HOW TO TRAVEL GUATEMALA IN 14 DAYS | A full GUIDE on how to see the best of this country!

Spain Portugal the Maldives Thailand Greece Italy turkey Bali the Caribbean these are some countries that are world renowned for being hugely popular holiday destinations for those in need of a well-earned brick having just met our friends in Guatemala to spend a 10-day holiday with them we are convinced this Central American Paradise can join the A-list countries Mansion above when it comes to thinking about where to go on your dream holiday [Music] thank you we America NASA and Welcome to our something to remember YouTube channel we have gained quite a few new subscribers recently so we would like to say thank you for subscribing and we hope that you enjoy the content on our Channel if you're watching this video and you haven't subscribed yet it would mean the world to us if you would join our community and click the little subscribe button below if you have been following for a while you'll know we have just finished traveling through South America and now we have made our way into Central America if South America interests you be sure to check out the various videos we have posted about the best places to go down there back to Guatemala this country has been on our radar for a long time and we were especially excited about visiting because we had arranged to meet some of Mark's friends from home there we did have some extra days at the beginning before they arrive though and we use that time to see two places we absolutely love the first city we landed in was Chichi Muller but to be honest that's not a place that we were recommend it to stay so long so from there we just hopped on a bus and to Flores in the north of the country the most likely scenario is that you will fly into Guatemala City airport and from there you can take a shuttle service to Flores but we'll talk about shuttle services and transport in Guatemala a little bit later uh so what's in Florence you ask well the Tiny Town of Florence is pretty much just a quirky little island where you can catch San cescalor and eat delicious tacos but those aren't the reasons we were there around 45 minutes north east of this town Leicester of Guatemala's major tourist destinations the ancient Mayan city of Tikal now a popular way to see Tikal in all its glory is to do a sunrise tour for which you leave Flores on a shuttle service at 3am but having just spent eight hours on the bus from chikimilla to get to Flores we didn't have the energy for that the next day somewhere in the national park now walking towards the Grand Plaza the big thing everybody wants to see we were kind of expecting a more touristy Vibe but we're actually here on these paths on our own we didn't get up the crack of dawn to go like we usually do so we're here at 10 past 12. and usually from experience these kind of place as a 10 past 12 in the afternoon our lap is here in this so so far so good in fact at one stage we find ourselves all alone on the platform overlooking the main Rune of Tikal known as the Temple of the great Jaguar the Mayan civilization existed in areas now known as Southeast Mexico all of Guatemala and Belize and the Western portions of Honduras and El Salvador on our recent travels we have visited a lot of ancient Mayan runes including famous sites like chicheniche and Mexico coppen ruins and Honduras and shunan tunic in Belize we can safely say Tikal was our favorite Mayan city to explore which is quite the compliment considering Chichen Itza is a new wonder of the world incredibly the tallest temple in Tikal pyramid 4 is twice as tall as the temple in Chichen Itza you can even climb to the top of that Temple and from there you can see the whole city which for the most part is still engulfed by the sprawling jungle around it this really is such an an impressive place we found it to be vast authentic and we really got to feel for how life may have been back then for this fascinated ancient civilization one more interesting fact about Tikal is that it was the inspiration for Mel Gibson's movie Apocalypto and if you haven't seen that movie it was just watching it because it's about a young man trying to escape from a Mayan Kingdom but it really gives you good insight as to what the Mayan empire would have been like back then after that history lesson it's time for something a little more relaxed semic champay lies right in the center of Guatemala and is the ultimate escape from the heat of Flores and Tikal this place is dreamy it's a bit difficult to explain what is going on here but in short the name simak Champion means Where the River hides under the Earth so we're standing at a very rare spot here basically there's a river flowing right underneath her feet and it's uh mental to be standing here beside a river and it's flowing under you rather than beside you or Overland it's a pretty strange sensation to be just chilling out in these gorgeous Natural Pools knowing there's a powerful river flowing directly underneath you it is not all relaxing though as to get this view from above you will need to hike up a steep embankment for around 20 minutes you will definitely be sweating by the time you return to Earth and a dip in one of the many pools is the perfect way to cool off the most important thing we can tell you about this place is go early the gate opens at 8 am and we would recommend being there at 7 55. just look at this stunning area we had to ourselves we can assure you that would not have been the case had we arrived a bit later after the tourists get there from Lang Quinn to ensure you can make it there early stay at one of the lodges close to Sumac Champaign and not in the town of lanquin as it takes at least 30 minutes on the back of a willy to get there from the time we stayed in Hostel El nawal which is around a 30 minute walk to the entrance and it was a great spot to base ourselves to go to the poos we loved it there right then after Quick Stop in Guatemala City it was time to get into holiday mode because our friends would be arriving soon after a few ketchup drinks in Antigua at an Irish bar called The Snug yes I know it's stereotypical Irish people drink an Irish whiskey and an Irish bar abroad but don't judge us too harshly as this place actually has some of the best views of Volcan agua in the whole city of Antigua this towering volcano dominates the backdrop of The Gorgeous city of Antigua after shaking of the hangovers and doing some exploring we quickly realized Antigua is an incredibly beautiful place it's Cobble streets colorful culinary buildings and stunning views of the surrounding volcanoes make it one of the most futuristic places we have been in all of Latin America [Music] is a great place for Cornell steffenger to start their holiday one of our favorite things we did in Antigua was a small hike up to the Viewpoint of Cerro De La Cruz from here you can get a bird's eye view of Antigua and the aforementioned Volcan de agua it isn't a tough hike in fact I don't even know if you could call it a hike so make sure to put this on your list of things you need to do here after the ketchups beers and light walks it was time for something more challenging in fact very challenging a hike to the summit of Volcan a katanango really isn't for the faint-hearted we chose to go on a tour from a hostel called Tropicana and that was our starting point the price of the full tour was around 70 or each which included the transfer to the trailhead tour guide food snacks and accommodation for the night at base camp of the volcano the price was good although we did have some problems with the food but we'll talk about that a little bit more later after a hearty breakfast it was time to set off on our adventure but there is one thing we didn't mention the real attraction of climbing Vulcan akatenango is to look across at another highly volcano called Volcan Fuego which frequently erupts lava the night before we were meant to sit off on our climb we heard that while Ken Fuego had just had a massive eruption the biggest in years and towns below the volcanoes had been evacuated due to safety concerns yeah man we're all good here we'll just go on to the volcano beside this Zone tomorrow should we sound Ashi still wants to go I think you should go this is like this is live on Sky News but I will give it a chance however we were assured by the company that it was safe and we would be setting off the next morning albeit with a little more nervous energy than we would have liked was there is something unusual yesterday with the volcano not really it just exploded [Laughter] and where we where are we but worried about getting engulfed with lava and just the perishing in the rubble of the volcano apart from that I'm having a great morning biggest explosion in five years let us just say one thing before we continue the hike to base camp is tough in fact it was as tough of a hike as we had ever done so if you watched our videos you know we've done quite a few hikes but I think this one is the most challenging one because we've been going up like this for seven kilometers and it's really Steep and like it's Sandy so it's challenging if you pray for that the only thing that kept our spirits and energy up was the stunning views from above the clouds I've been on a lot of airplanes and I don't think I've seen as good a view from an airplane or the clouds look unbelievable as we knew the base camp we could see the summit of a karenango and eventually reached our first Viewpoint of Vulcan Fuego what a sight it wasn't even erupting at that stage but it was still an unbelievable View [Music] what kind of accommodation you would find at 2 600 meters on the side of a volcano well actually it wasn't bad we each had a cozy bed to ourselves even if there were 11 other people in the same cabin and we are not sure we'll ever have a better view from accommodation again as the smoke ballot from Fuego's crater the Setting Sun gave us some moments to cherish just look at these shots and imagine how Blissful it felt [Music] the worst thing about the sun going down was that with it went the heat it got pretty cold pretty fast but our gauge did their best to keep us warm with dinner a glass or two of wine and a dreamy campfire they even gave us some marshmallows to roast on the fire it really was dreamy stuff up there that night the only thing left to happen on this magical night was a lava eruption but unfortunately for us the previous day's massive eruption meant that the volcano had very little left inside we only managed to catch a glimpse of a small amount of lava coming from the crater and a lot of smoke bedtime came early as we had one last thing to do before heading back down and that was to claim to the summit of Vulcan akatenango to make it up for Sunrise we left camp at 4am and made the Steep 90-minute hike to the top that sounds tiring but the reward was otherworldly [Music] seen our fair share of sunrises on our travels but whoa this was like something out of a movie a real pinch me moment several volcanoes pierced the red sky as the sun rose above the clouds before committing to this hike we thought the reason for doing it would be to see Volcan Fuego but it turned out that the most magical moments came that morning looking out at that sunrise what goes up must come down and trust us coming down wasn't a piece of cake either the Steep angle and loose terrain made it very uneasy on the footing we saw people sleep on their eyes loads of times we all made it back in one piece though and it was an experience none of us will ever forget unfortunately the only downside to this was and we have to mention it I got hit with a nasty boat of food poisoning a few days later and it was a problem for quite a few others that went on the same tour as us so I guess you can make your own judgments of whether you want to go with Tropicana or not but that's just what happened to us in our experience there was no time to rest as we had to get ourselves from Antigua all the way to the other side of Lakeland before the end of the day we took a 4 pm shuttle to Panera gel and just about caught a 7 PM public boat across the lake to make it to our accommodation in San Pedro La Laguna it was finally time to chill out and that night we let our hair down around the bars in San Pedro comments Collective hangover number two of the holiday luckily we found exactly the right place to shake them up San Pedro is riddled with nice places to eat and drink but breakfast in Sababa was our go-to for the few days we spent there with stunning views overlooking lake attitlan and a menu that makes you want to order everything all at once we really can't think of a better way to spend a relaxing morning by the lake when planning a trip to Lake atitlan you have quite the few choices when deciding where to stay we heard it was a nice mix of places to eat and drink a good night life numerous places to do water activities and of course stunning views of the lake itself other towns on the lake include San Marcos San Juan San Antonio the popular and more when choosing it really depends on what kind of vibe you are after when you choose where you want to stay it's really easy to get around to visiting the different places on the lake on the public boats but just make sure you don't get ripped off when paying some of the staff can be a wee bit cheeky and try to charge tourists extra but your journey on the boat should be the equivalent of around 3 Euro or three dollars one of our favorite places around the lake was a visit to San Marcos once you get off the boat you'll find a really laid back hippie kind of atmosphere with lots of yoga Resorts we enjoyed a walk through the quirky Main Street and made our way to the popular cliff jumping spot in Cerro sancogil National reserve it has been well documented on this channel that I quite embarrassingly I'm a very weak swimmer chair staff and Connor were also not comfortable enough in the water to launch themselves off this 12 meter high platform so it was up to Asia to be the brave one and take the leap I was so nervous watching her that I kinda missed the landing of her first jump on the camera good because you have to do it again I missed it thankfully for the good of my own health I managed to catch it properly the second time this was a really fun place to spend a couple of hours and don't worry if you're a scaredy cat like us and don't want to jump from 12 meters there are a few other spots that are around four or five meters high and are much more manageable the most popular place for tourists at Lake atitlan is the bustling town of panachell we came here on the boat one morning for a Scenic breakfast and a walk around the local markets but to be completely honest after visiting Panera hotel we were very glad we had chosen San Pedro as our base instead the vibe was much nicer there there were lots of things to do and prices seemed a lot lower in San Pedro compared to paneja speaking of things to do in San Pedro stand up paddle boarding was a blast we rented hours for 50 kids sellers each But be sure not to overpay for this kind of activities because companies do chance their arm to try to get more we don't usually like bargaining too much but don't be afraid to bargain with them here to get better prices a simple Sunset swim is also a great way to an evening in a gorgeous town of San Pedro one last thing we ate in a lot of places in our few days in San Pedro and the best place we ate was at a little family-run Indian restaurant called Indian Express delicious after an amazing few days at Lake atitland the only thing we had left to do was to get back to Guatemala City to catch our flights I mentioned before that the best way to get around in Guatemala is to book shuttles from one place to another this is probably the only downside to traveling in Guatemala because it definitely bumps up the price compared to traveling in other countries with competent public bus systems luckily we found a really good shuttle bus company and we will link the name and number of our guy Tony in the description box below you might be wondering how long you'd need to complete this full itinerary let's say you arrive into Guatemala City airport to go to Flores and Tikal semic champe Antigua hike volcano katanango and then spend a few days at Lake atitlan we would really recommend giving yourself around two weeks if you want to add something else to your itinerary that we didn't do we suggest the Indian nose hike at Lake attitlan but you will need to give yourself three or four days for your legs to recover after the akatenango hike if you're gonna do that our legs were still dead for for days after and that's why we didn't go there but we have heard it is beautiful especially at Sunrise personally we loved it and so did jairstep and Connell we think they had a great week and uh yeah we definitely couldn't recommend Guatemala highly enough if you're looking to go somewhere a little bit different on this holiday and tell us your opinions about the whole itinerary would you commit to that and as we said before please subscribe to the channel and if you go to Guatemala we know you're gonna have something to remember just like us

Channel: Something To Remember

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Keywords: Guatemala, Guatemala travel, travel guide, full travel guide, travel tips, guatemala in 2 weeks, Guatemala in 14 days, Central America, Central America travel, holiday, holiday destination, vacation, Tikal, Tikal mayan city, antigua, semuc champey, acatenango, volcan fuego, hiking, lake atitlan, lake atitlan guide, panajachel, San Pedro de la laguna, how to get around Guatemala, Latin America, Latin America travel

Id: WEuVUI5y8Us

Length: 17min 50sec (1070 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 08 2023