Guatemala's Western Highlands travel guide

Places to visit in the Western Highlands

Lago de Atitlán

Of all Guatemala's natural attractions, perhaps the most beautiful is the volcanic cadera of Lago de Atitlán (Lake Atitlan) and its unforgettable highland setting. Atitlán is transcended by three towering volcanoes and its shores are dotted with Maya villages.

Of all the 13 lakeside villages, Panajachel is the place that most people head for first, though in the last few years a number of excellent hotels and lodges have mushroomed all around the shores of the lake. Panajachel sits on the lake's northern shore and is dubbed Gringotenango by the locals because of the heavy influx of tourists and the density of Westerner-owned bars and cafes.

There are no sights to see in the town itself; Pana's appeal is all about its position overlooking the lake and volcanoes, and its inimitable laid-back atmosphere. Back in the 1960s, Panajachel was Guatemala's hippy mecca and this hippy consciousness has never quite left; the town remains a magnet for a graying tribe of new agers clad in tie-dyes and típicas (Westernised traditional clothing). 

Santiago Atitlán

Santiago Atitlán, a Tz' utujil Maya village on one of the lake's inlets around the western flank of Volcán Tolimán, is only 20 minutes from Panajachel by fast boat. A shrine is kept here to Maximón, part evil saint, part pagan idol, said to be a combination of San Simón, Judas Iscariot and Pedro de Alvarado the conquistador. Any young Atiteco will guide you to his abode for a quetzal; it is customary to make a donation for his upkeep.

The other two points of interest are a small weaving museum to the left of the dock, and the Catholic church. Inside this imposing colonial structure there's a giant altar and a memorial to Father Stanley Rother, an American priest who served in the village between 1968 and 1981, and who was murdered here in 1981 by a paramilitary death squad.

Chichicastenango

This quiet highland town with an intriguing past has become one of the chief tourist destinations of the highlands. Twice a week, the normally calm "Chichi" hosts the most famous market in the entire Maya region. Every Thursday and Sunday the roads into town are crammed with trailers, trucks and buses. The market is a good place to buy típica textiles and handicrafts – short of venturing to their place of origin – if your haggling skills are well honed.

In the main plaza is the whitewashed Iglesia de Santo Tomás, the air around the stone steps thick with the aroma of smoldering incense called copal. The church is a place where Maya religious traditions have long been tolerated and fused with Catholicism. The neighboring building holds the former monastery where, in about 1702, a Spanish priest first discovered the Popol Vuh, the K'i che' sacred book, containing this Maya group's story of creation. It's considered one of the great literary masterpieces of the pre-Columbian Americas.

Nebaj

One of the most compelling regions of the highlands, the Ixil region is an extremely traditional and beautiful area that also saw some of the bloodiest conflicts of the civil war during much of the 1970s and 1980s. Nebaj is the largest of the Ixil towns. The first thing you will notice is the startling costume worn by the Ixil women: incredibly tightly woven white, green and red huipiles and waist sashes, scarlet skirts and Medusa-like headdresses of fabric and colorful pom-poms. By contrast, most men are dressed in bland secondhand ropa americana (US clothing sold in the market), although on festival days colonial-style scarlet jackets are worn.

Check out the Sunday market for its colorful bustle, but you'll find better prices for textiles at the co-operatives in the main plaza. The hill-walking from Nebaj is tremendous. One hike takes you to the "model village" of Acul, a strategic hamlet two hours' walk from Nebaj. Continuing through the village, just the other side you come to the Finca San Antonio, a beautiful Italian-Guatemalan farm where some of the best cheese in the country is made  – and is for sale.

Todos Santos Cuchumatán

In the far west of the country, the highland scenery becomes even more dramatic, dominated by the blunted peaks of the Cuchumatanes mountains. The one village here that draws a trickle of tourists is Todos Santos Cuchumatán, a magical place that has a few basic hotels and a language school, but which is most famous for its three-day fiesta at the end of every October. This is when men from the village return from all over Guatemala – and even from the US – to celebrate the festival of All Saints (Todos Santos).

Apart from this, the twin attractions are the sublime setting, and the purity of Mam Maya culture – is is extremely rare to see any Todosanteros not wearing traditional costume. It is the men who are the real peacocks – they wear an almost outrageous outfit of candy-striped trousers and thick cotton shirts with huge, flapping pink or purple collars, accessorized with a straw hat. The surrounding countryside is perfect for challenging hikes.