Guatemala · 2 PLACES TO EXPLORE

A little more
of Guatemala.

Find places to visit in Guatemala. See what catches your eye, then save a few favorites for your trip.

Guatemala · GT

Santa Cruz la Laguna

Santa Cruz La Laguna clings to Lake Atitlán's northern shore in Guatemala's Sololá highlands, a municipality of the villages of Santa Cruz and Tzununá plus several smaller hamlets. There is no practical road in, so you arrive the way everyone here does—by boat from Panajachel, sliding across calm morning water until a narrow strip of shoreline resolves into houses stacked above the docks and green slopes climbing steeply behind them. What makes the place memorable is its double nature. Down at the water sits a relaxed lakefront strip of hostels, cafés, kayak rentals and a dive center aimed at travelers; straight up a steep path, a hundred metres or more above the lake, lives a traditional Kaqchikel Maya town with a 16th-century church, a plaza and everyday rhythm largely untouched by tourism. In between and all around are arguably the finest volcano panoramas on the lake.

National park

Guatemala · GT

El Paredón Guatemala

El Paredón is where Guatemala's Pacific coast stops behaving. Just over two hours' drive from the capital, past sugarcane fields and the colonial town of Antigua, a long curve of black volcanic sand meets a labyrinth of mangrove canals. The village has grown from a sleepy fishing community into the country's best-known surf break, yet it still feels like the end of the road—and it sits on the edge of Sipacate-Naranjo National Park, a protected ribbon of mangrove, lagoon and turtle beach that gives the whole coast its wild character. What makes El Paredón worth a detour is the double act of nature and surf. The dark, ash-fed beach rolls out in both directions for miles and faces the open Pacific, so you can watch the sunrise and the sunset from the same strip of sand. Behind the dunes, the protected wetlands of the park shelter more than 90 bird species and a year-round community of sea turtles, with a local tortugario (hatchery) working to release hatchlings back to the sea each season.

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Guatemala · 2 PLACES TO EXPLORE

A little more
of Guatemala.

Find places to visit in Guatemala. See what catches your eye, then save a few favorites for your trip.

Guatemala · GT

Santa Cruz la Laguna

Santa Cruz La Laguna clings to Lake Atitlán's northern shore in Guatemala's Sololá highlands, a municipality of the villages of Santa Cruz and Tzununá plus several smaller hamlets. There is no practical road in, so you arrive the way everyone here does—by boat from Panajachel, sliding across calm morning water until a narrow strip of shoreline resolves into houses stacked above the docks and green slopes climbing steeply behind them. What makes the place memorable is its double nature. Down at the water sits a relaxed lakefront strip of hostels, cafés, kayak rentals and a dive center aimed at travelers; straight up a steep path, a hundred metres or more above the lake, lives a traditional Kaqchikel Maya town with a 16th-century church, a plaza and everyday rhythm largely untouched by tourism. In between and all around are arguably the finest volcano panoramas on the lake.

National park

Guatemala · GT

El Paredón Guatemala

El Paredón is where Guatemala's Pacific coast stops behaving. Just over two hours' drive from the capital, past sugarcane fields and the colonial town of Antigua, a long curve of black volcanic sand meets a labyrinth of mangrove canals. The village has grown from a sleepy fishing community into the country's best-known surf break, yet it still feels like the end of the road—and it sits on the edge of Sipacate-Naranjo National Park, a protected ribbon of mangrove, lagoon and turtle beach that gives the whole coast its wild character. What makes El Paredón worth a detour is the double act of nature and surf. The dark, ash-fed beach rolls out in both directions for miles and faces the open Pacific, so you can watch the sunrise and the sunset from the same strip of sand. Behind the dunes, the protected wetlands of the park shelter more than 90 bird species and a year-round community of sea turtles, with a local tortugario (hatchery) working to release hatchlings back to the sea each season.