Central America’s most diverse country captivates travelers with its extraordinary landscapes and a civilization-spanning culture that reaches back centuries.
Click HERE to buy the Lonely Planet's new Guatemala travel guide
Stroll around the restored Maya temples of Tikal, brush up on your Spanish in Antigua, hike along the shore of Lago de Atitlán.
Lonely Planet writer Paul Clammer describes why he loves Guatemala. "It's the smallest moments that leave the deepest impression. A friend took me to San Andrés Xecul and showed me a church built on top of an old Maya temple. Next to it, three locals stood at a blackened altar burning incense and reciting prayers in k'iche'. The offerings were to the old Maya gods, and the prayers told the conquistadors, 'we are still here'. And as they finished, crossing themselves and checking their cell phone, they reminded us how Guatemala's culture has deep roots and will always assimilate what it needs to take its people into the future."
Guatemala Top 10
1. Tikal
2. Antigua
3. Chichicastenango
4. Lago de Atitlán
5. Volcanoes
6. Sweet River
7. Quetzaltenango
8. Semue Champey
9. Handicrafts & Textiles
10. Guatemala City
Inside Lonely Planet’s Guatemala Travel Guide:
- Colour maps and images throughout
- Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests
- Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots
- Honest review for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
- Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - Guatemala Today, History, Guatemalan Way of Life, Maya Heritage, Arts & Architecture, Landscapes & Wildlife
Coverage includes: Guatemala City, Antigua, The Highlands, The Pacific Slope, Central & Eastern Guatemala
Curator: Paul Clammer
Writers: Ray Bartlett, Celeste Brash
Get to the heart of Guatemala and begin your journey now!
by The Raven Brothers
Out of shape and unprepared, The Raven Brothers return to the road in a collection of ten quests to travel to their dream destinations against all odds! After two decades pioneering new routes across the globe, you would expect the authors of 'Driving the Trans-Siberian' to be hotshot explorers, with a sixth sense and an ability to survive in almost any situation. Think again! With virtually zero knowledge of the workings of the internal combustion engine and very limited skills of wilderness survival, Simon and Chris struggle into their hiking boots and power across three continents by river, tarmac and trail.
Venture to the top of Norway, cruise the road to Damascus, hike the Camino trail into Spain’s Wild West, row the Ganges, explore Frida Kahlo’s world in Mexico City, hangout with the dead in Sicily’s eerie catacombs, crawl deep inside Bolivia’s notorious silver mine, seek lions in Gujarat, wellness in Berlin and journey into the Naga Hills where tribal kings still rule.
Noted by Lonely Planet for their talent to portray an “accurate view of what to expect”, 'Hike, Drive, Stayin’ Alive!' signals a return to the duo writing “buttock clenching” travel comedy with the first in a series of candid stories of adventure by The Raven Brothers.