Antigua Guatemala

Antigua Tabaco Compañía

What an unexpected find in central Antigua. The selection at this cigar store is second to none: the cigars and pipe tobacco found in the walk-in humidor represent practically every country in the Americas. At Antigua Tabaco Compañía prices tend to be high, but you get what you pay for, along with a helping hand from the knowledgeable and friendly staff who are more than happy to point visitors in the right direction. Best of all, after a hard day on the tourist circuit there's a mellow, air-conditioned cigar bar waiting for you here where you can relax with a cold beer and light up. English-speaking staff.

Daily 10:00-22:00

Arco de Santa Catalina

Santa Catalina Arch

What was a walkway used in the 17th century by the nuns of the Convento de Santa Catalina to cross over 5ª Avenida Norte from their cloisters to the parochial school without having to venture into the dusty street, is now the cliché tourist photo op in Antigua. And with good reason — the Arco de Santa Catalina is a lovely sight indeed, crowned by a clock tower that was added a bit later, in the 1830s. Today, the arch is looked after by the Santos family, owners of the nearby jewelry store Reino del Jade and Hotel El Convento.

Banco Industrial Numismatic Museum

Small but high-quality museum interpreting history of Guatemalan currency.

Mon-Fri 09:00-19:00, Sat Sun 09:00-17:00·Free

Bistrot Cinq

A French bistro featuring great food, very authentic cuisine found nowhere else in Antigua. American-owned and operated (as in USA, not Guatemala). Features an open kitchen where you can watch the chefs work, and a great bar. Offers many specials and unique local foods hard to find elsewhere.

Daily 12:00-22:30·Q100-300

Caffé Mediterráneo

This is a gourmet Italian restaurant one block from the Parque Central. No menus: the waiter will simply tell you the specials, which change every day. Widely considered to be one of if not the best place for Italian food in Antigua.

Mon & Wed-Sat 12:00-15:00 & 18:00-22:00, Sun 12:00-16:30 & 19:00-21:00·Q125-280

Café Bohème

Very cozy restaurant with a focus on international food, good coffee and Guatemaltekan hot chocolate. Has a rooftop terrace from which you can see Fuego spitting every once in a while

Mon-Thu 7:30-20:00, Fri Sat 7:30-20:30

Café No Sé

Cool hipster-backpacker bar serving up a range of drinks including the local favorite, "Ilegal" mezcal. Dim lighting, mysterious vibes, and interesting patrons from all over the world. Friendly staff and prices are a lot more reasonable than you'd expect from such a trendier-than-thou spot. Live music is presented frequently.

Casa Escobar

Entire restaurant lit with candles. Beautiful interior blending in with the style of Antigua. Do not let relatively high prices and not very appetizing pictures in the menu fool you. Steaks brought to the table will look way more appetizing and after the first bite you will know that you will not leave a single bite on the plate no matter how big of cut you have ordered. If you like steak you are hungry you are in Antigua and can spare US$20, Casa Escobar is an awesome place to go.

Daily 07:00-22:00·Q150-500

Catedral de Antigua Guatemala

Catedral de San José

The second church to occupy this site and one of the largest in Central America during its heyday, the Catedral de Antigua Guatemala was built in 1680 to replace its antecessor that dated to 1541. While most of the building was leveled during the earthquake of 1773, the ornate Baroque facade emerged relatively unscathed. While a partial reconstruction beginning in the 19th century has allowed the building to once again be home to a functioning church, other portions of the complex remain in ruins.

Cerro de la Cruz

The Hill of the Cross is at the north end of the city and offers the best views of Antigua. You can walk to the base of the hill from anywhere in Antigua within 10–20 minutes. Robberies have taken place on the walk up the hill in the past, but there are now police on the track during opening hours, and it is considered safe by the locals. The walk from the foot of the hill lasts less about 10 minutes. If you are concerned about either safety or fitness you can catch a tuk tuk to the top and walk down with other people.

Daily 07:00-18:00·Free

ChocoMuseo Antigua

Learn how to make chocolate from the cocoa beans. A unique experience where you learn everything about the history of chocolate, the cacao plantations, and the industry of chocolate making. At the end of the class you will make your own chocolate bar at your taste and will be able to bring it back home with you.

Daily 10:00-19:00·Free

Coffee Farm Tour

Ex As Green as It Gets

Learn how to pick, process and roast your own coffee. Spend a day with a coffee farmer, on the base of Volcán Agua, and learn what a day in the life of a small independent coffee farmer is like. The tour will take you up the volcano to pick coffee from their fields. They will then take you to their homes to demonstrate how to separate the coffee fruit by density, husk the fruit, ferment and wash the beans, dry, remove the inner hull, sort by size and grade, roast, and of course taste. Costs Q200 for the day, and includes a pound of coffee as well as English translation and guide services. Tours begin and end at Plaza de San Miguel Escobar in Ciudad Vieja, and must be booked at least 24 hours in advance.

Three-hour tours begin at 09:00 and 13:00

Colegio de San Jerónimo

The useful lifespan of the Colegio de San Jerónimo was short indeed: the sixteen years between its completion in 1757 and the earthquake of 1773 that destroyed it saw the building used first as a secondary school staffed by the Friars of La Merced, then as a royal customs house. Today, though it's quite a bit further afield from the other colonial ruins, San Jerónimo is popular with visitors for the beautifully landscaped gardens in its courtyard, centered on a lovely fountain and playing host frequently to dance performances, festivals, and other cultural events. As for the building itself, you can tour through the crumbling ruins of the old dormitories with their handsome vaulted ceilings, then head to the upper level for a great view of Volcán Agua in the distance.

Daily 09:00-17:00·Q30

Convent Sor Juana de Maldonado

Museum of the Traditions of Holy Week

Two themes: It interprets the conservation and restoration of the convent and also aspects of Antigua Holy Week. Gives an appreciation of the everyday lives of 18th-century nuns. Poster displays in English and Spanish. Video loops in Spanish, but conceptually understandable to English speakers. Static displays and two videos of the Antigua tradition of Holy Week artistic carpets of colored sawdust.

Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00, Closed weekends·Q40, students Q20

Convento de Santa Clara

One of the largest complexes of colonial ruins in Antigua, the Convento de Santa Clara was built in 1715 as the home of an order of Franciscan nuns founded some years earlier by a group of six sisters from Mexico. Today this ruin is most notable for its facade, which largely survived the earthquake of 1773 that devastated the complex; it's one of the most ornate in all of Antigua, replete with intricate statuary and ornamentation in molded stucco. Interestingly, the facade is located in the rear of the complex: in front is a spacious, well-tended courtyard garden not too different from the one at Colegio de San Jerónimo, ringed by the ruined remains of the former cloisters. Ascend to the upper level for a nice view over the surrounding mountains.

Q40

Convento de las Capuchinas

Formally known as the Convento e Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza (Convent and Church of Our Lady of the Pillar of Zaragoza), this partially reconstructed building (which is also home to the offices of the National Council for the Protection of Antigua Guatemala) was, from 1736 to the devastating earthquake of 1773, home to a community of cloistered nuns. Today, visitors can explore the ruined remains of the former nuns' dormitories, amble through the desolate tranquility of the convent's still-thriving gardens, and take in a panoramic view of the city from the rooftop terrace.

Q40

Doña Luisa Xicotencatl

Has the feel of a well-run corporate restaurant set in a gorgeous leafy courtyard of a historic building. Menu includes well-executed breakfast, hamburgers, and Guatemalan interpretations of Tex-Mex food. They use purified water on their vegetables and for drinking and ice, which means their menu is in-bounds for tender First World stomachs. There is a bakery in the building, which means that when you get close you can follow the delicious smells the rest of the way in. Highly recommended, especially for the cookies and daily selection of delightful breakfast breads.

Daily 07:00-21:30·Q50-80

El Hato

A small village in the mountains 20 minutes and 200 meters above Antigua (1800 msl), where you can hike around through the forest and coffee plantations and take in the view of the city. Chicken buses to El Hato (40 minutes; Q4) leave from the Mercado several times a day on an irregular schedule.

El Mirador

360-degree rooftop view of Antigua. Burgers, kebabs, drink specials.

Tue-Sun 17:00-22:00·Q75-150

Fernando's Kaffee

Some of the best coffee in Antigua, plus great breakfasts. Fernando, the owner, is very friendly and may show you his operation: the coffee roaster, grinder, etc. Pleasant courtyard seating is found when walking through the first two rooms and around the kitchen. The breakfasts are awesome: pancakes and crepes and fresh fruit. It is a great place to relax drinking wonderful coffee.

Mon-Sat 07:00-19:00, Sun 07:00-13:00

Helados Marcopolo

A chain with locations all over Guatemala and El Salvador that offers ice cream dishes in a polished atmosphere.

Helados Sarita

Another chain, with locations in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. This seems sort of like the Baskin-Robbins of Latin America. Several dozen flavors of ice cream in three different choices of cones, sundaes, and other more elaborate concoctions. Since 1948.

Iglesia de La Merced

Erected in 1767 by friars from the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, or Mercedarians, La Merced was one of the few buildings in Antigua to withstand the Santa Marta earthquake that struck seven years later. This was due to the ingenuity of architect Juan de Dios Estrada, who designed the building with his memories and observations of the tremor of 1751 fresh in his mind: the building's modest height, bottom-heavy orientation, wide arches, and robust columns were intended to withstand earthquakes. La Merced was abandoned in 1829 when President Francisco Morazán expelled all clergy from what was then called the Federal Republic of Central America; the church wasn't reopened until 1853, by which time the attached monastery had fallen victim to looters who plundered its building materials for use elsewhere. Today, visitors can take in a distinctive yellow facade that has been called the most beautiful example of Spanish Baroque architecture in Antigua, pay the admission fee for the ruins of the monastery whose courtyard boasts what is reputed to be the largest fountain in Central America (the Mercedarian monks once raised fish in it), or, if you are in town during semana santa (Holy Week, the week before Easter), check out the processions that wind through the streets of old Antigua on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, beginning and ending at the church.

Mon-Fri 08:00-12:30 & 15:00-18:00, Sat Sun 08:00-12:00 & 14:00-18:00·Admission fee to convent GTQ15

Iglesia de San Francisco el Grande

This grand old church is one of the most visited of Antigua's ruins, thanks to its status as final resting place of Hermano Pedro de San José Betancurt: a 17th-century monk who is the first Catholic saint to hail from Guatemala, and was renowned as the "St. Francis of Assisi of the Americas" due to his ascetic lifestyle, charitable generosity, and aid to marginalized groups within colonial Guatemalan society. A multi-domed structure in the Spanish Baroque style, San Francisco el Grande is a classic example of colonial-era architecture. It was partially reconstructed after the earthquake of 1773 and is still an operating church, but there's also a small museum onsite dedicated to Hermano Pedro and the history of the church.

Daily 06:00-18:00·Q8

Jade Maya

Here you can find something for the lady, or guy friend. Part of proceeds said to go to Mayan Conservancy (scholarship fund for Mayan students), and the business coincides with Fair Trade policies. You could just look around too if you like jade.

Daily 09:00-18:00

La Canche

Café La Parada

Popular among locals and well hidden behind the tienda this family-run restaurant rarely sees tourists. The ladies are very kind and helpful even though they don't speak English. They serve breakfast for Q20 and set lunch for Q20-25 that includes a drink. The lunch options are written on a board in front of the shop. Enjoy authentic homemade Guatemaltecan cuisine while sharing a table with locals and being watched by a parrot.

Daily 06:45-20:30·Q15-25

La Recolección

Built in 1708 as a church and monastery for friars from the Order of the Recollects, La Recolección sustained heavy damage in the earthquakes of 1717 and 1753 before meeting its final destruction in the massive Santa Marta Earthquake of 1773 that claimed most of the rest of the city along with it. Today it's among the largest ruins in Antigua, but it's also far off the well-trodden circuit (hidden away past the bus station at the west end of town) and not particularly well-preserved either: damage to La Recolección continued even after the quake, when much of the remaining material was plundered for other construction projects and structurally stable portions of the complex were altered for use as a soap factory, a horse stable, and other purposes. Still, visitors can take advantage of the quiet tranquility and lack of crowds to enjoy a peaceful walk through the garden. As for the ruins themselves, the former church building is the best-preserved portion of the complex; the cloisters, former infirmary building, and other remains less so.

Daily 09:00-17:00·Q40

Luna de Miel

Luna de Miel opened its doors in July 2006, and Antigua immediately succumbed to the charms of crepes à la française. The first floor area is small, but there is an inviting open-roof terrace upstairs. The menu offers not a lot to choose, but all the products are fresh, selected each morning in the market. Free Wi-Fi.

Daily 09:00-21:30·Q30-70

Market food court

Various comedores all serving homemade Guatemaltecan food. Breakfast from Q15, set lunch Q20-30 including a drink. All restaurants offer vegetarian plates. If you don't understand their daily menu, they will let you have a quick look into the pots in the kitchen.

Q15-30

Monoloco

A funky tourist friendly joint with cheap international calling and a few computers for Internet use. The food is very "gringo-esque", but tasty nonetheless. There's a large bar on the ground level, as well as a covered open air second floor eating area. Good place to meet and greet or enjoy a burger.

Daily 11:00-01:00·Q 60-175