Jalapa, nature, forest and waterfalls

Jalapa is about 2 hours driving from Guatemala City. It's climate is one of the few exceptions on a hot region. Here the sky is pretty often clear and blue but the sunlight is kind to the visitors.

Jalapa has an immense potential for trekking.

There are lots of valleys with hidden waterfalls and beautiful trails waiting for you.

The most famous touristic places are "Los Chorros", a fresh river on the way to Jutiapa via San Pedro Pinula. It has swimming pools and a waterfall.

If you are into mountain sports, come and climb the Jumay Volcano. Is located at just minutes from the center of Jalapa.

It takes your breath away

Perhaps the most admired and beautiful place is Urlanta. We found out about this place thanks to the folks of XplorandoGuatemala.com. We wanted to visit a place fresh where nature was at its best: a real natural sanctuary. And we found it.

We didn't understand why they didn't give us the directions to get there at once, now we know, the place is amazingly beautiful and most of the people who have come here want to keep it like this, so it justifies to share the pictures with the world but avoid publishing so much information on the web. We are now pretty sure that a large amount of visitors is not good for places like this.

Places to visit when you come to Jalapa:

• Pino Dulce ecological park
• Tatasirire ecological park
• Los Chorros
• Jumay Volcano
• Urlanta

The center of Jalapa

Is very active and urbanized and has different restaurants, banks, stores of many kind and a few hotels. At the central park you'll find the market being as colorful as any other market in Guatemala with its variety of fruits and vegetables.

How to get to Jalapa

From Guatemala City take the CA9 road named "Carretera al Atlantico". You'll reach the entrance to Sanarate, here you'll see a sign marking the entrance to Jalapa. Take this turn to your right and stay on the road. Another entrance is right ahead but avoid passing by Sanarate Center as you might get lost. Take the first entrance, kinda lonely but its better with little traffic.

After a while you'll see Sansare and then the rocky landscape of Jalapa. There is a fork at the entrance, to the right the road to Miramundo visiting Tatasirire ecological park. Take the turn to the left if you want to get to the center of Jalapa, its about 5 minutes from there.

Driving from Guatemala City takes about two and a half hours to get there.