One of my favorite things to do while traveling abroad is combining learning and exploring a new culture with getting outside of the usual tourist centers and experiencing nature and wilderness. I’ve found this is one of the most dependable ways to really connect with a place – through it’s land.

I’ve done this on a few other adventures, like in Norway hiking in Hardangervida National Park, in Japan hiking the Kumano Kodo Trail, and in New Zealand hiking the Routeburn trek. In each example, I was able to blend culture and city with nature and adventure. My recent trip to Guatemala is no different. While we were able to explore the famous cities of Antigua and destinations like Lake Atitlan, we strung the two together on an epic 30 mile hike through the jungle and rural villages that lie between.

Most tourists take a bus between the two places, which takes about 3 hours on the slow winding Pan-American highway. It’s only 76 kilometers, or 47 miles. But why not extend the adventure and see parts of Guatemala that most tourists never get to?

Come with me as I talk about this epic adventure, which I booked with Old Town Outfitters. They also offer amazing alternative hikes and mountain biking experiences, or you can book this exact trip.

Day 1: Antigua to Caserio Pachut

We were picked up at our hotel in downtown Antigua, and driven to a starting point not far from the town of Patzicia. Before we began however, we visited a fascinating San Simon temple in San Andres Itzapa. These temples are very specific to the blend of catholicism and ancient mayan religiosity you find in Guatemala. Families would come from all over the country to offer sacrifices to San Simon, including many flowers, fruits, alcohol, and cigars.

After our temple detour, we started our hike by being dropped off in a cornfield. It was myself, my husband, our guide Lukas and his guide in training, Uriel.

We started by descending through a small village called Aposento Alto, passing by corrogated metal and tin houses and a few convenience stores selling coca cola and chips. Soon though, the road ended and we dipped down onto a trail that descended quickly to the jungle floor. It passed through a number of coffee plantations and other fruit and vegetable fields, where we saw some local villagers harvesting the crop.

We took a short break by a swinging bridge over the river, before ascending sharply up the other side of the valley.

We traversed for a few hours up the slopes of some very steep coffee farms, as our guides taught us about the importance of the coffee crop to the communities.

After we got out of the humid jungle, we then were back on the road through some other tiny villages, watching women carrying water and harvesting and drying corn on their roofs, with children carrying firewood, near Mizta Aldea La Pila. We then meandered up and down a few more tiny villages tucked back between the coffee farms. We didn’t see any other tourists the entire time, just strong locals hard at work washing their clothes and working the land. After a final push up a steep bushwack, we emerged at Caserio Pachut, a town on a hill with a view of Acatanango and Fuego.

From left to right: arriving in Caserio Pachut; puffs of smoke from Fuego Volcano; home for the night.

We spent the night warm and cozy in our tent, listening to the firecrackers in the village next door and watching Fuego erupt all night long in the distance. Our guides provided all the food and helped make and break camp, with our driver beating us to the campsite. As someone who usually carries their own food, water, and shelter on backpacking trips, this was truly the lap of luxury!

I clocked about 10km and a little over 3,000ft of elevation gain on day 1.

Day 2: Caserio Pachut to Caserio Chuinimachicaj

We woke up on day 2 refreshed despite listening to fireworks all night long. The local stray dogs came to visit as we ate breakfast – traditional Guatemalan style of scrambled eggs, refried black beans, tortillas, and cheese.

We hit the trail early and were immediately on a steep climb up out of the valley, with incredible views of Acatanango and Fuego as well as starting to see the mountains towards Lake Atitlan.

We traversed further along a ridge for a few hours before starting to descend through cornfields. It was the winter holidays in Guatemala, and families were together in the fields harvesting their plots of corn and beans. It was amazing to see the three sisters growing together, providing the food for these families to live off of. We started to see some gorgeous terraced valleys below, in various colors.

It reminded me a bit of the terraced farming you find in Portugal or Indonesia. Soon, we were back in civilization, and were walking through the village of Aldea San Jose Xepatan. We stopped here and waiting for the van that had been following us to pick us up and take us the last mile to our campsite. We could have hiked it, but it would have been on a very narrow highway shoulder and wouldn’t have been very safe. It was interesting to be a fly on a wall for half an hour while we waited, watching the locals doing their thing in this village – children and dogs running all over the town, shoppers in the small shops on the main drag.

When we arrived at out campsite, Lukas convinced us to get on the back of his friend Philippe’s truck. We rode with Phillippe’s two young daughters back to his home down in Caserio Chuchuca Bajo. There, we were greeted by his wife and mother-in-law, and invited in to use their personal Temescal, a traditional Mayan sauna. They didn’t speak any English, and our broken Spanish left us a bit confused, but eventually we stripped down to our underwear and hopped into their sauna where we took a bit of a hobo bath, using their traditional soap and splashing hot water on ourselves. It felt amazing in the steam of the natural coal sauna, especially after two long days of hiking.

When we were done, the family offered us some delicious coffee (probably the best we had the whole trip!) and then we were driven back up the hill to camp for the night. It poured rain all night, which was unusual for that time of year, and listening to the lightning and thunder was magical.

I clocked another 10km or so, with 1700ft of elevation gain.

Day 3: Caserio Chuinimachicaj to San Antonio Palopo (Lake Atitlan)

We awoke on day 3 with perfect views down to Lake Atitlan – the fog and storm from the night had cleared and it was another beautiful day of sunshine and warmth. We hit the trail with another guide this time, Jorge. He lived in the local village and could speak the local indigenous language, Kaqchikel. He was there to help us as we continued to walk through villages and private property owned by some for whom that language might have been primary.

We wandered through numerous coffee farms, and then slowly the terrain changes to avocado farms.

We descended eventually to another suspension bridge over a river. These bridges and trails we were taking are important for the local farmers and villages to reach each other without car – essentially the backroads approach connecting the mountains and valleys that scatter the landscape.

We then began a very exposed trek up the other side of the valley, before taking a break for lunch in a small village where a mother and daughter team served us incredible chicken and tortillas. Then on we went, finally with full views of Lake Atitlan. The final descent was upon us, though not before hiking through a very strange, private farm with cameras in the trees.

From left: delicious home cooked meal; warnings on certain farms.

As we descended the trail down to the lake, we encountered a grandmother and her granddaughter hauling firewood down from the top of the mountain to the lake. It was impressive to see, considering the steep, slippery stairs cut into the mountain required two hiking poles from me to balance! Apparently this is a very common sight has it’s hard to find firewood in the villages around the lake now.

We finally walked through the village of San Antonio Palopo, with music from a wedding in the village heralding us down the steep village switchbacks. Finally, we made it to the lakeshore! I clocked 9 miles and about 3,000 ft of elevation on the last day.

Not exactly accurate, but this AllTrails map should give you a rough sense of the path we took. Please do not rely on it for accuracy, it is an approximation.

Final Thoughts

It was an incredible journey. While we weren’t really in the wilderness, we were away from any tourist centers or places where English was readily spoken, so it was a nice way to get further immersed in the local culture. Plus, we spent 8 hours a day hiking with our knowledgeable guides, learning more about their life in Guatemala and getting my many questions about day to day life answered. We never could have walked through these villages on our own (and it wouldn’t have been respectful even if we could have found the path!), so it was nice to be able to do it with locals who could help be our connection to the local communities.

Logistics before and after the hike

Before the hike, we stayed in Antigua at Hotel y Arte Antigua.

After the hike, we stayed in Santa Cruz La Laguna. The exact hotel isn’t available, but this one looks very similar (an amazing view!).

Both were fantastic and reasonably priced, in great locations.