BootsnAll Travel Community

I am landing in Guatemala city in the afternoon of June 3rd to begin a two month trip. I've heard good and bad about this city, but either way it sounds very intense. I'm not sure whether I should try to figure out this city on the first day of my travels or get my butt on a bus out of there as soon as I land. Any recommendations?. Also, does anybody have information on buses that leave from the airport to other nearby cities such as Antigua? Thanks for the help.
Peace and Love
Christopher

Guatemala City has very little to endear itself to a casual visitor. I'd rank it roughly the 27th attraction to see in Guatemala - hardly a place to seek out.

There are ample shuttles meeting every international flight into the airport, going to Antigua. With good traffic, the trip takes about 45 minutes, and will cost you $10. Don't bother with Guatemala City, other than for the airport.

I'd be surprised if anyone disagrees with Felix here.

Thank you very much for the info Felix. Maybe after two months experience in Guatemala i will have the cojones to experience it on my way back home.
Thanks again.
Christopher

quote:

I'd be surprised if anyone disagrees with Felix here

While I don't disagree with Felix, I would still have to say the largest city in Central America and the home of at least a quarter of all Guatemalans should never be discounted just because it lacks touristic appeal. Guatemala city is pretty representative of what life is like for a good chunk of the population.

Guatemala City doesn't only lack tourist appeal, it lacks any appeal. I don't know of anyone who would live there if they didn't have to be there to earn a living.

Just being big does little for the capital, other than make it almost unmanageable.

We have lived in Guatemala for years and have yet to find anything that makes us want to go into the city. We go only when absolutely necessary for doing business or to buy things unavailable in other towns.

Guate has a good Zoo, a couple of decent museums, and a few fair restaurants, but nothing that makes one say "Wow, we've got to go back there".

If you are a tourist, and don't have good friends, who are unfortunate enough to live there, you will want to leave Guatemala City from the airport, and not return until your flight leaves again.

It doesn't take cojones to stay in Guate. Once you see the rest of this wonderful country, you simply will not want to waste your time in the capital.

What Juan said. It has an interesting natural science museum filled with stuffed animals, I never saw the zoo, and never wanted to stay long enough to look for it. I had the interesting experience of trying to get a bureaucratic task done in Guat City with the InMigration office(Referred to from now on as the office of Migraines) It will wait for a thread on the disasters that can happen when entering a country goes wrong.

It wasn't me, thank goodness, that had this problem, but I still remember the migraine from trying to solve it. I had the spanish necessary. I was elected.

Either way, I saw the government and 'good' section of the town, not just Zone 1. Nope. The best you can hope for, according to sources on the board is to get an expensive hotel in Zone 10, the rich zone, and get out as soon as possible.

With a limited time frame, you're better off spending that day relaxing with a cup of coffee in hour hand watchin th the sun set over Lago Atitlan.

Well, there is ONE reason to spend time in Guat City. But this can be managed from the airport as well.

Tikal is a beautiful MUST SEE if you go to Guatemala....BUT...

Most of the really interesting Stelae from Tikal have been removed an replaced with copies. The real items are in a museum near the airport (And across from the Children's Museum, to orient yourself) So if you have gone to see all that Tikal has to offer, you are sort of Behooved to go to this museum as well.

Thank you all for the information, especially about the museum with artifacts from Tikal. I'm thinking I will end up spending some time there because there is something to see or experience in every city, good or bad.
Thanks again.
Christopher

I happen to like Guate City. Sure it is a very large urban mess but it is another aspect of Guatemala and I am happy to have had the chance to get to know it a little. Not that I am a city guy, I live in the hinterlands of Vermont.
A must see if the Ixchel textile museum, to which you can walk from zone ten. You can also stay close by at Xamanek Student Inn for $14 to $50 usd. You can also eat very well at the locals' restaurants for as little as 20Qs.
A day and a half would not be wasted time.