Tour: Introducing Central America

A two week itinerary full of variety, this tour offers you a taste of the area, visiting Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. Start in Guatemala with a few nights in the old capital Antigua, a small town that retains the beauty of its colonial heritage in its fine buildings and cobbled streets. It is a very attractive place to spend some time.

Travel up into the Guatemalan highlands to Lake Atitlan. With its backdrop of volcanoes, this is one of the most stunning lakes on the continent. Several villages are dotted around its shores of which Santa Caterina has the best views. Villagers wear colourful handwoven costumes and sell their wares in the local markets. Stay at the Hotel Atitlan, a beautiful hotel in a prime lake side location. From here visit Chichicastenango, home to a quite unique handicraft market that appears lost in time, drawing villagers from miles around to sell their brightly woven textiles, masks and beautiful ceramics.

Next journey across the border into Honduras to visit the Mayan ruins at Copan, with impressive carvings, temples and tombs. Travel on to Tikal, with its tall pyramids shrouded in dense tropical jungle. It is probably the most extraordinary of all the Mayan sites, its buildings date back some 2500 years and many are still hidden by the rain forest, home to howler monkeys and toucans. Then out to Ambergris Caye in Belize for a few days on a white sand beach at the end of the tour.

Highlights:  Antigua, Lake Atitlan, Chichicastenango, Copan, Tikal, Ambergris Caye.

Last Updated: Tuesday May 13 2008