November 27, 2025

Andy and I have traveled to some pretty obscure destinations over the years, and most of the time people don’t even bat an eye. We get an occasional, “Is that place safe?” And I usually respond with, “Is the United States?” (Let’s be honest, no). But what was surprising when we booked this trip, we both got a lot of the same question separately, “Why?”

So let’s start there. I love Central America. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I love the culture, the climate, and Andy and I both love the coffee. Andy spent about 3 years working for Starbucks as a Store Manager (and a Coffee Master!) and Guatemala coffee is one of his favorite regions. Guatemala has rich history – and amazing natural features – hello? Volcanoes!

I had been researching a trip to Cartagena, Colombia on a Thursday, and when I went to book the trip on Sunday the flight had basically DOUBLED in price. Andy had thought we had gotten priced out and we were going to stay in the US for Thanksgiving and I said, “Hold my beer.” 😏

I looked through a range of countries we hadn’t been to – including Jamaica – which I’m glad with the recent hurricane we didn’t end up booking there. But we finally landed on Guatemala Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage site.

We knew it would be a short trip, but we decided to book it anyway. We booked a red eye flight out of Tijuana the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we were on our way!

We arrived in Guatemala City on Thanksgiving and I had arranged transportation to Antigua through our hotel, which made it super convenient. Antigua was just under 2 hours from the airport, but depending on the time of day I’m sure the traffic could be way worse.

We had booked our room for the night before since it was such an affordable rate – and so we could check in right away. As soon as we got into our room as we took a nap because we were so tired from the flight. We didn’t want to sleep too long because there was exploring to do!

I had found a boutique hotel that was central to the famous arch in Antigua. We also knew that a lot of our activities could launch from this hotel, so once we saw the price and location we booked it. We grabbed a few appetizers and then rushed back to the hotel to meet our guide for a walking tour.

When we can, we like to do walking tours to familiarize ourselves with a local city if we are staying there for a few days. This helps us find restaurants and things to do. Our guide met us at our hotel and took us over to the Arch (half a block away) to start the tour. It was a private tour, which sounds far more impressive than it is. Everything is very affordable in Guatemala, so I think this tour cost us around $50.

Our guide told us about how Antigua was the third capital in Guatemala, but was eventually moved due to earthquakes. It is still a very popular city, and a destination for locals. It is very expensive though – for the locals – and many people vacation there (or get married there!).

We stopped by many different churches and other buildings that held significance. One thing that stood out to us, is that a lot of the “magic” in Antigua happens behind the walls. From the street you actually can’t tell how beautiful a building is until you walking inside the courtyard and that’s when you can see how special it is.

We walked inside a restaurant called Aqua and were able to see from a rooftop the three surrounding volcanoes. It was such a cool view, we decided we needed to come back later in the trip! Another stop was maybe the most beautiful Starbucks we’ve ever seen, which was pretty cool to see how they infused the local culture in it.

We ended the tour and then had dinner before turning in for the evening. It was a great way to get acquainted with the city and scope out different places to stop by on the rest of our trip!

Accommodations: San Rafael Hotel Antigua Guatemala

Up Next: Coffee Tour with De La Gente
Spa Day at Casa Santo Domingo