Private 4×4 road trip through the Mayan World (12 Days)

You are picked up at Guatemala City Airport and taken to Antigua for overnight stay.

Hotel: Los Pasos

You have breakfast at the hotel. You then take a private half-day walking tour. Antigua is among the world’s best preserved colonial cities in the Americas. It is a magic and captivating small town that makes you feel time might have stopped 300 years ago. From its colonial architecture to its beautiful surroundings; strolling through town on the cobblestone streets, you experience the splendors of ancient times!  (B)

Hotel: Los Pasos

You take early breakfast at the hotel and are then taken to Lake Atitlan. A guide takes you by boat to discover Santiago & San Juan La Laguna. Lunch is included. Along the shores of Lake Atitlan, you may find different towns, each of these villages is named after the twelve apostles. Santiago (St.James) is a village located on the south end, home to Maximon, a pagan saint who drinks moonshine and smokes cigars. Maximon is visited every day by locals, healers and tourists asking for favors. San Juan la Laguna, famous for its naïve art galleries, town murals and natural dyes textiles. This town is set as an example of organization and tourism destination among the highlands. Its beauty and cooperatives have set the perfect village. (B,L)

Hotel: Hotel Atitlan

Breakfast is served at the hotel and then you are transferred to Chichicastenango with a private driver. You take a guided tour of Chichicastenango´s Market en route, home to what is surely the most colorful native market in the Americas. Market days are held every Sunday and Thursday, and attracts not only the K’iche’ Maya of the surrounding region, but vendors from all over Guatemala, representing many of Guatemala’s linguistic groups such as Mam, Ixil, Kaqchikel and others. When you are ready, the driver takes you to Guatemala City for your overnight stay. (B)

Hotel: Clarion Suites or similar

Breakfast is included at the hotel and then you take a private transfer to Rio Dulce. You stay overnight at Rio Dulce. (B)

Hotel: Nana Juana

Breakfast is served at the hotel. While navigating the Rio Dulce (sweet river) you cross «El Golfete», the wider area of the river where the Chocon Machaca park and the floating gardens are located.  Along the way you also stop at Ak’Tenamit, a local cooperative that has been able to assist the village in the education and medical services through sustainable methods. Between «El Golfete» and Livingston, there starts an impressive canyon with walls of jungle and limestone. The tour ends at Livingston, the only town in Guatemala where the Garifunas settled in the 1800s. It has a unique ambiance that you will not find anywhere else in the country. Laid-back and relaxed, Livingston reminds you more of a Caribbean island than of Latin America. You then take a private transfer to Peten for your overnight stay. (B,L)

Hotel: Villa Maya

After breakfast, a guide takes you to Tikal. In the morning, you first take a short private guided tour and then have plenty of free time to explore the city and ceremonial center of the ancient Mayan civilization.  Tikal became an important ceremonial center with the construction of major pyramids and temples. Its best years were the Late Classic Period (600-900AD). Tikal National Park contains some of the most fascinating archaeological remains of the Mayan civilization. Declared a UNESCO’s World Heritage site in 1979, Tikal is Guatemala´s most famous cultural and natural preserve. (B,L)

Hotel: Villa Maya

You have breakfast at the hotel and then are taken to San Ignacio with Yaxha tour en route. Yaxha is an archaeological site and ancient ceremonial center of the Mayan civilization situated in the northeast of Peten. Located approximately 30 km (18.6 miles) southeast of Tikal and 75 km from Flores.  Yaxha (emerald green water) is an important ceremonial center located between lagoons of Yaxha and Sacnab.  This site has over 500 structures including 40 stelea, two ball courts and nine temple pyramids.  Structures at Yaxha show the influence of Teotihuacan and include the only twin pyramid complex outside Tikal. (B,L)

Hotel: San Ignacio Resort

You have breakfast at the hotel and then take a full-day tour of Caracol.  Caracol, a great city once, was home to more than twice the current capital’s population. Caracol also remains the site of one of the tallest manmade structures in the entire country: the «Canna or Sky Pyramid». (B,L)

Hotel: San Ignacio Resort

You have breakfast at the hotel and take a private transfer to Belize International Airport for your flight to Cancun. You are welcomed and transferred to your hotel.

You enjoy a full-day tour to Chichen Itza. (B)

You have some free time in Cancun and are then taken back to the airport for your flight home. (B)