ADD-ON EXCURSIONS
There’s room in the schedule for you to add on additional activities, if you’re the kind of person who wants to maximize every hour of the day! Take a look at some of the current options and you can add them on when you book.
PACAYA VOLCANO HIKE
For the adventurous types, a hike up the active Pacaya volcano, outside of Guatemala City is a trip highlight! You’ll be driven to base camp at about 6000 feet in elevation and hike another 1800 feet or so to the crater, where you can roast marshmallows over hot lava rocks and enjoy a picnic lunch. You’ll have a bilingual guide from an Antigua-based tour company, as well as a local guide when you reach base camp.
This is a strenuous hike, and hiking boots (or closed-toed shoes with good tread) are recommended.
Departure from Antigua around 8 am. Return around 2 pm.
Additional Cost: $92
IXIMCHE RUINS
Visit the ruins of one of the last cities to be built in the Mayan empire. Dating to the mid-1400’s, you’ll get to see the remains of ball courts, temples, residences and more.
With a local indigenous guide, you’ll learn about the Mayan lifestyle, calendar, glyphs, astronomy and more. The trip finishes with a picnic lunch.
Depart Antigua around 8 am. Return around 2 pm.
Additional Cost: $45
KAkaw designs
Get hands-on experience with the traditional weaving technique using a backstrap loom. Used to make the beautiful huipiles worn in indigenous communities, you’ll learn the steps to this technique, including making small designs on the textile as you work.
There is also an option for an embroidery class, instead, where you can learn how to make the small, intricate designs that decorate the tops of most huipilies.
Workshops last two hours and are led one-on-one or two-to-one, by bilingual indigenous instructors. Located in central Antigua, a ten-minute walk from the hotel.
Additional Cost: $55
BEAN-TO-BAR CHOCOLATE WORKSHOP
Spend two hours at the Choco Museo, located right on the Parque Central. You’ll start with a fresh cacao pod, learn about the history of chocolate in Guatemala and beyond, and go through all the steps of making chocolate from pod to bar. You’ll also walk away with your own custom chocolate bar!
Additional Cost: $30
canopy tour/zipline
Travel just outside of Antigua to Finca Filadelfia, where an open air Jeep drive up into the mountains will lead you to a breath-taking zipline course. The first seven stations are part of the Forest Express, with shorter lines. The final two stations are the Canyon Express, with the longer of the two measuring nearly a 1/4-mile long!
A similar zipline tour is also available at Tenedor del Cerro, located on Casa Santo Domingo’s hilltop property just outside of Antigua.
Additional Cost:
$75 (filadelfia)
$65 (tenedor)
GIANT RAINBOW slide
Head up to Antigua Boreal, where the new Giant Rainbow Slide is waiting for you! This exhilarating ride sits at the top of this recently developed eco park, which also features a restaurant and flower greenhouses to explore.
Located about twenty minutes outside of Antigua, you’ll get five rides on the slide and time to explore the property. Or you can head back as soon as you’re done and keep exploring Antigua!
Park opens daily at 8 am. Can be scheduled for whenever it works best on the schedule.