Hello adventure travellers!
My uni age daughter and I want to spend 2 weeks in GUATEMALA this Christmas.
Any oustanding ideas on what to HIT and what to MISS???
Any insights will be most appreciated. It will be my first trip to Central America.
KK

On parle francais. Working on my espanol!

KK, Presently not able to help. But, my daughter and I are also planning a trip
South fairly soon so I am doing research. If I uncover some good resources I will pass them on. My research so far has been to speak with Guatemala nationals that know and to read the on-line Lonely Planet guides. It seems that of all the Central American countries that G is the most crime ridden. One national that I spoke with said that her doctor brother had been robbed several times of his car.

Good Traveling,
Will

Two weeks in Guatemala should be nice for hitting many of the highlights- but what is your mode of travel? Flying in and then public transport or rental car ?...or is it a motorcycle road trip extended from Mexico?
In any case you can enjoy a few days in Antigua Guatemala, or make your way to Panajachel to do the lake cruise thing and sightsee in the Mayan mountain heartland around there. Then Quezaltenango, Chichicastenango or Todos Santos Cuchumatanes.... soooooo much to see!
Also make a stop at Rio Dulce for the night and then in the morning take one of the boat tours down to Livingston on the coast. Livingston is a bit disappointing but the boat tour itself is the best part, I think.
From Rio Dulce carry on north into the Peten and visit Flores on its little island . Lots of hotels to choose from in Santa Elena at the south end of the causeway to the island so don't sweat reservations, - this is true for all of Guatemala.
From Flores it is only a short hop to Tikal the spectacular Mayan ruins site in the tall forested National Park. If you want you could spend days there just enjoying the sights from the top of some of the monuments.You can also spend the nights in the park, either at one of the three hotels there, or camping, or go back to Santa Elena or the little village just south of the park at the east end of Lake Peten Itza where there are also lots of hotels for tourists.
As for crime , don't get overly worried- just take the common sense precautions of not travelling at night, staying out of city slum areas , especially after dark and keep your wits about you. Having visited GT many times, most recntly this past winter I have never yet encountered anything scary. Even in Guate' ( local speak for the capital city) there is no reason to fear driving around the city during the day and looking for one of the many reasonably priced hotels for a short stay.
Guatemala may be a small country but the landscape and climate regions are so varied it can easily take up months to see it all. The same is true for the other Central American ccountries.

__________________
http://advrider.com/index.php?thread....207964/page-5 then scroll down to post #93

I´v been there 6months ago.
When I ride around so famous Atitlan lake,
I had a gun robbery at unpaved section.
It was two guys with black mask and I got stollen money and MP3 player.
So please never try this when you ride solo.

Regarding sightseeing..
Tikal is the best Mayan ruin in America I think.
Indian market on Sunday is so great.
Those two was very impressive.

Road was so great,you don´t have to worry.