• 650 384 0033 M-F 9-5 PST or speak to your travel professional

Explore Guatemala

  • Private Journey
  • 8 days Price available upon request

  • Call 650 384 0033 M-F 9-5 PST or speak to your travel professional

Highlights of the Tour

  • Visit Antigua’s gilded cathedrals, stunning churches, and palaces.
  • Find that perfect souvenir at the largest market in Central America, the Chichicastenango market.
  • Learn about the use of natural dyes in textile weaving process at a womens’ cooperative.
  • Visit the workshop of a local naïf painter.
  • Optional visit to the ARCAS Wildlife Rescue Center and learn about rehabilitation of trafficked animals.
  • Tour Mayan ruins of Tikal with an expert private Guide.
       RESPONSIBLE TOURISM
    Recent reports state that approximately 60 percent of Guatemalans live below the national poverty line. Your tour provides a number of opportunities to meet Mayan people and learn about their culture, heritage, crafts, cuisine, and language. You help the local craftsmen and farmers at the local craft markets such as Chichicastenango with your purchase. The women at the weaving cooperatives are bringing back the use of natural dyes and are supported by your visit.

Antigua | Panajachel | Flores| Tikal

Explore the best of Guatemala. Start at colonial Antigua with its long, cobblestone streets lined with colorful stucco houses. Spend a few nights at Lake Atitlán, surrounded by three towering volcanoes, verdant hills, and small laid-back villages. Take your pick of beautiful handicrafts, colorful textiles, ceramic pottery, and fresh produce at the bustling, and vibrant market of Chichicastenango. Finally, explore the well-preserved remnants of the Mayan past at the mysterious Tikal.

Itinerary at a Glance

  • Day 1
    Arrive in Guatemala City
  • Day 2
    Antigua
  • Day 3
    Comalapa Market and Iximché
  • Day 4
    Lake Atitlán Villages
  • Day 5
    Chichicastenango Market. Fly Flores
  • Day 6
    Peten. Day at leisure
  • Day 7
    Tikal
  • Day 8
    Fly back home or extend your journey
CDC Information
Day 1

Arrive in Guatemala City

Arrive into Guatemala City. You are met upon arrival at the airport and transferred to your hotel in Antigua.
Hotel Casa Santo Domingo (4 Star)
Day 2

Antigua

Explore stunning and significant landmarks of the colonial era of Antigua. Visit churches, monasteries, and palaces that narrate the story of a glorious past. Spend the latter half of the day at leisure. Learn how Mayans turned cacao beans into delicious cacao tea to Maya hot chocolate at a chocolate-making workshop or visit a vocational school for kids to learn about Guatemala’s educational system.
Hotel Casa Santo Domingo (4 Star)
Meals: Breakfast
Day 3

Comalapa Market and Iximché

An hour’s drive to San Juan Comalapa takes you through the beautiful scenery of farmers farming with traditional methods. Upon arrival, explore the lively Comalapa market that provides an insight into the real lives of the local highlanders. You’ll see local painters who display their artwork of primitive folk paintings in household galleries and women selling complex Guatemalan and Mayan textiles. Comalapa is also known for its many Panaderias, or bakeries, that bake biscuits used in local celebrations all over Guatemala. Enjoy biscuits and bread before you leave. Continue onto the Maya site of Iximché, the capital of Kaqchikel Maya, for more than half-century before it was abandoned in 1524. Head to the beautiful Lake Atitlán and your hotel along the shores near Panajachel.
Hotel Atitlan (3 Star)
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 4

Lake Atitlán Villages

Travel on a shared ferry or 'lancha' across the lake to Santiago de Atitlán, a colorful and lively lakeside village. Visit a women's textile cooperative that uses a natural dye process to hand weave their famous petates, or mats made from lake reeds, followed by a visit to the home studios of the celebrated Naïf painters. Continue to the village of Santiago, and get a glimpse of the lifestyle of the T'zutujil Maya. Older residents wear traditional clothing, including the white and purple-striped shorts worn by men and the striped skirts embroidered with colorful birds and flowers worn by women. Enjoy the art galleries on the sides of the main street and meet Maximon – a celebrated Mayan deity with a face carved from wood. Maximon lives with a member of the local religious brotherhood and moves every year. You may see a Shaman perform rituals at Maximon's residence. Return to Panajachel this afternoon and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.
Hotel Atitlan (3 Star)
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 5

Chichicastenango Market. Fly Flores

Early this morning, visit the country’s largest indigenous market, Chichicastenango. Wander at leisure among hundreds of market vendors hawking everything from high-quality pottery, woven mats, and baskets, wood-carved masks, textiles, and more. Feel free to use your bargaining skills! Return to Guatemala City in the early afternoon in time for the evening flight north to Peten, the home of ancient Maya. Overnight in Flores.
Hotel Camino Real Tikal (4 Star)
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 6

Peten. Day at leisure

Spend the day exploring the picturesque island town of Flores at leisure. There are plenty of things to do. Ixpanpajul Natural Park is 15 mins away from Flores, where you can hike or zip-line through the dense jungle, walk along the skyway, or go horse riding. The ruins of Yaxhá are less-visited but are more picturesque and offer stunning views of the sun setting on Lake Yaxhá from Temple 216 or learn how trafficked animals are rescued and rehabilitated at ARCAS Wildlife Rescue Center.
Hotel Camino Real Tikal (4 Star)
Meals: Breakfast
Day 7

Tikal

Take a privately guided tour of the Tikal National Park, the incredible site that displays the power of the Mayan civilization in its heyday - occupied from approx. 900 B.C. to 900 A.D. with around 100,000 inhabitants, today, it comprises more than 3,000 well-preserved temples, palaces, ceremonial platforms, and shrines surrounded by jungle. An impressive experience, not only for its historical significance but also for viewing wildlife, such as the spider monkeys, howler monkeys, white-lipped peccary, coatimundis, toucans. Macaws, parrots, and more. Spend the afternoon exploring the ruins at your own pace. Return to Flores and fly back to Guatemala City on an evening flight.
Hyatt Centric Guatemala City (4 Star)
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 8

Fly back home or extend your journey

Meals: Breakfast

Pricing Details

Price available on request. Please email info@rjourneys.com or call 1-650-384-0033.

 

 

Accommodation:

 
For your holidays, we choose environmentally sustainable accommodations that implement green initiatives by actively reducing energy and water usage and help the guests keep their impact to a minimum, like not changing towels and linens daily unless requested. Some of these hotels operate with renewable energy, bring farm-to-table food from onsite organic gardens, and even build with recycled building materials.

This tour can be customized to fit into your pace and budget. Please contact us for a customized itinerary.

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