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Advice for Guatemala and possibly nearby?
I will be spending a few months in Quetzaltenango/Xela Guatemala but I will have weekends free and have reserved some time at the end of my trip to be a tourist.
I'm thinking about Antigua, the Copan ruins in Honduras near the border, possibly a trip to San Sebastian in Mexico. My strenuous hiking days are behind me but I like views, nature, animals, birds, architecture, history, good food and nice people.
I am very open to suggestions. People who know the region or have visited, what advice can you share? I am somewhat budget conscious.
Edit, my concerns about Yellow Fever were assuaged by @occlude
Hi! I'm actually in Guatemala right now conducting field work. I would strongly recommend Antigua; it's a beautiful town which feels safe and has a good food scene. I have spent the past three weeks - excluding camping for field work - walking along the RN14 at night to get to my guesthouse and the only thing which has made me feel unsafe are the insane chicken bus drivers, rather than the threat of muggers. I'm a short, male, purely anglophone Brit for reference.
I'm currently staying at Baraka Antigua which is slightly out of town - it costs about 150Q a night. Lunch is easily doable for as little as 20Q at one of the nice bakeries in town and dinner can be anywhere from 60-150Q (I haven't exceeded that as I don't want to blow my entire PhD stipend while I'm out here...)
As for visiting ruins, you will want to find a reputable rather than merely cheap tour provider: this is very possible. I'm a geologist and the volcanoes are more of my thing - Pacaya and Fuego volcanoes are nearby, with the former a very tractable day trip and the latter a hike up Acatenango to view the eruptions at night (and it is cold up there, btw.)
Sounds fantastic. Thanks for the reply.
Yellow fever is not an issue anywhere above Panama City in Latin America. Source
In Mexico near to Guatamala I can recommend the ruins at Palenque and Calakmul (much more remote / harder to get to) and the town of San Cristobal de las Casas.
However the archaeological site at Tikal is at least as impressive if not more so than those I mentioned earlier and likely more convenient to get to from where you are in Guatemala.
Thank you for the reassurance about Yellow Fever!
I appreciate you taking the time to give advice. : )
It has been a while since I have been, but I recall Antigua to be very relaxed and enjoyable. I wish I had taken Spanish lessons while I was there but my cousin did for his MBA language requirements.
Safety was a bit of a concern but we never had any issues. We ate local food and did local things - it was very light on the wallet. We also went to Flores, which is very pretty.
I recall buses and transportation to not be timely at all so be mindful of that when planning.