Guatemala runs on volcanoes, ruins and market days.
Which Acatenango trek puts a tent where you can watch Fuego. Whether Tikal earns the sunrise ticket. What a day on Lake Atitlán actually costs. Every tour in Guatemala, reviewed.
The days a Guatemala trip gets built around.
Two climbable volcanoes, a Maya city in the jungle, a lake in a caldera, the highland market and the coffee slopes. Six decisions, and the best way to book each one.
Almost every Guatemalan tour leaves from Antigua Guatemala.
The cobbled town under Volcán de Agua is the country’s staging post. Treks, market days, lake crossings and the shuttle to the airport all pick up here, which is why the biggest list on this site carries an Antigua Guatemala pickup and a destination somewhere else entirely.
Pacaya in an afternoon, Acatenango overnight.
All Pacaya hikes →
Pacaya is a half day: a minibus out of Antigua Guatemala, an hour up a cinder cone, warm rock and steam at the top. Acatenango is a different order of trip. You carry a pack past 3,500 metres, sleep in a camp on the ridge, and watch Fuego throw fire across the saddle after dark.
- 1Adventure, 2-Day Hiking to Acatenango Volcanofrom $54
- 2Pacaya Volcano Tour in English/Spanishfrom $23
- 3Pacaya Volcano Trekfrom $23
Pacaya: up the cinder cone and back by dark
Black gravel that slides under every step, a forest of dead trunks, and rock still warm enough to soften a marshmallow. The cheapest big day in the country.
Acatenango: a tent facing Fuego
Six hours up through cloud forest to a camp on the ridge, Fuego erupting across the saddle after dark, and the summit push before sunrise if your legs agree.
Pacaya by quad bike
Same lava field, most of the climbing done for you: a quad up the forestry tracks on the flank, with walking saved for the last stretch to the vents.
The tours most travellers in Guatemala end up booking.
Every review →Volcano days, Tikal out of Flores and the walk around Antigua Guatemala. The bookings that fill first, and what makes each one worth its day.
1
Adventure, 2-Day Hiking to Acatenango Volcano
Review of the budget-friendly 2-day Acatenango hike from Antigua, with volcano views, camp details, costs, difficulty, and practical tips.
From · $54
Read our review →
2
Pacaya Volcano Tour in English/Spanish
from $23
3
Tikal Guided Tour with Transportation
from $20
4
Pacaya Volcano Trek
from $23
5
Antigua Cultural Walking Tour
from $35
6
Antigua, Guatemala: Volcano Acatenango Overnight Hiking
from $90
7
Lake Atitlan Villages Tour on ATV
from $57
8
Hike to Pacaya Volcano from Antigua
from $35
Guatemala is cheap, and the best days prove it.
Every tour on the site, from the cheapest morning out to the once-a-trip splurge. Twenty dollars buys a guided day at Tikal; a hundred and thirty buys a car and a driver who waits.
Pacaya, Tikal out of Flores, the walking tours and the market runs. The everyday best of Guatemala.
- 1Pacaya Volcano Tour in English/Spanishfrom $23
- 2Tikal Guided Tour with Transportationfrom $20
- 3Pacaya Volcano Trekfrom $23
Acatenango overnights, Lake Atitlán village days, cooking classes and the quad routes above the coffee slopes.
Private guiding, all-inclusive archaeology days at Tikal and the light aircraft in from Guatemala City.
The loop most first trips to Guatemala follow.
Pacaya
ChichicastenangoTikal rises straight out of the Petén canopy.
Flores is the launch pad, a lake island of painted houses an hour from the park gate. The good days leave before six, and that is the point: howler monkeys somewhere overhead, mist still sitting in the plazas, and Temple IV above the treetops before the heat lands.
Lake Atitlán is three volcanoes and twelve villages.
The lake fills a collapsed caldera 1,560 metres up, and the only sensible way around it is by boat. Panajachel is the landing. San Juan La Laguna weaves, San Pedro La Laguna stays up late, and Santiago Atitlán is the one that repays a whole morning.
- 1Lake Atitlan Villages Tour on ATVfrom $57
- 22-Day Acatenango Volcano Hiking with Guidefrom $53
- 3Lake Atitlan One Day Tour from Antiguafrom $92
Fuego from a tent, the pools at Semuc Champey, market day in Chichicastenango.
Colonial streets and volcano hikes turn up all over Central America. These three days are Guatemalan and nothing else.
The Night Facing Fuego
Acatenango is the mountain you climb; Fuego is the one you watch. The camps sit on the saddle between them, a few kilometres from a vent that erupts several times an hour on most nights of the year. You hear it before you see it: a sound like distant surf, then an orange arc over the ridge line. Very few places on earth let you watch an active volcano from inside a sleeping bag.
- 1Adventure, 2-Day Hiking to Acatenango Volcano★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 1,189 reviews
- 2Antigua, Guatemala: Volcano Acatenango Overnight Hiking★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 645 reviews
- 32-Day Acatenango Volcano Hiking with Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 366 reviews
The Pools of Semuc Champey
The Cahabón river vanishes under a natural limestone bridge roughly 300 metres long and runs the whole way in the dark. On top of the bridge sits a staircase of turquoise pools shallow enough to wade between. Getting to Lanquín is most of a day on rough road from anywhere, which is why almost every trip here is sold as two or three days rather than one.
- 1Semuc Champey Park and Kanba Cave Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 43 reviews
- 2From Guatemala City Semuc Champey in one day.★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 26 reviews
- 33-Day Tour of Cobán and Semuc Champey from Antigua★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 13 reviews
Market Day in Chichicastenango
Twice a week the K’iche’ town fills with traders from the villages around it: cloth, vegetables, cut flowers, live chickens, a whole lane of carved masks. The steps of Santo Tomás at the top of the market are where copal incense burns and families bring their own prayers. Arrive early, buy from the person who made the thing, and ask before you photograph anyone.
- 1Chichicastenango and Lake Atitlan Tour From Antigua★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 63 reviews
- 2Chichicastenango and Iximché Day Trip from Antigua★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 48 reviews
- 3Chichicastenango and Lake Atitlan★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 30 reviews
Four days you cannot arrange over breakfast in Antigua Guatemala.
Most of Guatemala can be booked the night before from a hotel courtyard. These four run on aircraft seats, park permits, borrowed gear and long road days, and every one of them needs a decision made earlier.
- 01Adventure, 2-Day Hiking to Acatenango VolcanoYou sleep on the mountain, so the operator has to have a tent, a bag and a camp place held for you before you set off.
- 02Tikal SUNRISE, Archeological focus and Wildlife Spotting Tour (North and West)Sunrise entry is a separate park ticket from ordinary admission, and it has to be arranged before the gate opens.
- 03Tikal Day Trip by Air from Guatemala City with LunchIt runs on a scheduled light-aircraft seat out of Guatemala City, so the day is bounded by the plane rather than the tour.
- 04Semuc Champey Park and Kanba Cave Guided TourLanquín is most of a day on rough road from anywhere, so it is sold as a multi-day trip with beds attached at the other end.
Sunset over Lake Atitlán, and over the Petén canopy.
All evening trips →
Yaxha Shared Sunset Tour with Transportation & Guide
Read our review →
Guatemalan rain comes after lunch, and the good answers are indoors.
From May to October the mornings are usually clear and the sky opens somewhere around three. Put the volcano early and keep the afternoon for a kitchen, a chocolate bench, a loom or a roasting room. None of these care what the weather is doing.
By region — pick where you sleep
Antigua Guatemala319 tours
Guatemala City160 tours
Lake Atitlán138 tours
Flores & the Petén107 tours
Quetzaltenango & the Western Highlands8 tours
Puerto Quetzal24 tours- Every region →
By experience — what kind of day is it?
Newest Guatemala tour reviews.
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Quetzal Quest Birdwatching Adventure at Rey Tepepul Lookout
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Lake Atitlan Boat tour from Puerto Quetzal (Group)
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Private Ancestral Mayan Walk between Santa Cruz and Tz’ununa
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