Day 1 Arrive Antigua
Arrival ,meet and transfer to a hotel.
Antigua- Founded in the sixteenth century, Antigua is a cosmopolitan destination with a rich colonial past. Its cobblestone streets are lined with pretty, pastel-hued homes, luxe boutique hotels, and an exceptional selection of smart restaurants and shops. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, this city of 35,000 people sits in valley between coffee farms, indigenous villages, and three imposing volcanoes.
At the heart of town is the parque central, a European-style plaza busy with shoe-shiners, ice cream vendors, families, and tourists. During its architectural peak, Antigua was home to dozens of colonial monuments, churches, and monasteries, but an earthquake in 1773 damaged or reduced most to rubble. In the centuries thereafter, efforts were made to rebuild and restore, and the city today is filled with melancholy but gorgeous relics and ruins.
Overnight in Antigua.
Day 2 Antigua
Antigua Walking tour & Street food tour.
Antigua Walking Tour -You will be met at your hotel reception by your private guide to begin your half day walking tour of Antigua. Your tour will cover the cultural, historical & social highlights of this colonial city with a behind-the-scenes look at some of the many ruined churches, convents, and cathedrals. Entrances are included to the Iglesia San Francisco, the Cathedral and La Merced Church.
This tour is flexible and if you have specific sites that you wish to see please notify your guide. If you wish to visit other monuments you will need to pay the entrances directly. At the end of the tour your guide can accompany you back to your hotel or take you to a place of your choosing.
Activity Includes: Entrances to the Antigua Cathedral, the Merced Monastery & the San Francisco Monastery, Private Guide, Use of Tuc Tucs
Street Food Tour – Today, your guide will take you on a tour of Antigua’s street food hot spots, where you’ll get to taste some of Guatemala’s most authentic cuisine.
These are the places where long lines of locals are a fixture and for good reason: The food served is delicious and well-prepared. Items you might try include chuchitos (the Guatemalan take on a tamale), pupusas (cheese-filled corn tortillas), rellenitas (plantain dough that’s filled with beans and then fried), and even pigs’ feet. You’ll learn the cultural and historic significance of the eats on offer and will also visit Antigua’s bustling market to explore the colorful array of ingredients used in Guatemalan cuisine. (Please note that this tour is for more adventurous eaters.)
Activity Includes: Private Guide & Street food, Use of Tuc Tucs
DLG Fairly Traded Coffee Tour
You will be met by your bilingual host driver for a short transfer to the small town of San Miguel Escobar, just outside of Antigua. In town we will be met by a local guide from As Green as it Gets (AGAIG). AGAIG is a charity working to support small independent coffee producers and promotes environmentally responsible agriculture in Guatemala.
This tour takes you to visit some of the families supported by this organization where you can work side-by-side with small coffee farmers in their daily coffee processing, pick, pulp, ferment, wash, dry, trilla, sort, and grade the coffee (depending on the season), roast coffee over an open fire and grind by hand on a grindstone before sampling their handiwork. After the coffee tour guests have a simple, traditional meal in a local home before transferring back to Antigua. Coffee Season is Nov to Mar. This tour includes a donation to AGAIG which the Viaventure Foundation also supports on an annual basis.
Overnight in Antigua.
Day 3 Antigua
Visit to Chichi Market & Trf to Antigua.
Chichi Market & Trf to Antigua – Chichichi castenango Market & Transfer to Lake Atitlan (Private/Half Day/Minibus) Guests are met at their hotel by their private driver & guide for the 2.5hr transfer out to the highland town of Chichicastenango. Along the way guests will pass through the central highland region and see the local Maya people in their traditional dress going about their daily lives – working in the fields, collecting firewood, traveling between markets, selling their wares.
Upon arrival at Chichicastenango your guide will take you to explore this famous market both the local areas of the fruit & vegetables & everyday items as well as the craft area where you can find endless variety of beautiful textile, wooden & ceramic crafts.
Guests can also visit the famous St Tomas Church where local Maya people come to perform Maya rituals within the Catholic church – demonstrating the interesting way the two faiths have combined in recent times. If they want to guests can also hike up the hill to the Pascaul Abaj ritual site to see if any local shaman are performing rituals and/or to the cemetery on the outskirts of town. Guests will have time to enjoy lunch at a local restaurant and when they are ready they will be transferred to Lake Atitlan.
Lake Atitlan- Surrounded by rugged hills, a trio of towering volcanoes, and a handful of small villages, it’s easy to wax poetic about Lake Atitlán. Located in the Guatemalan highlands, the lake was formed more than 80,000 years ago during a violent volcanic eruption. Tz’utujil and Kaqchiquel Mayas have plied its shores for centuries and continue to do so today, wearing vibrant traditional clothing and practicing age-old Maya customs, particularly in towns like Santiago Atitlán and Santa Catarina Palopó.
Panajachel is the lake’s main hub. From here, boats depart regularly for destinations like San Juan La Laguna, which is known for its hand-woven, naturally dyed textiles, and San Pedro, where intrepid visitors can summit a 3,020-meter (9,908-foot) volcano. The area also offers great opportunities to kayak, bike, and zip-line.
Overnight: Antigua.
Day 4 Antigua
Atitlan Villages (Guatemala) – San Juan & Santiago Full Day Lake Tour
Guests are picked up from their hotel & transfer to San Juan La Laguna Village where they visit a local textile cooperative to see the back strap loom in use and to see how they still dye with natural dyes. Guests also visit the home and workshop of local naïf painters before boarding the boat onto Santiago Village for lunch.
After lunch guests will walk with their guide to find the house where the Maya God Maximon is living. Each year a different “brotherhood” has the privilege of taking care of their God so his location changes. Once with Maximon you may see local shaman performing rituals for local people. After visiting Maximon guests can visit the local church and learn about the history of this very traditional town and also see the market and learn about the distinctive textiles and primitive art that is famous from this area. Overnight in Antigua.
Day 5 Depart Antigua
Departure transfer to onward destination.
**************TOUR ENDS************
| City | Nights | Hotels |
| Antigua | 04 | Posada del Angel |
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Accommodation as per the program
- Meal Plan – Half Board basis (i.e. breakfast & dinner).
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Entrance fees.
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Domestic flights as mentioned
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Local English speaking guide.
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All transfers, sightseeing, excursions.
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All taxes.
- Personal Expenses.
- Camera / Video Camera Fees.
- Medical Aid.
- Tips.
- Travel Insurance.
- Visa (If any).
– Accommodation in good hotels.
– Check-in / out time is 12 noon at most of the hotels.
– Extension to other places is also possible with a minimal extra cost.
– Additional nights are available at each place with minimal supplement.
– A visa is required and must be obtained prior to your departure from your Country.
– If quoted hotel is not available, we will provide one of a similar category and standard.
– Small deviations in the tour program are sometimes necessary, depending on weather, road conditions, flight schedules and room availability.
– In case the government changes presently applicable taxes, increase in airlines prices, fuel surcharge our rates will need to be adjusted accordingly.
– In Asia, there is no relevance between the distance and time of travelling, as it depends upon the condition of the roads and congestion of the traffic.
– While every effort will be made to maintain the itinerary, in view of local strikes etc that are beyond our control all schedule and itineraries are subject to last moment changes.
– Clients must be fully insured, as the company cannot accept liability for loss or damage to client’s property, medical emergencies or any other loss suffered by them whilst on tour.
– In Case of issuing Domestic or International air tickets, SGV is not responsible for any refund if the flight is delayed or cancelled, as it is the responsibility of airline.