Adventure Together: Our Family Trip to Guatemala
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Guatemala?
When I told people that we had a trip planned to Guatemala, most didn’t know why we would choose to go there. I get it—it’s not a typical place to jet off to during the winter or full of well-known spots. It was a good question!
I studied abroad in Guatemala during college, so I have been eager to introduce my family to a place I fell in love with all those years ago. This trip was my 4th trip to Guatemala—but I do hope it’s not my last!
If you looking for a first international trip with young kids, I'm not sure I’d chose Guatemala because it may not be as structured or easy to navigate as some other places. However, if you are able to be okay with a little less safety precautions (i.e. less seatbelts and traffic laws) and are able to go with the flow, Guatemala is a beautiful place to visit with your kids.
I would say that we never felt unsafe while there (in terms of someone trying to harm us), but there was a time or two that I might have wished for a seatbelt or hoped the stray dog wasn’t interested in following us ;)
If you are reading this because you a little curious about what we did or perhaps interested in taking a trip with your family there, then I hope you find this post helpful (or just interesting!) to read what we did.
First of all, we used Delta airline points to book our tickets for this trip, so we actually drove from Minnesota to Chicago because it was significantly less miles to fly from Chicago. And why not tack a 6 hour drive to the adventure, right? Honestly, the extra drive wasn’t terrible, and we felt it was worth it :)
We arrived in Guatemala in the early afternoon, and the moment I stepped out of the airport, I thought: Wow! It smells like Guatemala—a mix of diesel, tortillas, and flowers.
We connected with our private shuttle and headed to Lake Atitlan. We chose to use private shuttles because we weren’t comfortable driving there in a rental car (and parking would have been a challenge where we were staying) and the public transportation (aka Chicken Buses) are a bit tricky to navigate and add a lot of travel time. Our first shuttle was organized by the place we stayed, but for the rest of the trip, we used Guatedriver and would totally recommend them!
After a winding drive through the busy (and often chaotic) roads of Guatemala, I was so thankful to make it to San Juan la Laguna that evening (we had been up since the wee hours of the morning). It had been a long day of travel. So, off to bed we went!
The next day, we awoke with the chickens, barking dogs, and sounds of boats zipping across the lake. Warm coffee awaited us at the small hotel’s shared kitchen, and I spent the morning enjoying the beautiful view. It would be our view for the next few days, and I wasn’t mad about it!
We spent a total of three full days in San Juan la Laguna. I had never been there, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. In the end, I was so thankful we had chosen this little town to make as our home base as we relaxed, explored, and experienced the lake.
While there, we stayed in a guest hotel. You can see where we stayed here.
It wasn’t fancy, but it served our needs. I would definitely stay here again as our hosts made it a truly special stay! I especially loved chatting with other guests there and meeting people from different places in the world. It was also close to the docks and walkable to wherever we went. We did a lot of weaving along little dirt paths and “meeting” lots of stray dogs from a distance, but the kids all thought it was part of the adventure ;)
Our highlights from San Juan la Laguna:
Finding little shops that sold fresh tortillas and eating them (so delicious!)
Exploring all the streets with colorful art and seeing so much color and life. So much to see!
Visiting a Mayan stingless bee farm and seeing the tiny bees (and trying honey too)
Eating some yummy breakfasts and drinking delicious coffee. Our favorites were Las Marias, Cafe San Juan, and Nativo Coffee Shop.
Learning how to weave bracelets through a class hosted by a delightful Guatemalan grandma and her family. One of our favorites for sure! Our boys loved it. And I also felt so encouraged by this family as we talked about the Lord and His Word. We arranged the class through our hosts—you can see more about www.culturechalk.org.
We also did a cooking class with local women who taught us how to make tortillas—lots of laughter and joy!
Riding a boat across the beautiful lake
Enjoying slower days of lake views and taking in how life works in a different country
Riding in Tuk Tuks (so fun!). I told the kids it was better than Disney ;)
After several days there, we were off to Antigua. Antigua is actually where I studied abroad, so I was excited to visit and see how it had changed. It was another day of traveling along winding roads, stunning views, and a bit of holding on. We loved chatting with our friendly driver (who only spoke Spanish, so there was a lot of doing our best—ha!).
In Antigua, we checked into our Airbnb and then went to McDonalds. Really, we did. The McDonalds in Antigua is actually really nice and pretty—and the kids never complain about fries and burgers. It was so surreal to go to a place that I had eaten at often when I was only 19—and now I was there with my husband and three cute boys.
In Antigua, we stayed here. To be honest, it was really nice, but I wouldn’t pick it again for us. The grounds were so pretty and the shared kitchen was awesome, but it felt a little too quiet for our family (aka: we felt a little like the kids had to be quiet all the time). And the inside of the room felt a bit dark (even during the day) because the windows were shuttered and only opened to the street and courtyard (so if you wanted privacy, you didn’t want to open them too much).
In Antigua, our favorites were:
Taking a chocolate making class and learning how chocolate is made (so fun!)
Exploring the beautiful little city and stopping in tiendas for chips and treats
Sipping coffee from the many awesome coffee shops there (there are SO many options!)
Sitting in the Central Park and people watching
Visiting with friends from my study abroad time
Eating some yummy meals at Café Condesa and El Viejo Cafe.
Hiking up to the cross
Exploring the ruins from a convent that was destroyed during an earthquake in 1773.
We only had two full days there, so we didn’t get a chance to do too much, but it was still enough to get a little taste of the UNESCO city. I was surprised by how much had changed and also how much hadn’t. But just one week after arriving in Guatemala, we zipped back to the airport and flew back to the USA. Although I wish we could have spent more time there, we may have to plan a return trip to get to do the other things we didn’t have time to do—like hike a volcano or visit Tikal.
Like I mentioned before, there is a bit of flexibility and sense of adventure that you’ll need in your back pocket if you want to take your family on a visit. However, the people are warm and welcoming, the food is delicious, and the scenery is stunning! I’d also mention that most people don’t speak English, so a little bit of Spanish or google translate are helpful tools to have too.
Visiting places that are very different than home can sometimes be a bit intimidating or even uncomfortable—but, for us, those are the moments when you get to learn and get curious. Yet, no matter where we are in the world, I’m always in awe of how much people are really so similar (even when they live such different lives!). Our hope is that our kids see the beauty of the world and also that people are all created in the image of God.
Any questions? Feel free to ask away, and I’ll be happy to answer any of them! You can also see the Guatemala highlight on Instagram stories for my videos and photos :)
