South America

Hotel Review: Hotel Casa Santo Domingo – SPA ROOM!

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We spent a long weekend in Antigua, Guatemala in July 2024 after spending most of the week at Lake Atitlan (very highly recommend Lake Atitlan!). We looked at numerous hotels in Antigua before deciding on the well-established and historic Hotel Casa Santo Domingo. We later upgraded to a “Spa Room”, which we really enjoyed and would absolutely book again. This post reviews our stay in a Spa Room at Hotel Santo Domingo in Antigua, Guatemala.

The artsy spa at Hotel Casa Santo Domingo.

HOTEL CASA SANTO DOMINGO

The Hotel Casa Santo Domingo is historic; it was originally the grand Convent of Santo Domingo in Antigua, Guatemala. This convent was one of the largest in the Americas, and it was almost totally destroyed in an earthquake in 1773 (the devastating Santa Maria earthquake). The ruined convent set empty and largely in rubble until 1989, when the Casa Santo Domingo project was developed and began restoring the convent and turned into into a fabulous hotel.

The main entrance to the Hotel Casa Santo Domingo.

Today, Hotel Casa Santo Domingo is one of the nicest hotels in Antigua, in addition to a home to six on-site museums, a busy conference center, and just a gorgeous place to walk around and feel like you have gone back in time to the late 1700s. Even if you do not stay at Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, tourists can visit the property and its museums for free. I certainly recommend a stop-in for those not staying here if you like history or photography.

One of Hotel Casa Santo Domingo’s pretty courtyards.

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An Afternoon Eating Real Guatemalan Street Food In Antigua.

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Of course we took a food tour when we visited Antigua, Guatemala earlier this year. The tour was exclusively street food focused, which Dan loved. You can easily recreate the tour yourself if you are a bit adventrous and speak a little Spanish. Otherwise, I will link the tour below.

Antigua, Guatemala.

Our first stop was at a real Antiguan bakery that has been around since 1940 (and opens daily at 5:00 AM). And, it was delicious. The name of the bakery is San Antonio Panaderia Lo de Cuchi Cuchi. It is famous for its homemade bread, and its take away only. Located right in the center of Antigua, San Antonio is super popular with both locals and tourists. If you are visiting, bring cash and know a little bit of Spanish.

The entrance to San Antonio.

San Antonio’s sweet counter.

We tried two dishes at San Antonio. The first “bite” of our tour was something that a tourist can pretty easily find all over Antigua, particularly in restaurants and shops offering traditional Guatemalan food (such as Rincon Tipico),Colochos de Guayaba.  Colochos for short are gummy-like circles made from guava fruit and topped with powdered sugar. These were midly sweet and very tasty. They were also super cheap. A definite must try in Antigua.

A Colochos de Guayaba from San Antonio.

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24 Hours in Guatemala City: What To Do, Where To Eat & Staying Safe

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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.

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A Fantastic Meal at El Chato on a Bogotá Layover!

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As the lovely El Chato just received the high honor of the 25th best restaurant in the world (also on the list are Borago, Pujol, and Cosme that I’ve visited), I decided its time for me to publish my review on Dan and my wonderful lunch at El Chato last year on a layover in Bogotá, Colombia when flying from New York to La Paz, Bolivia.

Not the first time on the 50 Best list!

El Chato describes itself as a “contemporary Colombian bistro that pays tribute to the producers” of local Colombian producers.  Chef Álvaro Clavijo opened El Chato in 2017 after studying in Barcelona and Paris and working at numerous high-profile restaurants, including Copenhagen‘s famous Noma (now closed). 

El Chato’s entrance.

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Touring the Tarija, Bolivia Wine Region: Great [and Terrible] Wine, Lots of Steak, and Gorgeous Scenery!

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Last April, Dan and I traveled to southern Bolivia to drink more of our favorite wine – Tannat (a close tie with Sagrantino de Montefalco from Umbria, Italy)! You may recall that we traveled to Uruguay a few years ago for the same reason! And like before visiting Uruguay, we knew absolutely nothing about Bolivian wine country, or really even Bolivian wine, prior to our visit. In fact, we only knew that Bolivia makes Tannat, and that was enough for us. It also didn’t hurt that I had really been wanting to visit Boliva, and that Dan loves South America. We sandwiched our trip to Tarija between the Bolivian tourist hotspots of Uyuni and La Paz and hoped for the best, as there was MINIMAL information available online regarding wine tourism.

Bolivian winelands.

We found Bolivian wine country, or Tarija to be exact, beautiful, difficult to navigate, and having a variety of wines – some to our taste and others terrible in our opinion (in all fairness, Bolivians generally like really sweet wine and we do not). We will certainly be back to Tarija when we have more time to explore. For those planning time in Bolivian wine country, this article shares the knowledge that we learned on our trip, which seems largely missing from the internet.

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