I spent a little over 24 hours in the ever unpopular Guatemala City, Guatemala in June. I almost skipped Guatemala City in favor of tourist friendly Antigua, but I needed Marriott nights and couldn’t resist the opportunity to explore a new city. After visiting, I had a great time and found more than enough to do in 24 hours. That being said, I don’t think Guatemala City is a “must see” for tourists in Guatemala, but I also do not think it needs to be avoided like the plague. This article details my 24 hour experience in Guatemala City and how to recreate it for yourself!
Tasty street food in Guatemala City’s Mrecado Central.
24 HOURS IN GUATEMALA CITY ITINERARY
First, Dan and I arrived in Guatemala City after midnight due to a delayed flight, we simply checked into the Westin Camino Reale and slept our first evening. Despite arriving quite late, we woke up early the next morning and were pleasantly surprised that it was not raining, as it was rainy season and the forecast called for rain… And indeed, it would later rain. In any case, we enjoyed in the Westin’s hotel breakfast, which was great and even included fresh coconuts (!) and checked out the pool for later.
A coconut bar at breakfast!
The Westin pool.
We set out to explore Guatemala City after breakfast. Upon leaving the hotel I was immediately surprised by how clean and nice the streets are around the Westin. Very pretty with sidewalks, bars and cafes and pretty flowers. I was also immediately taken by the number of American chain restaurants. Seriously, if an American chain exists, it is likely also in Guatemala – Papa John’s, Chili’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Starbucks, Dunkin were spotted immediately.
A Domino’s in the historic center of Guatemala City.
Our first stop of the day was at the Museo Mira Flores, a short drive from our hotel. We joined a tour to transport us around, but you could easily Uber. Museo Mira Flores is a museum in Guatemala City dedicated to artifacts from the ancient Mayan city of Kaminaljuyu. The museum, founded in 2002 and privately funded, actually sits on top of the old city of Kaminaljuyu and three preserved mounts, or grown over Mayan pyramids, are there. In addition to the “mounds,” the museum is home to lots of artifacts and interesting interactive exhibits, including one telling visitors their Mayan symbol and one taking guests though Xibalba, or the 9 level of Mayan hell.
The Museum of Mira Flores.
One of the Mounds at the Museum of Mira Flores.
A Mayan burial site at the Museum of Mira Flores.
Mayan jewelry at the Museum of Mira Flores.
We next visited Guatemala City’s Relief Map, which was the site I was most excited about seeing! Located a short drive from the Museum of Mira Flores, the Relief Map is an exact map of Guatemala erected at ground level on two scales: 1: 10,000 for the horizontal extension and 1: 2,000 for the vertical. The map was made back in 1904 and 1905 and it apparently still matches Guatemala perfectly! We climbed the viewing platforms for views of all of Guatemala. It was cool to see where we would be traveling later in our trip.
Guatemala Relief map from the viewing platform.
From the ground level.
After visiting the Relief Map, we took a car to the historical center of Guatemala City and first explored the Mercado Central, which is a public market selling tourist souvenirs, flowers, ancient medicinal remedies, fruit and vegetables and meals, among other things. Mercado Central is indoors and the souvenir shopping was the best I saw on the trip. We didn’t do much souvenir shopping, which I regret, but we did try a Guatemalan taco from Refacciones Doña Mela that was delicious.
One entrance to the Mercado Central.
Fresh vegetables!
Fresh fruit!
Refacciones Doña Mela. Very popular!
A Guatemalan taco – corn tortillas, pork, crispy pork bits and lime.
Coming out of the Mercado Central, it unfortunately started raining, which dampened our excitement (pun intended) for exploring the rest of Guatemala City’s historic Center. We did walk by the famous cathedral and the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura and made a pit stop at the famously rowdy El Portal, which I would love to return to for a beer. El Portal has been open since the 1940s and was a popular haunt of Che Guevara in the 1950s.
Guatemala City’s cathedral in the rain.
Guatemala City’s national palace – now a museum.
Restaurant El Portal.
Lots of cool old advertisements in El Portal.
El Portal also often has living music on the marimba.
We also saw both art deco and art nouveau buildings in the downtown area, as well as a castle looking building that I think belongs to the Guatemalan military. We ended our tour in modern downtown Guatemala City, where despite being modern and honestly not that pretty, the buildings feature Mayan symbols.
Theatre in art deco style. I loved this.
This is the military building.
Mayan symbolism on a modern Guatemalan building.
As it was raining pretty hard at this point in the day, we retired to our hotel rather than exploring further. We had originally planned to use the pool at this point but due to the rain, that was not feasible. We instead ordered lunch from Pollo Campero, a Guatemala fast food chain (although you can find it many places worldwide)! I had a fried chicken sandwich and fries with ranch that I found fantastic. Dan ordered the spicy wings and was not as big a fan…. I am still glad I tried it while in Guatemala.
I was a big fan of the Pollo Campero chicken sandwich.
Lunch. The ranch sauce was very good.
After napping for much longer than anticipated and repacking for our departure the following morning, we went out for cocktails at what must be Guatemala’s best cocktail bar, Cocktail Lobby. Located in upscale Zona 14, Cocktail Lobby serves great cocktails in a crazy style. Thinking smoking cocktails, elaborate glasses, the Guatemalan bus cocktail in the cover photo… However, in addition to an excellent presentation, the cocktails were fantastic. Dan and I both highly recommend Cocktail Lobby.
A smoking cocktail at Cocktail Lobby.
After drinks, we literally walked into the next room for a tasting menu at one of Latin America’s 50 best restaurants, Sublime Restaurant, which also owns Cocktail Lobby. Sublime was twelve courses of fantastic Guatemalan food that featured famous dishes from different parts of Guatemala. It was certainly the best meal that we ate in Guatemala – highly recommend it!
A mini funnel cake based off of a famous amusement park in Guatemala.
WHERE WE STAYED IN GUATEMALA CITY: WESTIN CAMINO REALE
We stayed at the Westin Camino Reale in Zone 10, or the Zona Viva. The Westin is close to many restaurants, shops, businesses, etc. and you can walk around the area without concern (IMO). The hotel breakfast, which we received complimentary due to my Platinum Marriott status was very good, and the Westin had a beautiful pool (which we unfortunately did not get to use). There is also a casino attached to the hotel, in addition to at least one other restaurant besides the breakfast one, a bar and an Executive Lounge. Unfortunately, I did not find the executive lounge to be very great – it was a process to checkin to it and, at least on our stay, they did not have waters and diet soda out at all times when open. All in however, we had a great stay, and I would absolutely stay at the Westin Camino Reale.
HOW WE GOT AROUND GUATEMALA CITY
We found Uber to be the best way to get around Guatemala City. Our Uber app worked just like it does in the US and it was inexpensive.
THOUGHTS ON SAFETY IN GUATEMALA CITY
A lot of what I read in preparing for Guatemala City said that it was really dangerous. Like super dangerous. I did not find this to be the case. I am sure there are certain dangerous parts (as in any big city), but we felt totally safe in the historic center and in Zones 10 and 14 taking normal city precautions. I would not avoid Guatemala City for safety reasons alone, especially if you are a seasoned traveler.
STEAL OUR TRIP
Westin Camino Reale: 14 Calle 0-20, Cdad. de Guatemala 01010, Guatemala.
Museo Mira Flores: 7 Calle 21-55, Cdad. de Guatemala, Guatemala. Closed Monday. Open Tuesday – Sunday 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM. Cost: 30 GTQ (around $4 USD) per adult.
Mapa in Relieve: MF6R+8GG Ciudad de, Av. Simeón Cañas, Cdad. de Guatemala 01002, Guatemala. Closed Monday. Open Tuesday – Sunday 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Mercado Central: 8 Calle, Cdad. de Guatemala, Guatemala. Open daily 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM. Cost: free entry.
Refacciones Doña Mela: Inside the Mercado Central.
El Portal Bar: JFRP+5GW, 9A Calle, Cdad. de Guatemala, Guatemala. Closed Sunday. Open Monday 12:00 PM – 8:30 PM, Tuesday – Saturday 11:30 AM – 10:00 PM.
Cocktail Lobby by Sublime: 12 Calle 4-15, Cdad. de Guatemala 01014, Guatemala. Closed Sunday & Monday. Open Tuesday – Saturday 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM.
Sublime Restaurant: 12 Calle 4-15, Cdad. de Guatemala 01014, Guatemala. Closed Monday. Open Tuesday – Sunday 12:30 PM – 3:30 PM, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM. Reservations suggested. Tasting menu and a la carte available.