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Barceló Hotels & Resorts | Guatemala

Barceló Guatemala City Hotel

Guatemala City

Places to see

Antigua Guatemala

(a 45-minute drive from the capital): In 1979 the UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site. The valley holds top-quality coffee-growing estates. There are also tree-fellers, cake and candy manufacturers, stone-workers and masons, wax-modellers, firework-makers, manufacturers of glass ceramics known as mayólica by some historians, and its owls. The valley is also home to the famous jade filigree workshops. The most splendid celebration, which is also the greatest commemoration of spiritual life and artistic creation held each year, is the Lent Celebration and Easter.

Chichicastenango

(approximately 4 hours' drive away): Its name means “place of nettles”. Its open-air Market is very famous, offering the typical, varied merchandise which catches the visitors’ eye. The stall-holders come down from the hills on Thursdays and Sundays to sell their wares in the Central Square. This is the country’s most important and impressive Indigenous People’s Market. It has not changed much over the centuries.

Panajachel

(approximately three and a half hours’ drive away): Some of its natural attractions are Atitlán Lake, the Panajachel River, El Tzala Waterfall and the Sape Stone Viewpoint. Folk dances include La Conquista, El Venado, Los Mexicanos and Los Negritos. Apart from Spanish, the language here is Kaqchikel. Kayaking is popular near the banks of the lake in Panajachel, as are canopy-bird watching in the San Buenaventura Reserve, eco-tourism and buying local handicrafts in Calle Santander.

Pacaya Volcano

This volcano is located between the Districts of Guatemala and Escuintla. The top is 2,552 metres above sea-level. It is a complicated volcanic massif. There are three, rounded hills in the central Eastern part of the massif. The Western side is known as Cerro Grande, and the other two hills are known as Cerro Chiquito. The North-western section of the massif must have seen tremendous volcanic explosions which caused several huge craters, such as the huge one holding the village of San Vicente Pacaya on its flat bottom; La Laguna de Calderas crater and another between this one and the middle part of the Amatitlán Lake.

Shopping

Guatemala is the largest and most cosmopolitan City in Central America, with more than 2.5 million inhabitants. Many visitors are surprised by the shopping malls which range from exclusive boutiques to department stores. Because customs duty is very low in Guatemala, the prices are a lot lower than in the United States.

The new shopping malls have developed to become leisure centres with restaurants, cinemas and other attractions.

Local Markets are also a good alternative for tourists seeking typical souvenirs.