My Travel Guide to Antigua, Guatemala: Budget Tips, Awesome Activities, Low-Cost Hotels and Great Coffee

Do you love spontaneous adventures, travel tips and stories that will inspire you to pack up and go? Well, welcome to the Wigging It Travel Podcast. I'm James, your host, and each week I bring you travel tales, practical advice and interviews with travelers from around the globe. Whether you're planning a big trip or just dreaming about one, you'll find everything from hidden gems to epic fails because travel is not perfect and that is what makes it beautiful. So grab your backpack and let's wing it.

New episodes every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube too. You can find Winging It and more fantastic travel podcasts from around the world at voyerscape.com. The link is in the show notes. Let's go and explore the world. Hello and welcome to this week's episode. And today I'm sharing my tips and tricks for Antigua in Guatemala. So a classic solo episode this one.

And if you've been following the episodes in chronological order, you'll notice last week I climbed the Acatonango volcano and the jump off point to arrange and do that is from Antigua in Guatemala. This is a place that's very popular. It's been written about a lot, talked about and YouTube a lot. But I thought I'd share with you my tips and tricks for this place. I was there for five days in total. So I divided it up into travel tips, currency information, accommodation, cafes and restaurants, budgets, activities.

a little bit about the volcano hike from last week to some admin and miscellaneous. First off, if you're getting to Antigua, you're going to go via plane. If you're flying into the country, you're going to land in Guatemala City Airport. That's about an hour to two hours taxi ride away from Antigua. And I usually book through Gecko Explorer when I'm traveling in Central America, if I want a shuttle or not a local bus. You can go to Antigua from El Salvador for 15 US dollars, which takes three to four hours if you come on over the border. But also you can just arrange a taxi.

with a hotel, there's plenty of options and I think you're pay anything between 15 and 40 US dollars depending which way you get to Antigua. The traffic can be a bit of a nightmare from the airport to Antigua, it's a very popular route, just one road up there. And within Antigua itself, if you wanna travel around, I would say walking is probably the best bet. There's cobbled streets, there's little local taxis about, they're okay, there's local buses, but it's quite a small town. It's just easier if you walk.

But local buses probably go out of town to somewhere else, not actually in and around town. But I guess you can just haul down a local bus, jump on the chicken bus, and then say where want to get off. But you probably need good Spanish for that. The currency is called Quitozales, and it's going to be one US dollar to 7.75 Quitozales, one Canadian dollar to five and a half, or one English pound to 10. That's the one I went with. It's easier admin. For my time there, I stayed in two types of accommodation. These are both hotels, actually.

There's plenty of hostels in Antigua. For once, I went for a low budget hotel because I found they had the best value and there is a few reasons. I went to La Casita de Angie. So if you put the map of Antigua on Google Maps now, it's to the left, north west of the central part of Antigua. It's 110 quetzales a night without breakfast, but a private room and your own bathroom. Good, decent deal of that. So we're talking around what, 10, 11 English pounds?

probably around 20 Canadian dollars and it's in a quiet part of town and the reason I picked it is Antigua is busy with tourists. Things going on all night, all day, if you need a bit of quiet, the edges of town are probably your best bet but La Casita was recommended by someone else actually who stayed there and it's no frills, decent budget, on the edge of town and it's probably about a 20 minute walk into the center of Antigua.

The second place I stayed at is called the Hotel Casa Del Cero with breakfast and that is 2, 7, 8 quetzales a night, so a bit of a jump and that's in the northern part of the central part of town. Just away from the main road, great facilities, great rooms and it does come with breakfast too. And the reason I picked this place is because on that side of town it's just a little bit easier to walk into the main centre part of town and also it's close to

a place I wanted to go and see, which I'll come to in a second for activities. And to add, if you love cats, they have a nice big ginger cat there who comes and lays on your lap. What else do you want? So for cafes and restaurants, I've got quite a few. All I did really in Antigua was drink coffee and had some local brunch. But I've got a few recommendations here. These are all awesome, actually, and they cover a array of breakfasts, coffees, and lunches. I didn't go out in the evening that much, and if I did, it was pretty cheap. The first place I went to is called Fernando's Cafe.

It's located at 7A Avenida Norte 43. They do fantastic coffee and local breakfasts. My favourite was called the Tipico, which is basically some bread, some smashed like refined beans, eggs, some veg, and you might get a bit of fruit with that as well. And also it's pretty expensive for locals, so you're get a mix of some locals, but mostly tourists and backpackers in there. They do great smoothies as well. And I think you can buy coffee and chocolate from the shop.

So it's like all in one nice little courtyard. You can sit in there dreaming. The next one is called Abole, which is a Japanese style cafe. Great food, if you like Japanese food. Great coffee as well. They roast their own coffee and it's run by a Japanese family. Another one is called Onzas. It's a trendy coffee roasters right in the middle of town. And if you go through the back of this cafe, it's got a courtyard with other shops. Very, very trendy. Looks very nice. Trees, clean buildings. Very, very nice. A dinner recommendation called...

Le Quebecois, it's not a local recommendation. This is a French Canadian restaurant run by a French Canadian and he's on his own. And it's just by the hotel that I mentioned, Casa Del Cero. The guy in there cooks all sorts of cuisine, could be poutine, burgers. He does breakfast, I think, as well. And he's open six days a week. I think he takes the Monday off, but he's on his own. So give him a bit of time. He can get quite busy, but a very interesting guy. You should speak to him.

Another cafe recommendation is called Fat Cat Cafe. Great coffee and a working space if you need to work. This is where I booked my admin to get flights, gecko explorer, shuttle buses, et cetera, sorted out. Great wifi. Sick Naluz is another cafe with a great courtyard and they open late if you want a late coffee. Brud Cafe is right next to Santa Catalina Arch and I'm always a bit suspicious of cafes next to tourist attractions and this is the main one in Antigua. But this cafe does brilliant coffee and great cups too. I got French inspired.

pastry cafe called La Panaderia Francesca. They do brilliant croissants and powder chocolats. Very busy, lots of space, it's a huge building. Right in the centre of town, it's very popular with bike groups. I think I saw a cycling group come in, park their bikes up in the courtyard, another courtyard, of course, have some lunch and a coffee. Very, very trendy. And my last recommendation is a vegan restaurant called Samara. Quite expensive, decent.

but maybe not worth it for the value. In terms of budget, Antigua is more expensive than anywhere in El Salvador, but cheaper than Mexico. The main part of Antigua is mostly tourists, so Western prices, or lower Western prices, should I say, for most things like hotels, food and drink. Lots of choice for hostels. I know there's a big one called Tropicana, it's a very popular hostel. There's also a Selena hostel there too, but I find those hostels are maybe more expensive than low-end.

independent hotels, so I hotels this time. Lots of free walking tours there, so make sure you tip. I reckon all in all, budget in mid-range is somewhere between $2 to $250 a week. Now activities, what do you get up to? If you pop in Central America into Google and you go on images, you're see the Santa Catalina Arch. It's this yellow arch with a volcano in the distance. That is an Antigua, and this place is busy all the time.

The only thing I'll say is the time where I found it not to be busy is really early in the morning. If you don't need a coffee, if you just want to go there and get your photos and it's a nice crisp morning, probably between 7 and 8 a.m. is the best time to go. I think I was there about 8 and it's starting to get busy. So I got there, got my photos, but any time during the day and especially on the weekend, it's going to be super busy. Central Park is the main central area of Antigua. This is where the free walking tours normally start. There's a nice little area in the middle where you can sit and...

have a fountain there and you have a coffee and just chill out and people watch. That's pretty cool. I did a free walking tour with George, which I booked on GuruWalk. You can find the link in the show notes. This guy showed us around for two, three hours, all the main sites, lots of information, a great guy, quite a big group, eight to 10 people, but super knowledgeable. He's a local. I would highly recommend this activity to get a local feel of the place. And in Central Park, I randomly bumped into...

a guy called Juan who was a guide on my Succho Toto tour for the Civil War, he's from Guatemala. I saw him in the park, we shouted to each other, nice hug and nice catch up, that was pretty good moment. The church of La Mesed, which is in the Central Park, just off there, that's a popular place to go and check out, that's part of the walking tour as well. And on the walking tour we also checked out Hotel Casa Santa Domingo. This is an upmarket five-star hotel, been renovated, but it's just cool to go in there and walk around, again, another huge courtyard.

just super nice, and that's where the walking tour finished. Now, my favorite activity of Antigua is called Cerro de la Cruz. This is a lookout point over the city. It's quite popular, but if you go early, you void all the crowds. So I went up at 7.45 a.m. It took about 15 minutes to get up there. There are some steps, but once you get to the top, sensational views overlooking Antigua. And there's a bit at the front that you can go to, set your tripod up, go and do some trendy footage, which I'll show now if I click this bit.

and you can just get the most amazing views over the city and all the volcanoes are in distance. And the reason to go early is to avoid the crowds. You'll find some runners and some locals doing some exercise. It's quite an easy walk up, but that is my top tip for Antigua. My final activity that I did in Antigua was Delahente Coffee Farm Tour. This is with a charity that sponsors local coffee growers and we got picked up in town. I'll put a link in the show notes for you to have a look. And it was awesome. Got picked up, went to this guy's house. He gave us coffee, of course.

Talked about the different coffee beans and how they process the coffee. Then he took us on a walk to his farm. We tried some coffee fruit. We picked some coffee beans. We had a really good time. There's two guys in this chat who will translate what they're saying. And you can also buy, obviously, their coffee. And I'll tell you what, on my trip in Central America, of the coffee I bought to take home, this was the best one. An amazing tour. Would highly recommend it. A little bit about the Akitango Volcano hike. I mentioned in the previous episode about booking with Ox Expeditions, a Tropicana hostel.

Mention that with Nick. I would say listen to the episode with Nick to get the full debrief on how to book that and where to go But a few extra things I would say there is no hiking shops in town So make sure you either get your gear pre-trip or you borrow on the tour itself bring cash and snacks their key But all the information about that hike and where to book and how to book is on the episode with Nick and to Finalize learning some Spanish will be very handy. Just courteous

It's not hard to learn. English will be fine. It's a very popular tourist place. Very safe. No problems walking at night. A big backpacker and digital nomad community there. So lots of people to meet if you're looking to go there just to chill out and do some work or hang around for a few months. I reckon there's probably a of Facebook groups or Instagram groups who will have information about where to meet up, meet people, et cetera. Lake Atatlan and Guatemala City are both close by. They're probably one to one and half hours in different directions. If you want to go and see Tikal, you'll need to get to Flores. And there's two ways to do that. You can get a local bus. That'll take

I reckon 16 to 17 hours and that's overnight. Or you go with Gecko Explorer, might take a little bit less time, a tiny bit more comfortable. If not, you can go back to Guatemala City, catch a flight to Flores, which is what I did because I ran out of time and that cost about 50, $60 and it took an hour. Traveling overland to Mexico, I would stay this side of the country and what I mean by that is I would go further on to Quetzal Tanango. That's a main hub and from there you can carry on into Mexico.

because I was going north to Ticale, I couldn't really get to Mexico in quick time over land, that's why I flew. But if I was gonna do it again, and I was going over land only, I would stay this side of the country. That's pretty much everything I know about Antigua. It's a great place, very busy with locals coming on holiday to check it out from other places in Guatemala, but also very busy from tourists, international of course. And it's just one of those places that is on the tourist trail in Central America.

If you're going to backpack through the whole area, you're going to go to Antigua. Some people would love it. I loved it. I didn't start that well, but towards the end, I did love the place. And compared to Oaxaca, I found it busier than Oaxaca, but it is a charming place where I could see myself hanging out for one week or two. If you love your coffee and you're just doing coffee content, I mean my word, where do you start and where do you end? You go on forever. For me, it's a place to check out in Central America and Guatemala. It's a must and I would happily go back there tomorrow. If you've got any questions, send me a note.

And if you more details on Antigua, I think I touched on that with Nick in the previous episode for the Akatanango volcano. Go to that episode too. Just a note on that. They had some weird stuff happening with volcano this year. It stopped erupting and now it's back a little bit, but I'm not quite sure what's going on. So we'll double check the information for that before booking anything. But for me, got lucky last year. It was just normal, it on a day, book the tour and go up. Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you next time. And for the next episode, it's going to be Lake Atatlan and

to count. And I'll see you there. Cheers.

You'll find Revolut to get your travel card sorted. Click the Giggs Guide link to get your eSIM ready for your trip. And more importantly, you'll find Safety Wing Insurance to get that travel insurance for your trip. There are many more to check out. So when you click that link and book your product, a small commission goes towards me and the Wigginit Travel Podcast. Thank you in advance and enjoy your travels.