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Guatemala

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Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

Lonely Planet Guatemala is your passport to all the most relevant and up-to-date advice on what to see, what to skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore the street markets of Chichicastenango, climb the radiant Maya ruins of Tikal or dip your toes in the ethereal Lago de Atitlan; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Guatemala and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet's Guatemala Travel Guide:

Color maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries show you the simplest way to tailor your trip to your own personal needs and interests Insider tips save you time and money, and help you get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - including hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, and prices Honest reviews for all budgets - including eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, and hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer and more rewarding travel experience - including history, art, literature, Maya heritage, politics, landscapes, wildlife, and etiquette Over 46 maps Useful features - including Maya Ruins Planning Feature, Off the Beaten Track Itinerary and Illustrated Map of Tikal Coverage of Antigua, Chichicastenango and other highland towns, Lago de Atitlan, Grutas de Lanquin, Semuc Champey, Tikal and other Maya ruins of El Peten, Pacific beaches, Guatemala City and more

eBook Features: (Best viewed on tablet devices)

Zoom-in maps and images bring it all up close and in greater detail Downloadable PDF and offline maps let you stay offline to avoid roaming and data charges Seamlessly flip between pages Easily navigate and jump effortlessly between maps and reviews Speedy search capabilities get you to what you need and want to see Use bookmarks to help you shoot back to key pages in a flash Visit the websites of our recommendations by touching embedded links Adding notes with the tap of a finger offers a way to personalize your guidebook experience Inbuilt dictionary to translate unfamiliar languages and decode site-specific local terms

The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Guatemala, our most comprehensive guide to Guatemala, is perfect for those planning to both explore the top sights and take the road less traveled.

Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet's Central America on a Shoestring guide.

Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Lucas Vidgen and Daniel C Schechter.

About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-

874 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

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About the author

Lonely Planet

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OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for Yael.
56 reviews2 followers
June 26, 2013
Review from a Guatemalan:
Tho I liked the book and it has some facts that I didn't even know... It also has some misleading information and it tells you to go to places that don't even exist!
So if you use this book, try to look for information online or ask a local.
Profile Image for Valerie Sherman.
1,003 reviews20 followers
February 25, 2020
Used this book to fill in a trip to Antigua and Lake Atitlan. Very thorough, and contained solid info on how to get around the lake towns in Ati.
Profile Image for Theut.
1,886 reviews36 followers
August 3, 2022
Utile per preparare il viaggio, ricca di informazioni utili (ovviamente il web aiuta per gli aggiornamenti, ma sulle priorità/posti interessanti al momento il cartaceo batte siti ;)).
Profile Image for Gretchen.
414 reviews25 followers
September 8, 2025
This guidebook edition was pretty good, but it was missing a lot of detail. Plus, it was riddled with small errors (typos, wrong page numbers cited, etc.) Lonely Planet needed a good proofreader for this edition. The style of this edition was different from other Lonely Planet guidebooks, and on one hand, I liked the more interesting way it wrote about the different attractions/things to do, the problem is that it really focused on a couple of the main things to do in each city/place. Some of the cities/towns, there was not a lot of information as to what to do/see. I am glad I had an older Lonely Planets guidebook for Guatemala because that provided much more detail on sites/things to do/eateries/places to stay so between the 2 books I got a comprehensive amount of information (though I did have to check that the eateries, etc. from the older book were still around and some of them were closed). So I am a bit disappointed in this LP guidebook. They could definitely had included more details for every place in this edition.
Profile Image for Chelsea Waters.
47 reviews
August 21, 2018
Nonfiction/ Informational

Summary:
Guatemala, a country with history. This travel guide gives color maps, suggestions of activities to do while in Guatemala and built in dictionaries to help with vocabulary. Maps and photographs give readers a view of Guatemala that they would not receive apart from this nonfiction text.

Evaluation:
This book is so engaging. From colored maps to actual budgeting suggestions, it follows a person through how to take a trip to Guatemala. This book is in the beginning of a series of different countries.

Activity:
These books come in a series of different locations that the students could research. Since the text gives suggestions for taking trips to Guatemala, I would ask the students to write a short paragraph on what they would do in Guatemala. I would incorporate this text by teaching the students about maps and what maps tell them.
Profile Image for E&A Smith.
20 reviews
July 6, 2023
I lived in Guatemala for over 2 years, in the jungle on the Rio Dulce on my sailboat and this was my bible during that time. It was a huge help. If you have never been go now! It's a beautiful country and the people are the kindest in the world.
283 reviews13 followers
July 25, 2018
Great collection of places to see and experience. Little stories about the history and traditions of places also captured my mind.
Profile Image for Yaotl Altan.
356 reviews4 followers
November 6, 2019
Es una buena referencia sobre los sitios que no debemos omitir en nuestra visita a Guatemala 🇬🇹 tanto en su ciudad capital, como en la colonial Antigua, además de múltiples lagos, volcanes y sitios arqueológicos. También proporciona información cultural sobre ese hermano país.
Profile Image for Liz.
5 reviews
July 8, 2009
I carried this book in my backpack for six weeks around Guatemala, like just about every other american (and most European) tourists. I found it helpful to a point, like most guidebooks I suppose, but after a week or two I began to find it most annoying. It didn't seem terribly well organized and I found it particularly difficult to use when trying to figure out how to get from place to place, because often that information was spread throughout the section, or simply was incomplete.
Profile Image for Rosey.
79 reviews5 followers
March 1, 2008
Well... this was a good starting point for me. It did exactly what I wanted it to do--get me excited to go to Guatemala. Hopefully I'll get there, sometime in late August... again, let me know if you have any suggestions for reading regarding Guatemala, and any tips if you've been there... la dee da.
Profile Image for Michele.
82 reviews1 follower
January 12, 2009
Guidebooks for what they are worth can tell you a lot. And this one does that, but there is something about this guide book that only tells you about the tourist traps. I like to go where there aren't tourists. So take it with a grain of salt if you like to travel like me. But whatever you do don't carry it in your hand or the people will laugh at you!
Profile Image for Cassie.
32 reviews
March 7, 2011
Feel like I have a pretty good first impression of Guatemala now! It provided a thorough intro to the culture of Guatemala and listed many outside resources that will also be helpful for learning about the country before I go. The writing was pretty entertaining as well - my favorite part is when the author called the tectonic plates underneath Guatemala "frisky."
13 reviews
November 1, 2015
Enjoyed this guide and can't wait to reference it on our trip to Guatemala this month! Skimmed quite a bit in the middle for regions we're saving for future trips. I'm really excited to visit the western highlands-Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and Xela. Lots of good food and lodging tips in this book as well as some history.
Profile Image for maggie.
7 reviews
August 6, 2008
This book is embarassing. They call indigenous traje "costumes". If you're ever going to travel to Guatemala and want a book borrow one from somebody else or get it used (I could track mine down for you)- don't give 'em your money.
Profile Image for Justin Wiebelhaus.
118 reviews6 followers
October 30, 2021
A great guide to Guatemala. Though I think things like specific restaurants and hotels is getting antiquated with the internet but the overviews of cities and the quick history of Guatemala was good. Also liked to inside look on culture and what makes the county unique.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews

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