After reading multiple stories about how safe, or to put it correctly - unsafe Guatemala city is, especially at night, we opted to have a shuttle waiting for us at airport to go straight to Antigua.
There are not many things to do in Antigua, people choose to come here to either go further to Lake Atitlan or to do Acatenango trek, we came here for the trek that I already have a blog post about. But if you have free time here and do not know how to fill it - the sunset trek to Cerro de la Cruz is a nice way to see all the city. The trek is easy and can be done wearing flip-flops.
Another way to spend the day is to go to the Hobbitenango - a place where you see the houses from the Lord of the rings, swing above mountains and, perhaps, most importantly, climb on a giant hand that holds you above the valley and take instagram worthy pictures. But the latter will only happen if you are lucky enough to not have cloudy weather. Through their office you can get shuttles both ways and entrance ticket for 75GTQ (9€).
Antigua is just a beautiful city to walk around in - you will find some museums, beautiful architecture and mountains everywhere.
And it is a great city to just eat a lot of good food.
Here are some places that we tried:
Union cafe - amazing place for breakfast, great selection of coffees and smoothies with food for every taste. I had Panza Verde (focaccia toast with avocado, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, feta, onions, sprouts) and it was amazing. Smoothies and iced coffee were also very good. Altogether paid 97GTQ or 11 Eur.
Once Once - great place for vegans, all the food I saw looked absolutely delicious, but I had detox smoothie and fresh spring rolls, both were very good. Also got a complementary coriander soup. I still think that coriander is the enemy of human kind and wonder why the person who discovered it - kept on using it. Price for smoothie and spring rolls- 85GTQ (10€).
Da Vinci - went there to have a romantic dinner. In general the place is expensive, but you can have warm bruschettas (6pieces) with melted mozzarella, tomatoes and pesto for 35GTQ (4€) and is definitely enough to fill your stomach and still be in this amazing place. I was really craving seafood so I went for seafood pasta and I wish I had just stuck with bruschettas - for 130GTQ (15€) they used crab sticks as the main seafood - very disappointing. House wine was also 35GTQ and any box wine in Guatemala tastes better than that. But I would 100% go back for those bruschettas.
Mi Vietnamese Kitchen - was in a huge craving for Vietnamese cuisine, so went there to get some Pho. Price - 60GTQ (7€). It was good enough, I enjoyed it, but it can not compete with Pho in Vietnam.
Antojito salvadoreño - amazing papusas. One was filled with jalapeno cheese and the other with cheese, mushrooms and garlic. Amazing prices - 10 to 12GTQ (1.4€) per papusa.
Madre Tierra - for 199GTQ (24€) I had a shared plate with 3 big pieces of steak, potatoes, salad and bread. Food was very good and worth the price.
Frida’ s - place is more expensive than the other options, but well worth it - shared a big plate of meat for 269GTQ (32€) everything was cooked perfectly and tasted amazing.
If street food is what you are looking for - best options can be found next to Iglesia de la Merced.
Places to stay:
Tropicana hostel - stayed here to do the Acatenango trek. Hostel has many people in it, cramped up into small rooms- dormitories hold 14 to 15 people in double or triple beds. It has a good kitchen and many cheap food options, but not enough bathrooms for all the guests. If you like partying and are not bothered by people entering room 20x a night- might be a place for you, but, as I am a person that values sleep, would not recommend it.
Somos - very nice hostel with 8 or 4 bed dormitories. Good lockers, comfortable beds. Easy to book transfers, treks and activities though the hostel. It does not have a restaurant, but does have a bar, jacuzzi and rooftop terrace. Would definitely recommend it.
Tzunun - could not find the place on hostelworld, only on booking.com. Has only 4 bed dorms for a price of 85GTQ (10€) per night. Very comfortable beds, with shelfs in the room (this is rare). Has a restaurant, but the menu is not too big- mostly crepes which are very good. Place has a beautiful rooftop terrace and is very good value for money.
Other great places to stay are Maya Papaya and Selina Antigua.
If You want a massage while in Antigua - head to Create therapy spa Antigua - between 10-12 in the morning, all the massages are 50% off, deep tissue massage only being 150GTQ (18€) for an hour. Well worth it.
After Antigua we went to lake Atitlan, as a hostel we chose La Iguana Perdida which is one of the best hostels I have ever been to. It has amazing dinners every day, open mics on Wednesdays and BBQ on sundays. It has from cheap dorms to luxurious private rooms and owners are absolutely lovely. It is also a great place to go around the lake and see all of the small villages. Lake itself is beautiful with volcanoes in the background and if you like diving - you will definitely enjoy this place.
On last night in the hostel I started to feel sick, so we went back to Panajachel and found out I have Covid, so I needed to quarantine there for 15 days, including all Christmas holidays. We booked room in Hotel El Sol for 200Euros for all two weeks, close by were the best restaurant I have eaten in 4 months in Central America - El Rincon del Cheff - from outside it looks like nothing, but the food they make is absolutely delicious and, as I was in quarantine, Vidar got the food and carried it on a tray to hotel almost every day. Although there is not much to do in Panajachel - after two weeks there I felt like it is a really lovely town, it has a very nice market street and there are also some nice beach clubs.
After two weeks in quarantine I was very ready to leave the country and go to El Salvador. Guatemala is amazing and is one of my favorites of all Central America.
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