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14 days, 11 days with motorcycles
1100 km / 688 miles
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After our 2023 trip to Belize, with a short
side trip to Flores and Tikal in Guatemala, Jayne
and I wanted to see more of Guatemala. I started to
research for this trip as soon as we returned from
Belize.
In early January 2024 we flew into Guatemala City and
went on to Antigua. We explored Antigua for a
couple of days before picking up our rental
motorcycles. Then we rode the bikes to Panajachel,
from where we took a boat to San Juan and a
tuktuk to San Pedro. Then we headed north to Chichicastenango,and
on to Quiche. From there we rode our motorcycles
to Huehuetenango to visit the Zaceleu ruins.
Onwards to Nebaj and Coban, before
riding to Lanquin to visit Semuc Champey.
From there we went south again to Salama, Rabinal,
and Pachalum. There we visited the Mixco
Viejo Mayan ruins. Since we had a couple of days
left, we decided to ride to Monterrico on the
Pacific coast, before returning the motorcycles again in
Antigua. The next day we took a taxi back to the airport
in Guatemala City, which took over 3 hours in horrible
traffic.
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The best time for such a trip is
December through March. January and February are the
height of the dry season. Guatemala is called eternal
spring, which sounds right. In February you can expect
temperatures in the 80s F in the mountains and in the
90s F at the coast. Nights in the mountains can get
chilly, down to 50s F. Rain showers can happen even
during the dry season, especially in the Semuc Champey
area.
The road conditions of paved roads are
generally good. Many paved roads have surprising dirt
sections, where a bridge is out or a landslide happened.
Locals ride these roads on their 150 cc Chinese street
bikes 2-up or even more, but many of us (me included)
will want to have a dual-sport bike for it. Speed bumps,
here called tumulo, are everywhere and often hard to
see. Some of them are gentle sloped while others are
harsh bumps.
Have a look at Google Maps when you plan your rides,
you'll be surprised! And don't call Google crazy when it
tells you that it will take you two hours for 50 km (30
miles), Google is not that far off, as it gets the data
from everybody's phones.
In terms of safety we had no problems and always
felt safe, even when walking trough towns after
nightfall. If you are not leaving your stuff on the bike
while sightseeing and in general are aware of petty
thefts, like anywhere, you are very likely okay.
Motorcycles on the roads are respected by the vast
majority of car and truck drivers, as small bikes are a
means of transport for many locals.
A big issue is the huge amount of street dogs
everywhere. We saw lots of dogs in Antigua before
we started the ride, and when we returned there were
absolutely no dogs in Antigua. Which can only mean that
it's true that they sometimes poison the starving dogs
at night and then pick them up and bring them to the
dump.
Also a huge issue in Guatemala is trash. It's on
the side of every road, sometimes truckloads of trash,
just dumped. It's everywhere and that's really
depressing. |
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| We flew into Guatemala City and
immediately took a taxi to Antigua,
about an hour drive away (for US$50). |
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| The first two days we explored the
historic town of Antigua. We were by far
not alone, lots of tourists everywhere. |
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| Antigua has many church and
monastery ruins from the 1700s. In 1773 an
earthquake destroyed most of the city, which was
also the reason why they moved the capital from
Antigua to Guatemala City. |
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| I had rented two Honda XR250
Tornado's from rideguatemala.com,one
lowered for Jayne. When we got there he also had
a old Yamaha XT250, which is lower than
the lowered Tornado. So Jayne picked the XT250
instead. He will not have a very low
option anymore, as he's going to sell the XT
soon after us.The bikes come with small (12
liters) saddle bags. Mine were full with
supplied tools and spare inner tubes, and we
used Jayne's mostly for water bottles. I had
purchased a hiking pole for Jayne online from
Old Town Outfitters in Antigua, as we couldn't
bring one as carry on. We also couldn't take it
back, so we donated it back to them. |
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