Visiting Guatemala for the first time. ANy suggestions?

Question

Two women in their mid-20's. Want to go late December. How long recommend to go? 10 days? 14 days? Is it safe? Is Guatemala City safe? Should we do a tour or are we ok on own? We know little Spanish. PLaces not to be missed? How much plan to spend (plane tix included)??? ANy advice would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

since this is your first time going you should spend at least 2 weeks minimum because there is alot to see!! tikal, pana, & so much more. Yes its dangerous but like any other city you have to be careful where u go and who ure with!! its not like once u set foot on the street there are going to kill you!!. just make sure u put ure money in a safe spot where noone can spot it!!  Guatemala is a beautiful place!! if your plannin on getting tickets, you should make reservations soon, if you want to go during december they're are going to be expensive but after christmas they start to lower. so its really up to you. but december is one of the best times to go! i was just there in april and the weather was wounderful, im actually going there in januray for college!! i live in zona 1. if you have any questions feel free to email me!

Answer 2

You´re young and men here are always flirting, so don´t be very impressed they would try to get you involved with them.  If you come in December, this is a very nice season:  not too cold, not too windy.  Ten days is great,  January is very cold.  

It´s not safe.  It would be better if you join to a group in a tour, you can get in touch with a travel agency. Don´t go by your own; buses are dangerous and some turistic places are infested with thieves (INGUAT or the institute for turism has provided the most important turistic places with its own police).  When you travel with groups you are more secure.  

Don´t miss Antigua Guatemala, it is wonderful!!!!!!!!!! A beautiful place during the day, and the best of fun during the night. Of course, Tikal and Zaculeu if you want to visit Mayan ruins. Livingston, Semuc Champey... they are natural paradises. Xetulul and Xocomil if you like pools and mechanic games.   There are a lot of unknown but beautiful places, ask your turistic guide.  Don´t trust a lot if someone gets near to you, now there are people who gives you a leaflet and it has been treated with drugs to get you asleep and assault you.  Don´t show yourselves as ignorant tourists, but give the image of women sure of yourselves, who know where to go, because there are people who wants to get advantage from foreigns.

Good luck! If you are willing to, you can get the best of your time here in Guatemala.

Answer 3

Base youself in Antigua and then plan a bunch of little trips.  Panajachel, Chichicastenango, Tikal, Rio Dulce, Guatemala City.  Tickets will depend on where you are coming from, but if it is before Christmas, it will be higher then on or after Christmas.  The side trips will not be that much.

You should be safe if you use comon sense.  Don't flash money or jewlery.  Keep your purse on you so no one can take it.  Basic comon sense you would use anywhere will save you a lot of heartache.

The city does have crime, but not as bad as most people lead you to believe.  Just be smart about it.

Answer 4

1)TAKE A GUN!

2)i was going for 2 weeks and i only lasted 1 exact week.! ugh!!

3) h**l no it aint safe ther rob any little thing they can sale even if its fake!! so dont take anything of value to you!

4)i suggest you do take a tour so you guys wont be alone when i went with my cusin my dad was over there and he went everywhere with us and always carried a gun =D. so dont be alone if you can!

Dont get me wrong guatemala is such a beautiful country! places not to miss is antigua is very nice try also seeing the ruins, they are so nice. umm man there are allot of places that are nice take the tour or when you get their at the airport, they will inform you of all the nice places you can visit. well over all that i spend for my ticket and stuff like food and goodies to buy was about a grand and yeah i went for a week lol. but my ticket was $600  and i went in march! since your planing on going in december i suggest you get the tickets NOW or you will pay allot more than that! (christmas you know) ooh and by the way since your going around that time it is going to be allot nicer!! its very fun over there for christmas!! believe it or not its pretty pricey we thought we were going to have more money to spend since the dollar over their is worth 7Q but we thought wrong it goes by fast! so plan it wisely!! last thing take plenty of bug off cus for that reason is why i came back early!! they will eat you up like theirs no tommorow!! hope i helped and sorry for the essay! ;)  

p.s their are allot of americans over their so i doubt you will have a problem with the whole language thing!

Answer 5

guatemala is BASICALLY safe.  you will be modest and not travel as a woman alone.  many woman have done so alone....but since there are two of you, you are safer.

you will meet others and maybe travel one or two days (or more) with them even.  especially if you go way OFF the beaten path....see below....

you could base yourself in antigua...but better yet, i prefer near lake atitlan

the lake is closer to "chichicastenango" which is a twice-a-week....NOT-TO-BE-MISSED market.

Lots of people go to xela....AKA"quetzeltenango" in spanish.  mostly people who want to learn spanish or who are going to some very interesting outlying areas go there.  otherwise, it was not that big of a deal to me.

in the north there are places way out of the way.  you should make the attempt to see one or two of these places!!!

by bus, see the area near chajul/nebaj.  check to see how the road is, and what is currently going on there.  it was AMAZING!

tikal....not an easy bus ride.  if you have some cash....SERIOUSLY consider the plane ride and stay more than 2 days.  tikal is huge and you could spend DAYS there.  there are other pyramids "nearish".  i came in from the mexico/belize side so it was an easy bus ride.  by bus, it is more than 10 hours from guatemala city or antigua i think.

near huehuecastenango is the town of TODOS SANTOS.  again, ALWAYS check which day is market day and come the day before (and early the day before) or you won't get a place to stay.

this town is fabulous.  

antigua is touristy but lots of people there for a reason.  i would base myself at the lake if i had to....but better yet, from the lake, just head up to solola' (a market, but stay at the lake to visit) chichicastenango (AKA chichi) and from there nebaj and chajul or even usutlan.  you can just keep going northward from the lake on up day by day.  i think i stayed in nebaj.  hopefully another couple can go with you there.  i don't think it is unsafe, but it is WAY out there and conditions change.  the government may warn you or some touristy-ritsy tourist office may warn you becasue they HAVE to.  it all depends on your confort level tho.   way back during the conflict, this place was unsafe.  I LOVED it there and when i went there (1998) it was safe.  the usutlan area is where rigoberta menchu (nobel peace prize winner) lived.  

10 days is just NOT enough.  especially if you want to see tikal.  if you have only 10 days, consider skipping it.  a two day trip there is not enough, even by plane and quite frankly, it take so long to get to many places.....you will constantly be traveling on a bus to see everything if you do too much and only have 10 days.

14 days minimum IMHO.  

todos santos is great, but out of the way too.  nebaj/chajul is worth it....but again, it takes a while to get there, and to really enjoy it, you need more than just 2 days there.  unless you have lots of time, or REALLY want to avoid the tourist spots (breeze through antigua in that case)  maybe you could just pick one or two the out-of-the-way places.  if you want to see all of it, you will need more than 14 days.  carefully map out the route from the lake to nebaj then (for example) todos santos near huehuetenango AKA "huehue".  avoid doubling back because there ARE roads that go where you want.  these roads often do not have a good bus route that connects easily and are OFTEN not paved.

i found a ride on the back of a pick up.  and just pounded on the side of the truck when i wanted to get off.....then of course paid him like he was a bus.  this is common practice down there.  (from nebaj on highway 7w i did this to "huehue" due to limited busses.)

have fun.  and be a smart modest traveler and just make sure when it feels wrong, it just might be.

you can see "chichi" the lake (and a few towns around the lake) and antigua in 10 days tho.  you can do this without too much roughing it. too.

guatemala city is best avoided or maybe if you need to stay there the night before your plane leaves you could spend an afternoon there.  not the safest place at night and it is probably poluted and the like.  i am sure there is a "zona rosa" that you can stay at for one night tho.

Answer 6

SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE: I went with my husband ( fiance then ) last year to Guatemala. He is from there, but this was my first time going. First impression...BEAUTIFUL! But, it can be dangerous for two young women to go by themselves. I'm 24, when I was down there, I did not go ANYWHERE by myself without my husband or his family (brothers, uncles). It's just safer for a woman down there if she's traveling with men she knows, things are so different down there, you kind of have to watch your back a lot of the time, especially being a woman. I got a lot of looks from men down there, cause I'm a white girl with a Guatemalan man! (To americans it's no big deal, but down there it's very strange.) We went for almost 4 weeks. We stayed a long time since most of his family lives down there. During the time we were there, maybe about 3 or 4 times different men down there got "a little too close" to me, trying to talk to me, cause they knew I'm an American so "of course" I must have money. That can be scary. But as long as they see you're traveling with a man, or in a group of people, they most likely won't bother you, but EVERYONE stare's at you a lot. But other than that, it was fun, although I did get an intestinal bacteria for a week while there.  :(   ...But other than that, it was great! However, Guatemala City is actually supposed to be one of the most dangerous spots in Guatemala. I wouldn't hang around in that city too much...lots of criminals stay in that area looking to rob Americans who are arriving from the airport. People drive SO crazy down there too (everywhere), we always rode with family since we're not used to Guatemala's driving "habits." They have no respect for red lights nor stop signs. Whatever you think you know about signs...down there means nothing! And if you're walking on the street and see a car headed towards you in any direction, jump out of the way as fast you can because you're the one in the way...yea, go figure. Luckily we didn't have to hitch a ride with any taxi's either because our family lives there. You can't trust the taxi drivers down there, some will rob you if they can. I would say if you've never been there before, its' better to do a tour and keep yourselves safer than trying to go off on your own. Our flight tickets were almost $500 each cause we bought them 4 months before we left...we spent maybe $1500 more while down there. American dollars are multiplied x 7.5 over there. EX: $100 usa = $750 quetzales over there. Don't be scared, just be cautious. Have fun!  :)