Casa Prana is one of several luxury hotels located on Guatemala’s Lake Atitlán. Dan and I spent 4 nights and four days here in June and July 2024. This post reviews our stay at Casa Prana in detail. In sum, Casa Prana is a beautiful hotel and we totally enjoyed our time, with the highs and lows being:

PROS: Gorgeous setting, stunning views around every corner, private, good food, excellent service.

CONS: Remote, pricey, very limited nightlife, same menu every day.

Keep reading if you are considering a stay at Casa Prana!

CASA PRANA – THE HOTEL

Casa Prana is set on 9 uphill acres on the side (literally, the banks) of Lake Atitlán. There is no car access and the only way to reach the hotel is via boat, helicopter or foot (10 minutes from Santa Cruz La Laguna along a kind of marked trail). The hotel only has eight rooms, called suites, and each is unique, and you will likely feel like the only person at the property. We certainly felt that way (for better or worse, lol).

The entire hotel has a jungle/old school pirate mixed with a wellness retreat vibe. Think older furniture, lots of outdoor space, candle lighting in the evening and caged birds. It worked very well, honestly.

REACHING CASA PRANA

As Casa Prana is remote, the most common way to arrive at Casa Prana is via lancha from one of the Lake Atitlán towns, with us arriving from Panajachel. We coordinated Casa Prana’s complimentary pick up lancha from Panajachel’s dock by What’s Apping Casa Prana about 30 minutes before our arrival. And yes, you definitely need What’s App. My cell phone, despite having service in Guatemala, did not work to call Casa Prana. The boat ride was about 15 minutes from Panajachel. On reaching Casa Prana, we were met at the beautiful dock and immediately shown around the property. Other staff ensured that our luggage made it promptly to our suite.

THE LANDSCAPE OF CASA PRANA

For real, Casa Prana is built on the side of a rather steep hill. The hotel has lots of stairs and lots of walking. In other words, anyone with mobility issues should be sure this is an appropriate hotel. Leading up from the dock, the center of Casa Prana is the main villa, which houses a few rooms, the kitchen and indoor dining room, a pool table and the hotel’s sole television. The interior is decorated nicely, giving somewhat of that aforementioned pirate theme. The hotel pool is located directly in front of the villa and is a focal point of the resort.

The spa is located on top of the main villa, with the property gym above that. Another building with guest suites is located behind the main villa, and numerous focal points, including a volleyball court, the garden, and floral seating areas comprise the remainder of the resort. While definitely in the jungle, staff clean the resort very well every morning very early. The hotel and walkways are more than clean and ready for guests when most awake.

And I must mention the flowers and greenery. Casa Prana has some of the best flowers and greenery that I have ever seen at a hotel.

OUR ROOM AT CASA PRANA

We stayed in Casa Prana’s Master Suite 2, located on the second floor of the main villa. Our room featured old school stone walls – it felt like a castle – an adorable balcony overlooking the pool and Lake Atitlán and an ensuite bathroom. While not huge, it was comfortable and cozy, despite the stone walls. There was also a closet and mini bar area between the bedroom and walk in bath.

The bathroom was certainly vintage, featuring a wooden wardrobe, a sink with fresh flowers (a highlight!) and bath products, a toilet and a very tall shower that, I believe, doubles as a plunge tub if you fill it (which would take a while). Casa Prana offers full size bath products, robes and slippers in the bath. Everything worked well, although we did not try the bathtub option.

The closet and minibar area is located between the bedroom and bath. Inside one of the closets is a mini-fridge stocked with water, soda and beer. There was also a basket that was meant to have candy and snacks for purchase, but it was empty our whole stay (we just purchased snacks off site and brought them back for much cheaper….)

THE FOOD AT CASA PRANA

As Casa Prana is in a remote location, many guests have three meals a day here. We frequently had breakfast and lunch at Casa Prana and picked up lunch off site. Casa Prana offers three distinct menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a spa menu. One cool feature about Casa Prana – there is no “dining area.” Instead, guests can pick anywhere to enjoy a meal or drink and simply text the order to staff via What’s App. One of our favorite places to eat was the Orchid Room, which you absolutely must use at least once during your visit, preferably during the day when you can see all the flowers!

Breakfast at Casa Prana.

While we don’t always eat breakfast at home, we ate it every day at Casa Prana. This was probably due to the fact that we were a bit jet lagged (so odd coming from NYC!) and woke up super early, ha. In any case, we tried numerous items from the breakfast menu. All were pretty tasty. My personal favorite were the coconut french toast.

And I would also point out that we found the absolute best spot for breakfast – on the terrace atop the hotel’s gym. This terrace offered beautiful lake and volcano views.

Lunch at Casa Prana.

We ordered lunch a couple times during our stay, which I found to be the best meal of the day at Casa Prana! We also learned that you can mix and match from the menu. For example, I just ordered french fries on day, even though they are paired with fried fish on the menu.

Dinner at Casa Prana.

We dined at Casa Prana daily, as one is truly stuck at the hotel after dark, LOL. We enjoyed the dinner menu, including the local options on the menu, but I really wish they had a daily special or offered the lunch menu during dinner time. In any case, for your reference, here are some of our dinners!

Dessert at Casa Prana.

We also enjoyed dessert a few nights at Casa Prana. Dessert was usually pretty good.

The Spa Menu at Casa Prana.

Casa Prana also offers a spa menu. We never ordered from this, but we did mean to!

THE DRINKS AT CASA PRANA

Casa Prana offers a drink menu consisting of healthy drinks, teas, coffees (but no espresso), cocktails, wine and beer. We found the coffee excellent, the cocktails generally very good (with one or two misses), the beer cold and good and the wine pretty bad. Prices were reasonable for a remote luxury property, but high for Lake Atitlán.

ACTIVITIES AT CASA PRANA

Despite being small and remote, Casa Prana is not short on activities to keep guests occupied. This portion lists all the activities of which I was aware.

The “Heated” Pool

A focal point of Casa Prana is its heated black pool, sitting right in front of the main villa. We hung out here every afternoon. The pool is nice and beautiful, but the chairs could be replaced and the pool is NOT heated (it was freezing during our visit). The “heat” reference is a solar cover. Despite lacking heat, the pool receives an A+ for looks.

The Spa at Casa Prana.

Casa Prana has an open air spa located above the main villa. Offering yoga, massages and I think a few other services, it is quite relaxing. I had two massages here and they were lovely!

The Gym.

Neither of us used the gym, but we did visit it once (literally on our tour of the property, lol). The gym is located above most of the resort and offers a few machines, including an exercise bike, a treadmill and a rowing machine, as well as yoga mats and weights. The gym is open air with lake views.

The very small Sauna.

Casa Prana has 1 coed sauna in the traditional Guatemalan style. Unfortunately it was not working during our stay due to a recent electric outage. Here is a photo at night.

Volleyball.

A full size volleyball court is onsite. We didn’t see anyone playing but it looked fun.

The Cigar Lounge.

Casa Prana’s “cigar lounge” is located high above the resort on a covered porch overlooking the lake. This is the only place on the property where guests can smoke cigars and cigarettes. Casa Prana sells a few cigars in the main villa. Dan purchased one and smoked it in the lounge. Other people used this area as a private are for drinks or to hang out. On the cigar front, apparently most cigars in Guatemala are knockoffs and the price reflects that…this seemed to be the case here (and elsewhere where we looked at cigars).

The “Game Room”.

The main villa has a “game room,” which is basically a living room with a few board games and the resort’s sole TV.

Pool table and bar.

Casa Prana has a pool table in front of its pretty bar. We played one evening – it was pretty fun. Unfortunately, no one mans the bar, but it is nice to look at.

Roasting Marshmallows!

Casa Prana offers complimentary marshmallow roasting for all guests when the weather is nice! We asked for this one evening (only available until 9 PM) and the staff prepared us a fire and brought us European style marshmallows for roasting. Very fun!

The Garden.

Casa Prana has a garden on site where it harvests vegetables for its restaurant. Guests can explore the garden and even have a meal here in nice weather.

Tours. 

Casa Prana offers several tours to guest available for organization. I found them pretty pricey, but they are available. No prices are listed on the brochure so be sure to ask before booking.

STEAL OUR TRIP

Casa Prana: Lake Atitlan, Paxanax Bay, Santa Cruz la Laguna 00501, Guatemala.