We went to Lake Atitlan. It was a 12 hr tour with hotel pick up and drop off. Our guide was Ruben and Miguel was driver. Both were very professional and knowledgeable with a lot of patience. We loved the back stories of all the towns and the goat ride. Restaurants that were suggested were great for breakfast and lunch. I would give 5 stars to this tour.

Beautiful experience and boat tríp. …………..………………………………………….. would definitely recommend to my friend. Very good guide

It was a lovely day with a great guide, as expected from the description. It was also very, very touristy. San Juan La Laguna was nice and colorful with the main market street, and we got to test and try a few light activities. We then went back to Panajachel for lunch in a regular place and walked in the street with few tourist both. Sadly, I was hoping for some off-road/surprise experience. Guat2Do Travel - Please consider how to add "Spice" to this trip, something local. Notes: - It takes two hours from Antigua and three hours from Guatemala City to get to the lake. - You will go on a fast, jumpy boat for about 20 minutes to cross the lake.

Well-organized trip. The tour guide picked up from my hotel in Guatemala City and dropped me off after the completion of the tour. During the tour, Rubin did a get job explaining the various stopping points and answered all of my question. This full-day tour was worth it.

Starting off our tour guide MR RUBÉN ALBERTO ALONZO, SANCHEZ is amazing, very knowledgeable of the culture, city , country everything!!!! , amazing person , answer all questions, the best tour guide I ever been on , amazing tour, I came in solo , I recommend all travelers to attend this , solo , group doesn’t matter, good times!!!! Accurate pickup timing

Carla and Carlos were great guides. Carla is so knowledgeable about all things Guatemala and is such a positive and wonderful person. The trip itself was on time and exactly as described. I would not skip this if you are traveling to Guatemala. The lake is beautiful and the town has a lot to do.

Lake Atitlan is one of the absolute must visit places in Guatemala. The lake is an ancient super volcanic crater over 300 meters deep and surrounded by ragged peaks including a number of volcanoes. Eleven villages are dotted around the lake, all very distinctive. San Juan de la Laguna is an artisan village with a number of strong women’s cooperatives - artists, weavers and chocolate makers (yummm). San Marco de la Laguna is hippy heaven as we discovered when we walked into the annual harvest festival. Most of the westerners there are people who kind of forgot to go home. Some have been there for years. Santa Cruz de la Laguna is set high on a hill side, less developed than some of the others but unbelievably picturesque. Panajachel is kind of the capital of the lake as it is where you first arrive after the three hour winding trip from Antigua. Locals call it Pana. Santa Catarina Polopó, my favourite, is an hour or so walk from Pana. In the past few years locals have stated painting their homes and businesses in beautiful blue and gold patterns. Tourism is much less here but with the beautification that is bound to change. Lots of foreigners come to the lake to study Spanish in on of the villages. Others just come to lie in s hammock.

Amazing views and a beautiful experience connecting with the people of Panajachel. The colorful culture was wonderful to observe. The tour guide is very knowledgeable and insightful.

I really struggled with what to rate this tour. One on hand it was a pleasant day but the reality was far different from expectations. First I'll say Reuben and Miguel were excellent. Reuben is very well educated and will happily tell you a plethora of knowledge as you make your way from the city to the lake. He's a very friendly and cool guy also. Miguel is a fantastic driver and made the drive there and back very comfortable. Where things are a little bit different are: in the description here it sounds like you spend time in Panajachel and San Juan exploring the streets, shops and sights. In reality when you arrive in Panajachel you immediately board a boat and go over to San Juan. Upon arriving in San Juan we were then escorted to a local artist's gallery where his paintings were very nice but the whole vibe was "you're going to buy something right?" After that we went to the textile store and had a demonstration of how they prepare the cotton, dye it and create the products. It was interesting but once the demonstration was over we were again escorted to the store with a vibe of "you're going to buy something right?" The third stop we made was at a local chocolate factory store and where showed us how chocolate was made. The location of the store makes it difficult to hear the presentation and of course after the demonstration we were shown to the store for "you're gonna buy something right?" Finally after those 3 stops we were given a little over an hour of free time to explore. This was by far the best part of the tour. After the free time we boarded the same boat and went back to Panajachel and were taken to a restaurant and told to have lunch here. Honestly this was nice because the food was amazing. Some of the best I've ever had but after lunch we never explored Panajachel. Not the streets or sights or anything. We got back on the bus and went back to the city. Expectation from the description to the reality of what happened was different. Overall it wasn't a bad day, in fact it was enjoyable but I expected more of a tour than being handed over to local businesses to spend money. I'm positive the other tour companies do this as well because there were multiple groups in every shop we were escorted to. So you won't avoid it by choosing a different company. If you can arrange for a shuttle to the lake and a water taxi to another town that fits in your timetable I would definitely recommend that. If you can't achieve that, then yeah go on this tour. The Lake Atitlan is quite beautiful and you should go.

There was an landslide so we had to leave at 4:30 instead of at 7:00 am we had to transfer busses 4 times and the last bus driver who took us all the way to Panajachel was not very good at driving. But I understand the situation was not the agency's fault and they did really good coordinating everything for us and making sure we were on time and could enjoy the experience, and what an experience it was. Highly recommend this tour, if you only have a day and want to still enjoy the experience of Lake Atitlán and some of the cities around it, this is the tour for you. Helena was just amazing 👏 I recommend if you get car sick to take medication before you board the bus, the road is full of ups and downs and tight turns.

Excellent trip but be prepared for a very long travel day. Our day started at 7am and ended around 10pm from Guatemala city as it includes pickup and drop off of other customers in Antigua hotels with traffic as a consideration in and out of the capital. None the less, amazing tour with an extraordinary tour guide who was also an archeologist with exceptional knowledge of the region and its history. Just be ready for an exceptionally bumpy 20-30 minutes boat ride each way to and from San Juan upon arriving at the Lake Atitlan from Panajachel. One suggestion i would have for the tour operator is to include some free walking time around as we did not get to spend time in the beautiful lake side city and its markets as we just observed them on the drive to the port/dock. We did have a late lunch in town but would have preferred free time to walk around. Overwall, a worth while trip as the views from the lake of the volcanoes and towns on its shoreline are absolutely stunning!

The logistics and pacing could be handled better but overall really cool way to see the lake towns in 1 day.

Our guide Mikelangelo picked us up in a comfortable van for an 11-hour tour. It's truly a 3-hour drive (each way) to Lake Atitlan, and our guide stopped once or twice each way so we could stretch our legs and buy a bottle of water, (or more if we wanted). And he spent much of the time giving us interesting information about Guatemala. Upon arrival in Panajachel he had us review a menu and select lunch (which he would call in so it would be ready when we returned after our boat ride). Very smart and saved us much time. The boat ride was in a private skiff (with cover), and much speedier than the public party boats. Arriving in San Juan La Laguna Mikelangelo kicked into full tour guide mode. He took us to a variety of cultural shops (stingless bees & honey products, cotton yarn dyeing & weaving, and chocolate), as well as showing us a group of locals playing the traditional Mayan game of Pitz (with a rubber ball, using only their hips to direct it thru an elevated hoop). He also gave us time to shop before climbing back in the boat for our return trip to Panajachel. Lunch at the restaurant he selected was delicious -- Guatemalan specialties and a live 6-member marimba band that played while we lunched. After lunch we hopped back in the van for our return to Guatemala City. Overall we were delighted with our tour and our guide. We found San Juan La Laguna to be too much of a tourist trap to go back again, but were very pleased to have done it -- and to have done it with Mikelangelo and Guat2do tours.

Where to start?! This tour was absolutely amazing and worth every single penny! This was one of the first tours that my boyfriend and I did and I’m extremely grateful that we did it! We were in Guatemala City for one full day and wanted to cover as much as possible in one day. We had the PERFECT tour guide for this! Our tour guide Manuel Salvador Galdámez Aguirre aka Manny Galdámez was absolutely phenomenal! Manny was well informed, hilarious, and efficient! We literally couldn’t have asked for a better guide! If you want to know about the history of Guatemala, along with all of its hidden gems then Manny is your guy! The tour is an all day affair, but allows you to fully immerse yourself in the local culture. We left the tour with the best souvenirs, full stomachs, and new friends! Book this tour NOW and ASK FOR Manny Galdámez for a top tier experience.

The collective was one of the BEST tours I’ve been on in a long time. I booked this trip randomly with my good friend and it did not disappoint. Our tour guide Manuel Salvador Galdámez Aguirre aka Manny Galdámez was AWESOME!!! Very funny, engaging and informative. Everything was a history lesson about the beautiful country of Guatemala. We ate breakfast at a beautiful restaurant Kota on the way there and the food was amazing and very affordable. We then took a boat ride on Lake Atitlan to San Juan where we experienced the most authentic textile business and learned about the process of making chocolate. The tour is full of murals great for picture taking. While on the trip we met a very nice couple who joined us on the tour and we had a blast! We ate dinner at Panajachel and enjoyed each others company. I will definitely be booking with Manny Galdámez again.

I will start by saying our tour guide, Rubin and our driver, Carlos were exceptional. Rubin was friendly and shared tons of Guatemalan history and facts. It is a 3 hour ride from the city, good roads but winding. We spent about an hour in total in San Juan, which is colorful small town with locals in traditional Guatemalan attire, although very pricy and Tourist trap type destination (over $6usd for a chocolate bar at the chocolate demonstration store) then had a very good lunch at Atlantis restaurant in Panejechal. The reason for the low rating is the boat ride to and from Panejechal. We are water people. We scuba dive, deep sea fish, have done long distance swims in bad conditions. We own boats, have been in bad weather. This ride was ridiculous. We didn’t realize the winds were so high and the water would be so bad and we’re not warned. We were on a small metal dingy type boat and the driver just throttled it through crazy swells and white caps. On the way there we were drenched and just slammed the entire way. It was much worse coming back and the driver didn’t seem to know much about how to drive in tough conditions which had deteriorated by the time we we’re heading back. It consisted of no-stop catching air and slamming for 57 minutes. They handed us lifejackets halfway through to cushion the slamming. We were glad they did because there were thoughts that we may have to use them. We would’ve gladly cancelled or just spent time in Panejechal if they had been upfront with weather and water conditions. I’m not sure if other companies did cancel but we only saw a couple of boats on the water. I did a similar tour last year with Authentic Guatemala and not sure if they would’ve handled this differently but it was definitely a better and bigger boat and much better experience. But also remember you are in a third world country and are responsible for your own safety.

The lake was beautiful to visit. The drive was very long to/from Guatemala City. I enjoyed the boat ride on the lake. The tour guide seemed completely uninterested and did not seem to care about the tour. We were left not knowing what was next/ the schedule, and she barely gave us any information about places we were seeing. Everything felt rushed, and she seemed far more motivated to get out of the town and back to the city rather than ensuring we enjoyed our experience. She was a nice lady, but very bad at her job, making the costly excursion a bad experience. In addition, our visit to the village was just a tourist trap. We only visited those “tours” / shops that give brief explanations then push you to buy things. We did a chocolate, coffee, and art tour. Overall itinerary was bad. In reflection, I would have preferred to find my own way and explore by myself.

We did so much on the store. Well worth the money Carmen was our guide and was very nice and helpful. She answered all my questions. You get to see so much of Guatemala on this trip and do so much. I highly recommend it.

I had a ‘VIP’ day because I was the only participant on the Tour to Lake Atitlan + Panajachel + San Juan + Santa Catherine! What a trip, I learned so much, about Guatemala, the Culture, the chocolate, about the color of the traditional dresses the women wore here. Joel was an amazing guide! Definatly worth every penny as it was an amazing experience!

When I booked my ticket earlier for the tour, I thought it to be a collective tour. Lucky for me, I was the only customer for the tour. Getting into the van and introducing each other, I immediately felt that both my guide Ruben and driver Carlos will make the day special and memorable for me. Ruben has a fathom of knowledge on all the components of the tour that was so nicely designed to cover a magnificent natural and cultural experience that Guatemala has to offer to the world. In my opinion ,this tour is a must see!! All along, Ruben kept me informed about fascinating facts and we were engaged in interesting conversations about the historical, cultural and geological importance of the area. Timing covered on each site was perfect and the day was absolutely well worth. Carlos has been a great driver, very courteous and kind as well. Peter from Guat2Do was in touch with me all along. I was traveling solo. He assured me everything will be safe and it was. Guat2Do did a fantastic job!!