Lake (Lago) Atitlan – quick travel guide

A beautiful lake with many cute towns along the water, each with their different personalities.

Enjoy a relaxing waterfront with plenty of nature (hikes/tours), partying, bars, and restaurants to keep you occupied. This is a top-3 popular destination in Guatemala that’s easy enough to see within 3-4 days but keep you occupied if you want to be here for a month. Oh and it’s cheap!

Many people (usually Europeans) say it’s their most favorite place on earth, with all the wild nature and proximity to the water. I personally preferred the cuter city comforts of Antigua. To each their own.

Towns (where to stay):

• San Juan – if you’re not looking for anything in particular and just want a nice place, I’d definitely start here. It’s prettier and more picturesque (because of the colorful hanging umbrellas and ground murals), lots of people all about smiling and good energy, and restaurants and businesses catering to these people.
• San Pedro – this is “the party town” that’s loud from 11am-11pm daily. And by party, I mean like for 18-20 year old British college kids. Like divey-grungy t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops partying. If you want classy, bars will be more of your thing here. I absolutely loved Mandala’s Hostel (nice loungey chill vibe with perfect beautiful views of the lake); unfortunately a big hotel is being built next to it and may cover 20% of the left side view in about a year from now. The other super popular option is Mr Mullet’s Hostel, which is considered “the frat-tiest hostel” ever…think 18-20 year old British kids making tons of noise, messy/dirty, and fucking in the rooms. Mikaso Hotel was also highly-rated.
• Santa Cruz – many people it for its chill vibe and close proximity to the water. For me, it was boring and with nothing to do. Go here if you want to lounge by the water and do nothing all day. The best hostel is Free Cerveza, huge beautiful waterfront space and lots of friendly people. You can party, socialize, or be a loner in your own corner. La Iguana Perdida is also nice and very chill, but doesn’t have the same big waterfront space like Free Cerveza; feels more like a front yard chill space with somewhat of a water view (depending on which level you’re sitting). Regardless, people often walk over to Free Cerveza. There’s literally nothing else to do (you will spend 95% of your day at your hostel/hotel or walk to another one nextdoor). Also the town can be dangerous as some people got robbed even though it’s a tiny empty town with no tourists walking around (except for the backpackers visiting the convenience store or ATM).
• San Marcos – a hate-it-or-love-it kind of place. Some people hate its fake commercialized hippie pseudo-spiritual yoga zen vibe. Others actually like the hippie vibe, and that it feels more expensive and nice, in a posh/boutique-y sorta way. I felt it was boring. All the waterfront is taken up by fancy hotels. The walkable areas are tight corridors walked mostly by foreigners, you don’t see any locals or happy tourist energy. Regardless, I think you should visit as you might like some of it. The restaurants do look good. And I like that the vibe here is more grown-up than San Pedro’s college-kid vibe. It’s also the best place to jump into the water (I think the cliff-diving is here).
• Panajachel – the biggest town with the most things, much more locals here. Also many more options for restaurants and places to stay. IMO you’ll already see this town by default (since shuttles coming in and out of Lago de Atitlan are from here) so you don’t need to stay here.
• Other towns – I didn’t see any others and can’t recommend.

Each town truly has its own personality and fits differently on different people. What I like may be seen and appreciated (or hated) differently by others. Please take what I say with a grain of salt. I recommend you book only 1-2 days at one and then check out all the towns before booking more days. It’s actually possible to see them all in a day. Take a ferry and then walk around for 1-2 hours and then go to the next. Some towns are so small, you see everything in 30 minutes.

Just FYI, there are nice hotels with waterfronts or terrace pools that can also provide for a great vibe no matter what town. So you might wanna look into that as well.

Activities to do:

• Hikes – Indian Nose Hike (ferry to Santa Clara and take tuktuk to the starting point, then hike 45 mins). Mirador (for nice overhead views of the lake), I forgot the name. Be careful about hiking safety, people do get robbed. I heard someone suggest the moment you hear of someone getting robbed, go the next day.
• Walk around – take the ferry to get from town to town. Use tuktuks to get around town; some towns are close enough to take tuktuks between them as well.
• Scuba dive – not much fish but you can explore the underwater ruins and shipwrecks or whatever else is down there. Prices are really cheap, I saw at the La Iguana Perdida hostel (in Santa Cruz).
• Hangout along the water – every town has parts where you can walk into the bushes and rocks and chill close to the water (with alcohol, weed, music, etc).

Restaurants & Cafes:

• San Pedro – many options in town. Walk by the main streets along the water and choose what sticks out to you.
• San Juan – I didn’t eat here but I saw plenty of options along the busy streets.
• Santa Cruz – you’ll be eating at your hotel/hostel or whatever public restaurants are along the waterfront. I probably wouldn’t be climbing up the hill at night time.
• San Marcos – I didn’t spend much time here but you can choose from the hidden restaurants in the tight corridor, or pick a waterfront hotel restaurant to be along the water.

Bars & Clubs:

• San Pedro – most young British kids go to Sublime. It’s got loud techno and people grinding on each other at dinner time (if that’s your thing). After dinner hours, people party at Mr Mullets hostel…not hard to find, just follow the loud noise.
• Santa Cruz – you’ll just be hanging at your hostel.

Miscellaneous tips:

• Arrival transportation – most people will tell you to take a shuttle or bus that arrives in Panajachel (the main port town) and then take boat ferry from there to your town. The reasoning being that it’s faster this way as car traffic and drive time can be much longer if you tried to shuttle directly to your town. It’s true that some towns are much more inconveniently located by road…but not always the case! There’s also the matter of your shuttle departure time. For example if you’re on a volcano and can’t leave Antigua early enough, then your later shuttle option will go to another town like San Pedro instead of Panajachel.
• Ferry info – ferries run as early as 6:30am (from every town) and stop around 17:00 to 19:30 (depending on the town). Prices are usually 20-25qtg for tourists. And 5-7qtg for locals or if you’re escorted by a local who talks to them on your behalf. Just walk to the water and you’ll hear the guys yelling different town names and directing you to the correct boat. Ferries are usually the best way to get between the towns as driving between them would take super long and/or not be possible.
• Tuktuk – these are the little 3-wheel vehicles. They hold 3 people and can easily climb hills and get around rugged terrain. Great for getting around town or up and down steep hills. Prices are usually 5qtg within the town. Maybe 10qtg if you’re going super far or it’s raining or super early or late. From what I know, only San Pedro and San Juan are close enough to take a tuktuk between them (only 10qtg). Other towns…you gotta look it up on a map or ask around. Ferries usually give consistent pricing. It’s the tuktuk’s that try to over-charge foreigners.
• Safety – people do get robbed by guys with guns/machetes. It happens on hikes, and also occasionally in town if you’re in an isolated place. Tips for retrieving a stolen iPhone: if the tracker is on, you can track it down and tell the police or talk to nearby locals offering a reward and saying that you don’t wanna involve the police…magically someone “who found it” shows up.

Nearby towns:

• Antigua – definitely a must-see. Cute colonial town with many tourist attractions (volcanos), restaurants, bars, boutiques, hikes and viewpoints.
• El Paredon – nice beach town with surfing and other usual beach town things. Lots of partying. I didn’t go since I had a lot of that in Mexico already.
• Quetzaltenango – called “Xela” by its Mayan name. Most people say it’s too big and need at least 3-days to see anything. Maybe not worth the visit, possibly boring because it doesn’t have much atmosphere and tourist things. Also that it’s cold. Its best features are that it feels more local/authetic, nice surrounding towns, many beautiful hikes (more than Antigua/Atitlan), and bigger long-term livable city for foreigners.