Karl WP Beyer Puerto Quetzal, the largest port on Guatemala's Pacific coast, lacks any charm. Even so, cruise ships occasionally make a stopover in Puerto Quetzal, especially when traveling through the Panama Canal.
The port of Puerto Quetzal, the neighboring city of Puerto San José and the surrounding lowlands offer nothing worth seeing. Visitors can find interesting excursion destinations in the beautiful, mountainous hinterland. However, we find the distances to be covered to the destinations described below to be disadvantageous. With regard to the lonely regions to be passed, we recommend organized tours for ship guests. Proven goals are:
La Antigua Guatemala
The city of La Antigua Guatemala with a population of 35.000 is famous for its well-preserved buildings from colonial times. Spanish conquerors founded the city in the early 16th century and made it the capital of the General Capitol of Guatemala. The focus is still today on many baroque buildings influenced by the Spanish Mudejar style as well as a large number of church and monastery ruins. The city has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. Under One day in Antigua Guatemala we report on a day trip to the city 80 kilometers from Puerto Quetzal.
Lake Atitlan
Lake Atitlán (Lago de Atitlán), located in the highlands of Guatemala at an altitude of 1.560 m, is also one of the excursion destinations preferred by ship guests. The German explorer Alexander von Humboldt praised it for its uniquely beautiful location in front of three volcanic mountains. The French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry immortalized the lake in his story "The Little Prince". Tours to the lake are offered as scenic tours by bus and as helicopter tours. The bus journey is 140 kilometers there and back. A driving time of around 2½ hours is to be expected for one route.
Lake of Atitlán
Visitors should know the following: As a result of decades of pollution of the lake with sewage, the formerly clear water has been suffering from algae plague for many years. Plastic trash floating in the lake is another problem. These problems are man-made; they change nothing in the beauty of the landscape and the surrounding picturesque places.
The ancient Mayan towns of Tikal and Yaxha
A visit to the ancient Mayan towns of Tikal or Yaxha in the north of the country is not an excursion for normal wage earners. The Mayan sites are located in the tropical rainforest, far from the port of Puerto Quetzal. For reasons of time, only airplanes are available for these excursions. The flights departing from Puerto San José are accordingly expensive. Visitors are offered the Great Jaguar Pyramid, the Central Square, the Palace of the Masks and Temple IV, the largest of all pre-Columbian complexes in the Western Hemisphere.
Mayan temple
The Filadelfia coffee plantation
The Filadelfia coffee plantation of the R. Dalton Coffee Company, which has existed in La Antigua Guatemala since 1870, is not just a coffee plantation; it is a hotel and resort as well as tour operator. From coffee tasting to mountain biking to two zip line canopy tours, guests are offered all kinds of things.
Coffee plantation
