trails, a Maya altar, swimming platforms and a 12-metre jumping platform with a lower ledge for the sensible, about Q20 in cash and open until four. The water here is the cleanest on the north shore. Dinner is early and quiet; this is the village for sleeping.

San Marcos in detail →
Market tents filling a plaza in the Guatemalan highlands
Santiago Atitlán · 30–40 min by boat

Santiago and Maximón

The largest Tz'utujil town, under Tolimán, keeps Maximón, the cigar-smoking, liquor-drinking folk saint whose effigy moves to a new cofradía house each year; a tuk-tuk driver or a child will take you for a few quetzales, you pay Q5 to Q10 to enter and the same per photograph, and a cigar or a bottle of Quetzalteca is a welcome offering. The 1547 church of Santiago Apóstol holds the memorial to Father Stanley Rother, murdered in 1981; the Parque de la Paz remembers the 1990 massacre; the Friday and Sunday markets are the lake's biggest. Caldo de cangrejo for lunch.

Santiago in detail →
A mural of a woman painted on the side of a building
East shore · Tuk-tuk from Pana

Santa Catarina and San Antonio Palopó

Four kilometres east of Panajachel, Santa Catarina has painted more than five hundred of its houses since 2017 in the motifs of the women's huipiles, a project that turned a poor fishing village into a hillside of colour; the small museum on the plaza is free and the donations paint more houses. San Antonio, six kilometres further, is the ceramics village, blue-and-white teardrop pottery and terraced onion fields, with the most traditional dress on the east shore. An hour's walk on a quiet road links the two.

The Palopó villages in detail →
A woman choosing vegetables and fruit at a market
Thursdays and Sundays · 1.5–2 h each way

Chichicastenango market

The biggest market in the Maya highlands fills the town of Chichi twice a week with textiles, masks, flowers, vegetables and pigs, while Maya priests burn copal and candles on the steps of Santo Tomás church. Shuttles leave Panajachel around eight and return around two, US$20 to US$30 return over the Sololá road; the town is empty on other days. Pascual Abaj, the hill shrine above the town, is where the ceremonies continue after the market closes.

Chichicastenango in detail →
A toucan perched on a branch
Panajachel · Q80

Reserva Natural Atitlán

A private reserve on an old coffee estate fifteen minutes west of Panajachel by tuk-tuk: forest trails over hanging bridges across a ravine, a waterfall, a butterfly dome, a troop of spider monkeys, coatis that beg around the café and a private beach on the lake, open eight to five for about Q80. Zip-line circuits across the ravine cost extra and start at nine. The best easy birding on the lake, motmots and emerald toucanets in the early morning. Details in the birds section.

The reserve in detail →
People standing on a wooden dock over the water
West shore · No road

Santa Cruz, Jaibalito and the cliff hotels

Ten minutes from Panajachel by boat, Santa Cruz is a dock, a cluster of hostels and the dive shop, with the real village a steep twenty minutes up the hill, where the CECAP vocational school's rooftop café serves the best cheap lunch view on the lake. Jaibalito, the next hamlet west, has La Casa del Mundo built into the cliff, with its hot tub over the water and a family dinner at seven. Both are starting points for the lakeside trail and the quietest beds on Atitlán.

The lakeside trail in detail →
Two people kayaking on a mountain lake
Any village · Before noon

Kayaks at dawn

From sunrise at six until the Xocomil arrives after midday the lake is a mirror, and a kayak or paddleboard along the shore, under the volcanoes, is the best hour of the day. Rentals are everywhere: US$10 an hour for a single in San Pedro, similar at the Santa Cruz docks and from most hotels on the west shore; guided dawn paddles with a stop at the Tzankujil cliff jump run about US$55. Be back on land by noon, wear the life jacket and put the phone in a dry bag.

Kayaking in detail →

Also worth your time

Panajachel · Sunset

The Hotel Atitlán gardens and the Sunset Café

West end of town; Calle Santander

The hotel's lakeside gardens, open to visitors for a drink, have the postcard line-up of all three volcanoes; the Sunset Café at the foot of Santander has the same view with live music and cheaper beer.

San Pedro

San Pedro's upper town and Spanish schools

Above the lakeside strip

Climb out of the backpacker strip and San Pedro is a steep Tz'utujil town of a market, a church and a plaza with Volcán San Pedro over everything. A week of one-to-one Spanish here costs less than a night in Antigua.

Santa Clara · Above San Juan

Chuiraxamoló park and the Indian Nose road

25 minutes by pickup above San Juan

The municipal park on the ridge at 2,600 metres has a mirador over the whole lake, a long zip-line and picnic ground, and the short back route up the Indian Nose. Ask prices locally; go before the afternoon cloud.

San Juan

Coffee and cacao in San Juan

La Voz Que Clama en el Desierto; the cacao workshops

The co-op founded in 1979 grows organic Bourbon and Caturra on the volcano's slopes and runs mill tours during the December to March harvest; the bean-to-bar and ceremonial-cacao sessions in San Juan and San Marcos cost US$10 to US$35 and end with chocolate.

Hikes & nature

Three volcanoes, a sunrise ridge and a cliff path between villages

Atitlán's walks start at 1,560 metres and go up: a 3,000-metre volcano before lunch, a ridge for sunrise, a path along the cliffs from one village to the next. Every one of them is safer and better with a local guide, for the route and because the trails have a history of robberies.

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Hiking season: teal = the dry months with the clearest summits and sunrise cloud-seas, green = shoulder with haze from field burning in March and April, grey = the rains, when trails are mud and the afternoons pour, though mornings are often fine.

Hikers climbing a steep mountain path
Demanding

Volcán San Pedro

The extinct cone above San Pedro La Laguna, 3,020 metres, climbed from the park office above the town through coffee, cornfields and then cloud forest on a relentless staircase of roots and steps to a summit with the whole lake below and, on a clear dawn, Fuego smoking to the east. The Q100 park fee includes a park guide, which is wise rather than optional. Start at five or six before the cloud builds and the heat arrives.

Full route guide →
10–11 kmreturn
5–8 hwalking
1,200–1,350 mascent

A tuk-tuk from town to the office is Q10. Muddy and slippery in the rains; carry two litres of water and a fleece for the top. November to March for the views.

A hiker with a backpack walking in the mountains
Moderate · Pre-dawn

Indian Nose at sunrise

The ridge west of San Juan that looks, from the lake, like a face in profile, and from its 2,200-metre forehead gives the lake's famous sunrise: the three volcanoes black against the dawn, cloud filling the caldera below and, in the dry season, Fuego erupting far to the east. Tours leave San Pedro and San Juan at four by pickup to Santa Clara for the short back route, twenty to forty minutes of climbing, or walk the longer, steeper trail up from San Juan in an hour and a half.

Full route guide →
1–4 kmdepending on the route
4am–8amdoor to door
150–600 mascent

Tours cost US$13 to US$30 with transport and guide, plus the Q30 community fee on the San Juan side; go with one, since there have been robberies and a dispute between villages over the fee. December to February for the cloud-sea.

A person trekking along a path through dense forest
Moderate

The lakeside trail: Santa Cruz to San Marcos

The west shore has no road, so the villages are joined by a path along the cliffs: Santa Cruz to Jaibalito in 45 minutes, Jaibalito to Tzununá in an hour on the narrowest, most exposed stretch, then a dirt road into San Marcos. Nine kilometres of ups and downs with the lake always below on the left, coffee and milpa on the right, and a lunch stop at Lomas de Tzununá's terrace or a swim at Tzankujil at the end. Any dock along the way is an exit by boat.

Full route guide →
9 kmone way
2.5–3.5 hwalking
500 mcumulative up and down

Walk it in the morning, in company, with nothing valuable in your pockets; reports of robberies on the Jaibalito stretch recur. Take the boat back from San Marcos before the wind.

A volcano erupting at dusk with an ash cloud
Very demanding · Overnight

Volcán Atitlán and Tolimán

The two big volcanoes on the south shore are serious climbs with faint trails and no infrastructure. Tolimán, 3,158 metres and twin-peaked, is seven or eight hours return from Santiago through coffee and cloud forest with 1,600 metres of ascent. Atitlán, 3,537 metres and the highest, is 1,700 metres of climbing, usually done as a two-day trip with a camp near the top for sunset and a sunrise that can include Fuego erupting on the horizon. Guides are essential for both; expect US$40 to US$60 for Tolimán and US$100 to US$150 for the Atitlán overnight.

Full route guide →
1,600–1,700 mascent
7–10 hor two days
0–5°Cat dawn on top

November to March only; the trails are impassable mud in the rains. Both are also the home of the horned guan, the region's rarest bird, which is why birders climb them at dawn.

Easy · 45 min

Cerro de la Cruz, San Juan

Signed from the centre · small community fee

Concrete steps up to a cross and a painted viewing platform 200 metres above the village with San Pedro's volcano across the bay. Go for sunset, after the cooperatives.

Full route guide →
Easy · 1–2 h

Reserva Natural Atitlán trails

Panajachel · 8am–5pm, Q80

Hanging bridges over the ravine, a waterfall, the butterfly dome and the monkey enclosure, on a shaded loop that suits children and birders at seven in the morning.

Full route guide →
Easy · 1 h

Santa Catarina to San Antonio Palopó

East shore road

A quiet paved road above the water between the painted village and the pottery village, with terraces of onions below and the volcanoes across the lake. Tuk-tuk back to Panajachel.

Full route guide →
Scuba

Altitude diving over drowned hotels and hot springs

A lake at 1,560 metres is a textbook altitude dive, and Atitlán has one shop that teaches it. The visibility is poor and the life is minimal, but the drowned buildings and the thermal vents make it one of the stranger dives in the Americas.

Close-up of glowing lava in a volcanic crater
Open Water · Altitude specialtyOne dive, not a trip

Santa Cruz La Laguna

The lake's level has risen several metres over the past two decades and swallowed lakeshore hotels, jetties and village lanes, which now lie at 12 to 30 metres in green water with three to eight metres of visibility. Off Santa Cruz the dives drop down drop-offs to the drowned buildings and to fissures where geothermal water seeps hot from the volcano below, warm enough to heat your hands. Black bass, small cichlids and freshwater crabs are the fauna. The water is 19 to 23°C, so a 5-millimetre suit and a hood; tables and computers must be set for altitude, and you should not drive up to Sololá or on to Guatemala City for 18 hours after the last dive.

12–30 mdepth
Open Waterplus altitude briefing
3–8 mvisibility
19–23°Cwater

ATI Divers at La Iguana Perdida on the Santa Cruz dock is the lake's dive centre: a fun dive about US$55, two tanks US$89, a Discover Scuba US$70 and the PADI Open Water around US$410 over three days, with the Altitude Diver specialty on top. December to April after the rains settle is clearest. The submerged Maya town of Samabaj off Cerro de Oro is a protected site and off limits.

Check the AMSCLAE cyanobacteria alert for the lake before diving or swimming; blooms follow heavy rain and warm spells. For real diving, Guatemala's Caribbean and Honduras's Bay Islands are a long day's travel east.
Birds & wildlife

Quetzals in the cloud forest, coatis at the café, and the grebe that is gone

The Atitlán basin is an Important Bird Area where the Christmas count logs nearly three hundred species, from the resplendent quetzal above Santiago to the horned guan on the volcano summits. The lake's own bird, a flightless giant grebe, is the sadder story.

Resplendent quetzal at Mirador Rey Tepepul

Cloud-forest reserve above Santiago Atitlán · pickup 30–40 min · ~Q25 plus a guide

Santiago's municipal reserve on the Chacayá road climbs into cloud forest where the quetzal nests from February to May, alongside highland guan, azure-rumped tanager and pink-headed warbler. Local guides from Santiago or San Pedro's birding outfits take you up for dawn; the reserve is also the lake's best half-day of forest for non-birders.

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Horned guan on the volcanoes

Volcán San Pedro, Tolimán and Atitlán · dawn, with a birding guide · December to April

A turkey-sized black bird with a red horn on its head that lives only in the high cloud forest of these volcanoes and a few others along the border with Mexico. Seeing one means a dawn start, a hard climb and a guide who knows which trees are fruiting; BirdZone Atitlán and the Santiago guides run the trips, and the Christmas count finds it every year.

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Motmots, toucanets and coatis at the Reserva Natural

Panajachel · 7–9am

The easy morning: blue-crowned motmots, emerald toucanets, oropendolas, trogons and hummingbirds along the reserve's trails, white-nosed coatis begging round the café and the spider monkeys in their enclosure. North American migrants join them from October to April.

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The Atitlán grebe

Extinct since 1990 · the memorial in Santiago

The poc was a flightless giant grebe found nowhere else. Largemouth bass introduced for sport fishing in 1958 ate its chicks and its food, the reeds were cut for the tourist shore, and the 1976 earthquake dropped the lake. Anne LaBastille's refuge brought it back to 200 birds in the 1970s before her warden was murdered in 1982; the last two were seen in 1989. Her book Mama Poc tells the story, and the hotel and café names round the lake still carry the bird's.

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A toucan perched on a tree branch
Reserva Natural

Toucans and toucanets

Emerald toucanets in the ravine forest.

A small green hummingbird perched on a red flower
Everywhere

Hummingbirds

Dozens of species, from the gardens to the summits.

A volcano erupting at night with glowing lava
From the summits

Fuego on the horizon

The active volcano, seen erupting at dawn from Atitlán's tops.

Good food

Pepián, lake crab, patín and one serious table above the water

The lake eats Maya highland food: thick seed-and-chile stews, tamales in leaves, tiny fish from the water, corn in every form and coffee from the slopes. There is one restaurant with real ambition and a handful of good ones; the rest is comedores, which is the point.

A bowl of stew served with a tortilla
Eat this

Pepián and pulique

Pepián is Guatemala's national dish, a thick stew of chicken or beef in a sauce of roasted seeds, chiles and tomatoes with potato and güisquil, cultural heritage since 2007 and a Sunday lunch in every comedor. Pulique is the Kaqchikel and Tz'utujil festival stew, thickened with masa and coloured with achiote, made for fiestas and taught in the Santa Cruz cooking classes. Both come with a stack of hot tortillas.

A stew simmering in a pot
Eat this

Patín, caldo de cangrejo and the lake's fish

Santiago's specialty is patín: tiny lake fish cooked in a tomato and chile sauce and wrapped in maxán leaves in tamal-sized parcels, sold by women round the market for a few quetzales. The small freshwater crabs caught at night by lamp become caldo de cangrejo in Santiago, San Pedro and San Juan; fried mojarra and black bass are the plate of the day on the docks. Atol, hot corn drink, sweet or salted with chile, is served from clay pots at every market.

The bow of a kayak on calm water
Eat this

Coffee, cacao and dulces

San Juan's cooperative coffee is grown at 1,500 to 1,800 metres on the volcano and roasted in the village; the co-op cafés pour it for Q10. Cacao came back to the lake with San Marcos's ceremonies and now has bean-to-bar workshops in two villages. Calle Santander's evening carts do tostadas, shucos, elotes and atol de elote for Q5 to Q15, and the Sunday comedores behind Panajachel's market do pepián for Q30.

The best tables

The top table

6.8 Palopó at Casa Palopó

Santa Catarina Palopó · dinner, reserve · tuk-tuk from Panajachel

The lake's one ambitious kitchen, in its best hotel: Guatemalan ingredients in tasting-menu form, the longest wine list for a hundred kilometres and a terrace over the water with the volcanoes in the window. Kinnik, the hotel's grill up at the villas, is the second sitting.

Q350–600 · $$$$
Classic

Hotel Atitlán

Panajachel, in the gardens west of town · lunch and dinner

The old hotel's dining room and lawn, Guatemalan and international cooking done properly, the best Sunday brunch on the lake and sunset drinks with the famous view of the three volcanoes.

Q300–500 with wine · $$$
Jaibalito

La Casa del Mundo

Jaibalito · set dinner at 7pm, book by afternoon

A four-course family-style dinner at a long table in a hotel built into the cliff, after an hour in the wood-fired hot tub above the water. The lake's most romantic evening, reached only by boat.

Q150–200 set menu · $$$
San Pedro

Sababa

Lakeside strip, San Pedro · breakfast to dinner

The best-run restaurant in the backpacker village: Israeli-Mediterranean shakshuka, hummus plates, sabich and grilled fish on a sunset deck, with the coffee the Spanish-school crowd lives on.

Q80–180 · $$
On the trail

Lomas de Tzununá

Hilltop above Tzununá · call ahead for lunch

Belgian-Guatemalan owners, an organic garden and a terrace with the lake below, exactly where the lakeside trail's hardest stretch ends. The lunch that makes the walk.

Q100–250 · $$

Where locals eat

Santa Cruz · Social enterprise

Café Sabor Cruceño

CECAP roof terrace, up the hill · 8am–6pm

Run by graduates of the village's culinary school: pepián, pulique, breakfast típico and the best cheap lunch view on the lake, with Maya cooking classes by arrangement.

Q40–80 · $
San Marcos

Comedor Konojel

Village centre · lunch

A community kitchen with a changing Guatemalan menu and big portions for Q30 to Q40; the profits feed the village's elderly.

Q30–40 · $
Santiago Atitlán

The market comedores

Around the plaza · mornings

Caldo de cangrejo or patín with tortillas for Q20 to Q30, and the women outside selling patín parcels and atol. Posada de Santiago's restaurant on the shore is the sit-down lunch after Maximón.

Q20–120 · $
San Juan

The main-street comedores and co-op cafés

Between the dock and the galleries

Almuerzo típico for Q25 to Q35 at the family comedores, Q10 pour-overs at the coffee cooperatives and the Alma de Colores social café for lunch with a purpose.

Q25–60 · $
San Pedro

Pita Sabij and Idea Connection

The strip and the lanes above it

Falafel and shawarma pitas for Q40 to Q60 at Sabij, Q10 pastries and espresso at the Idea Connection bakery: the Spanish-school lunch.

Q10–60 · $
Panajachel

Calle Santander's carts and the market comedores

Evenings on Santander; Sunday behind the market

Tostadas, shucos, elotes and atol de elote from the carts for pocket change, and the Sunday pepián for Q30 in the comedores behind the main market.

Q5–30 · $
Nightlife

One village that parties, one bar with a costume closet, and early nights elsewhere

Atitlán is a morning place. San Pedro has the only real bar scene, Panajachel has live music until midnight, Santa Cruz has a famous Saturday, and the rest of the lake is dark and quiet by ten, which is why people come.

San Pedro La Laguna

Sublime, El Barrio and the strip

Lakeside strip · happy hours from 5pm, closing at 1am, 2am at weekends

El Barrio's happy hour from five to eight is the pre-game; Bar Sublime's deck over the water has DJs, live music and open mics and is the room on Thursday to Saturday; Alegre Pub does sport and quizzes, the Buddha has a rooftop with bands, and the hostel bars at Hostel Fe and Mr Mullet's do the rest. Gallo at Q15 to Q20, cocktails at Q25 to Q35, a crowd of Spanish students and backpackers, and the law closing most doors at one.

Panajachel

Circus Bar, Pana Rock and Sunset Café

Avenida Los Árboles; Calle Santander · until midnight or 1am

Circus Bar is a cabaret-style room with pizza and live Latin and jazz nightly from half past seven to half past ten; Pana Rock on Santander is the loud one with rock covers until one; the Sunset Café has music most nights and the lake in front of it; Chapiteau is the disco from Wednesday to Saturday. Lively, local and over early on weeknights.

Santa Cruz · Saturday

La Iguana Perdida's costume night

Santa Cruz dock · book dinner by the afternoon

The hostel's Saturday is a family-style barbecue followed by a dress-up party from its costume closet, open to guests of other hotels; the rest of the week it is a quiet bar that winds down at ten. Free Cerveza next door runs beer-pong evenings.

Everywhere else

San Marcos, San Juan, Santiago and the cliffs

Dark by 10pm

Cacao ceremonies, ecstatic dance and fire circles in San Marcos; a beer on a dock in San Juan; nothing at all in Santiago, Jaibalito or Tzununá after dinner, which is the moment to look up, because the sky over the lake is as dark as the villages.

People sitting at a bar counter
San Pedro

The strip

Happy hour starts at five.

A row of cocktails on a wooden bar
Sublime

Deck over the water

Thursday to Saturday, until the police say so.

A volcano glowing at night
The cliffs

Dark skies

Fuego's glow on the horizon, if you are lucky.

Practical notes

Before you go

Getting there

Tourist shuttles from Antigua to Panajachel take two and a half to three and a half hours for US$15 to US$25, leaving around eight, half past twelve and four; direct shuttles to San Pedro and San Marcos take an hour longer by the back road. From Guatemala City's airport it is three to four hours and US$25 to US$45 by shuttle. Travel the lake roads by day; the last twenty minutes down from Sololá is the first full view of the water.

Getting around

Public lanchas run two routes from Panajachel: west along the north shore to Santa Cruz, Jaibalito, Tzununá, San Marcos and San Pedro in 45 to 60 minutes, and direct to Santiago in 30 to 40. Fares are about Q25 for the long hops and Q10 to Q15 for short ones, paid on board; boats leave when full, the last from the villages around five, from Panajachel as late as seven. After dark only private boats, at Q200 to Q500. Tuk-tuks cost Q5 to Q10 in and around each village; agree the fare first.

Seasons

  • Nov–Apr: dry, clear mornings, 12–25°C, cold nights in December and January; the best volcano views December to February, haze from field burning in March and April. Peak at Christmas and Easter.
  • May–Oct: rains most afternoons, heaviest in June and September; green hills, muddy trails, fewer visitors, algae blooms more likely.
  • The Xocomil wind blows most afternoons all year and hardest from November to February; cross before one o'clock.

Money

Quetzales, in cash: Panajachel has four or five ATMs, San Pedro two or three that empty at weekends, Santiago one on the plaza, and San Marcos, Santa Cruz, Jaibalito, Tzununá and San Juan effectively none. Withdraw what you need in Panajachel or San Pedro; only the upscale hotels take cards. Daily limits are Q2,000 to Q4,000 with a Q30 to Q40 fee.

Health and safety

The altitude is mild but the volcano summits are not; drink water and climb slowly. The lake receives untreated sewage and farm run-off, and cyanobacteria blooms follow heavy rain: swim away from the towns and the docks, at Tzankujil, the west-shore hotels or the Reserva's beach, and skip it when the water is green. Tap water is never drinkable. Hike with guides, walk between villages only by day, and treat San Pedro's late streets like any town's. The sun on the water at 1,560 metres burns fast.

Where to stay

Panajachel for arrivals, shuttles and the widest choice; Casa Palopó above Santa Catarina for the lake's top hotel; Santa Cruz for La Iguana Perdida and the eco-lodges; Jaibalito for La Casa del Mundo, booked months ahead; Tzununá for farm stays; San Marcos for yoga retreats and treehouse rooms; San Juan for the quietest comfortable base; San Pedro for the cheapest beds and the bars; Santiago for birders and the big volcanoes.

Photography

Photo credits

Photographs on this page are by independent photographers published on Pexels under the free Pexels licence. Click a title to open the original.

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