Lake Atitlan

Fresh weather, clean air and warm waters wait for you at Lake Atitlan. Its located in Solola and surrounded by tree volcanoes: Atitlan, Toliman and San Pedro.

The view is amazing from any point of the lake. There are plenty of places to stay and with different environments for you to enjoy.

What can you expect at Lake Atitlan?

Surprises... early in the morning when is still kinda cold you can get to the lake and find the water not as cold as you would expected it. The water holds a warm temperature making it possible to take a nice swim.

Yes, kinda hard to believe but take the time to get up early, walk to the lake, enjoy the landscape and try the water.

Another surprise is the different accommodations and places you can find: Lake Atitlan is surrounded by different villages. Each one has its own -personality- so you can find from city-like places to small and quiet ones. Internet is everywhere, so don't worry.

Sunrise and Sunset... Both are just awesome.

Make your choice and enjoy while you have breakfast, dinner or while you get up form your room with view to the lake.

Santander

Is the main street filled with restaurants and hotels.  At every side you'll find local and colorful handicrafts worth seeing. From rings, flutes, table decorations to big and small -hamacas-. Enjoy the variety of clothes with local and colorful style you can find there.

Ok, let's talk about the places you can stay at

There are plenty of them but some are the most famous with hotels, restaurants and other accommodations:

Panajachel

It is the most famous place. It is a city with all the services you might need, from cheap to expensive luxurious hotels, restaurants, ATMS, banks and tourist agencies with tours around the lake, nearby places and even tours to Xela, Chichicastenango and different volcanoes around.

Places to stay the night

Finding a hotel at Panajachel, trust me, is about walking one block from wherever you are. Some have swimming pools and restaurants. From my experience let me tell you about some of them:

K'amol B'ey is near the lake. Very clean and quiet. Find it walking from the lake shore, you will see the signs between the restaurants or just ask for it. Excellent to stay and nice price.

Cacique Inn is neat!. It has a restaurant, nice rooms, some with chimney and yes, swimming pool. It is near the entrance to Panajachel, and at just one block and a half from the main street (Santander).

There are others but my third recommendation will be El Aguacatal. There you find Bungalows to stay.

About restaurants... wow, is up to you. You'll find from luxurious restaurants to cheap and small ones. My advice: try the little ones!. La Terraza is at the entrance of Santander, also Posada de Don Rodrigo at the end. The cheapest (and my favorites) are at the lake shore.

At night don't forget Circus Bar. There you can enjoy some latin and jazz music, live!. Mostly on Fridays and Saturdays.

Yes, Pana is mostly a party place. Enjoy a variety of discotheques and bars.

San Pedro Atitlan

At the other side of the lake you can find this quiet and beautiful village. I doesn't have all the accommodations Pana has, and this is the reason most of people choose San Pedro. Is very quiet and with Spanish schools. Is almost the first choice for foreign tourist. There you can enjoy markets, small restaurants, hotels and the lake itself. There are tours to San Pedro volcano, beware, is not for the inexperienced.

Santa Cruz la Laguna

Even more quiet than San Pedro. Peaceful and it has become the home of several tourist who decided to stay. Some groups organize small parties at night or gatherings. Nice and fun (and healthy!). Being a more familiar environment, some old citizens use to get together at a different home sometime to make dinner. It is peaceful and some of this groups have arranged their homes to receive visitors who want to enjoy this peaceful environment.

Getting to Lake Atitlan

Taking the Panamericana road and make your choice. You can get to Pana from the first entrance to Solola and from there take a boat to Santa Cruz, San Pedro or any of the other villages.

The road (CA1) continues to Xela (Quetzaltenango), and you can take the turn to Santa Clara la Laguna to get to San Pedro too driving.

You can get to any of the places by bus from Guatemala City or Quetzaltenango. Be it on a bus or car, it takes almost 3 hours to get to the lake (or less).

From Lake Atitlan you can continue your trip to Chichicastenango, Quetzantenango, Huehuetenango, Totonicapan or Quiche.