TRIP OVERVIEW
Day 1 – Iglesia de La Merced · Arco de Santa Catalina · La Recolección · Cerro de la Cruz
Day 2 – Antigua Guatemala Cathedral · Iglesia de San Francisco · Palacio de los Capitanes Generales · Iglesia y Convento de las Capuchinas
Day 3 – Volcán Pacaya
Day 4 – Panajachel · San Juan La Laguna · Santiago Atitlán
Day 1
1.Iglesia de La Merced~45 min
The most elaborately decorated facade in Antigua — yellow and white stucco piled with baroque relief work — fronts a working church whose convent ruins behind it hide a huge Spanish fountain and a rooftop with views over the whole town.
2.Arco de Santa Catalina~15 min
A golden-yellow baroque archway built in 1694 so cloistered Santa Catalina nuns could cross the street unseen; its clock was added in the 1830s, and the framed view of Volcán de Agua through the arch is Antigua's signature photograph.
Open 24/7
3.La Recolección~30 min
The most dramatic ruin in Antigua — a monastery built from 1701 with walls thick enough to resist earthquakes, brought down anyway in 1773 and left as a field of toppled columns and collapsed vaulting inside a quiet park.
4.Cerro de la Cruz~20 min
A hilltop cross above the north edge of town frames the single best panorama of Antigua's red-tiled roofs and church domes with Volcán de Agua rising behind them; tourist police patrol the path and viewpoint during daylight hours.
Day 2
1.Antigua Guatemala Cathedral~30 min
A working parish chapel faces the plaza, but step around the side and the earthquake-shattered nave behind it — roofless arches, fallen columns, grass growing through the stone floor — is what earned this ruin its fame.
2.Iglesia de San Francisco~40 min
A working Franciscan church holding the tomb of Hermano Pedro de San José Betancur, Central America's first canonized saint, whose small museum of personal relics draws a steady line of local pilgrims behind the sanctuary.
3.Palacio de los Capitanes Generales~1 hr
The seat of Spanish colonial power across Central America, rebuilt in stone after the 1773 earthquake with the longest colonnaded facade on Parque Central; it now houses the National Museum of Guatemalan Art.
4.Iglesia y Convento de las Capuchinas~45 min
The last and largest convent raised in colonial Antigua, best known for the "Tower of Retreat" — a circular structure of eighteen small stone cells built around a central patio where the Capuchin nuns withdrew in silence.
Day 3
1.Volcán Pacaya~6 hr
One of Guatemala's three active volcanoes, erupting almost continuously since 1965; a guided trail climbs through pine forest and hardened lava fields to a black volcanic-ash ridge with views into the smoking crater and, on an active night, glowing rock.
Daily 7:00am - 5:00pm
45 min uphill
Day 4
1.Panajachel~10 hr
The gateway town to Lake Atitlán, best known for Calle Santander — a market strip dense with Mayan textiles and handwoven goods leading down to the lake shore, where public lanchas depart for the villages across the water.
Daily 6:00am - 7:00pm
2.San Juan La Laguna~1 hr 30 min
A Tz'utujil Mayan village on the western shore of Lake Atitlán, known for a cluster of women's weaving cooperatives that produce textiles on backstrap looms using dyes made from local plants — visitors can watch the process and buy directly from the weavers.
3.Santiago Atitlán~1 hr 30 min
The largest town on Lake Atitlán, a Tz'utujil Mayan community whose colonial church — Iglesia Parroquial Santiago Apóstol — was built on a pre-Columbian ceremonial site; the town is also home to the cult of Maximón, a folk deity whose effigy is paraded annually through the market streets.
Tours
Viator
A guided ash-slope hike up Guatemala's most active volcano to the smoking crater rim, with roundtrip transport from Antigua.
6 hr · Shared group
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A small-scale farmer walks visitors through coffee from seed to cup on the foothills of Volcán de Agua — picking, roasting, grinding and tasting a cup you help prepare.
3 hr · Max 20
An interactive bean-to-bar workshop tracing Guatemala's Mayan cacao heritage, ending with a bar you mold and take home.
90 min · Max 18
A certified local guide walks the UNESCO center recounting Antigua's 200 years as the colonial capital of Central America.
2 hr 30 min · Max 8
A relaxed colonial-center walk pairing Antigua's churches and ruins with local stories and architecture.
2 hr 30 min · Small group
A full-day circuit of Lake Atitlán's most visited villages — Panajachel's market street, San Juan La Laguna's weaving cooperatives and Santiago Atitlán's Mayan church — with roundtrip transport from Antigua.
10 hr · Shared group
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GetYourGuide
A small-group walk through the Palacio, La Merced, the Cathedral ruins and the Arco de Santa Catalina with a local guide's own restaurant and market tips folded in.
2 hr 30 min · Max 8
A tasting walk through Antigua's food culture — corn-based Mayan dishes, market fruit, sweets and coffee — starting from a colonial house near the center.
3 hr · Small group
Cappuccino
Fat Cat Coffee House · 4.7 · 215+ reviews
12 Onzas · 5.0 · 2+ reviews
Artista de Café · 4.6 · 850+ reviews
Café Condesa · 4.3 · 1421+ reviews
Café Raíz · 4.9 · 11+ reviews
Restaurants Near Hotel
El Refectorio · 4.5 · 900+ reviews
International cuisine with a Guatemalan touch, served inside the hotel's former convent ruins.
In the hotel · Ground floor
Daily 6:30am - 10:00pm
El Local Bistro Antigua · 4.9 · 34+ reviews
Café-Mediterranean bistro plates in a small courtyard setting.
Daily 8:00am - 8:00pm
Welten · 4.4 · 258+ reviews
Romantic courtyard fine dining — international plates including lobster, steak and rabbit.
Daily 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Casa Escobar · 4.6 · 488+ reviews
Family-run steakhouse, 30+ years in business, oak-grilled premium cuts.
Daily 12:00pm - 9:00pm
Epicure · 4.5 · 1059+ reviews
Farm-to-table dishes from a celiac chef's own farm, with gluten-free and dairy-free options throughout.
Daily 10:00am - 9:00pm
Los Moros · 4.9 · 1332+ reviews
Garden-set Guatemalan specialties at Porta Hotel Antigua, with live music some evenings.
Daily 7:00am - 9:00pm
Downtown Restaurants
La Fonda de la Calle Real · 4.0 · 1167+ reviews
Traditional Guatemalan plates served by staff in folk costume inside a colonial mansion courtyard.
Daily 11:00am - 9:00pm
Saberico · 4.2 · 615+ reviews
A garden restaurant since 2003, strong on vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free Guatemalan cooking.
Daily 8:00am - 8:00pm
Rincón Típico · 4.3 · 507+ reviews
Cheap, fast, unfussy Guatemalan classics — a local favorite for traditional breakfast.
Daily 7:00am - 8:00pm
La Cuevita de los Urquizú · 3.8 · 359+ reviews
Family-run for 20+ years, dishes drawn from Guatemala's 21 Maya cultures at fair prices.
Daily 12:00pm - 9:00pm
The Kitchen by Pensativo House · 4.9 · 12+ reviews
A neoclassical rooftop terrace with volcano views, inside the Pensativo House boutique hotel.
Daily 7:00am - 9:00pm
Local Tastes
Pepián
Guatemala's national dish — a thick, toasted-spice stew of chicken, beef or pork simmered with vegetables and tomato, found on nearly every menu in Antigua.
Tamales Colorados
Antigua's own tamale variation — corn masa wrapped in banana leaf, filled with pork and a tomato-achiote paste called recado, with a chili inside.
Antigua-Grown Coffee
Antigua Valley coffee is one of Guatemala's protected-origin denominations, grown on volcanic soil in the shadow of Agua, Fuego and Acatenango.
Food Delivery
Uber Eats
Foreign number: accepted. — verification is the same SMS system as Uber rides; codes arrive on foreign carriers in Antigua.
Covers most restaurants inside the historic center reliably; coverage thins fast toward the edges of town, and delivery can slow during heavy downpours.
Shows, Performances & Concerts
Festival de la Luz de Antigua
Monumental video mapping and light installations turn the colonial facades into an after-dark public-art festival.
Getting Around
Uber
Foreign number: accepted. — verification SMS arrives on foreign carriers; an existing Uber account from home works without re-registering.
Fixed up-front pricing and no cash or Spanish needed, but cars are noticeably scarcer in Antigua than in Guatemala City — expect a longer wait, especially late at night, and keep tuk-tuk moto-taxis as the cash-only backup for short hops around town.
Heads Up
Semana Santa — Procession Closures
Processions and sawdust carpets close historic-center streets. Keep the day flexible and walk rather than relying on a car crossing town.
Worth Knowing
A colonial capital the earthquakes never let finish being rebuilt
Antigua was Central America's capital for over two centuries until the 1773 earthquakes drove the government to found Guatemala City instead — which is why the ruins here were never cleared away or restored. Walking past a roofless nave or a fallen archway isn't visiting a museum piece; it's the same view a resident had the week the capital moved.
Cash is still the default. Cards are accepted at hotels and the nicer restaurants, but the small entrance fees at the ruins — Q20 to Q40 — are cash-only at the door, and having a stack of small quetzal bills makes the whole three days smoother.
The historic center sits at roughly 1,530 meters above sea level, so afternoons are warm and mornings and evenings are cool year-round — pack a light layer for the cooler hours.
Every street corner carries a hand-painted tile with its colonial name and a small number — the town's own address system, unchanged since the 1700s, and worth glancing at before assuming a phone's navigation app has the modern name right.
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