Western Highlands

The Western Highlands are a mountainous region in Guatemala.

Regions

The Western Highlands stretches from the outskirts of Antigua to the Mexican border. It's probably the most beautiful part of Guatemala. The region defines itself with 2 main features: a mountain range of volcanoes on its south side and the tall mountain ranges that form the northern side. The greatest of these are the Cuchumatanes mountains where the Ixil Triangle is located.

• The Ixil Triangle
• Lake Atitlán - beautiful volcanic lake surrounded by quaint Mayan villages like Santa Cruz la Laguna.

Cities

• Chichicastenango - known for its colorful markets held every Thursday and Sunday

• Ixil Triangle - a remote and intensely traditional indigenous region in Los Cuchumatanes

• Lake Atitlán - an awesome volcanic lake surrounded by indigenous villages

• Quetzaltenango - Guatemala's western center makes an excellente base for studying Spanish

Other destinations

• Santa Cruz la Laguna is a small village on north shore of Lake Atitlán. If getting away from it all in magical surroundings but still being a short boat ride away from a night club is your desire then this is the place to be.

Culture and History

The landscape of the highland is controlled by many factors but perhaps the most important is its altitude. At lower altitude, the plants are almost tropical with coffee, cotton bananas and cacao while at higher up the hills are often wrapped in clouds and the ground is sometimes covered with frost. There, corn and potatoes are grown as main crops.

Talk

Travel to Western Highlands - Visa Requirements

Tours and Getting around Western Highlands

There will be a constant flow of buses along the Interamericana Highway. Some of them will be branching off onto minor roads to more remote areas. Going through these roads can be a exhausting experience, particularly in northen Huehuetenango and Quiche regions but scenery makes it well worth the travel. The most recommended plan is to base yourself in one of the larger city or village and then make a series of day-trips to those more remote areas.

Western Highlands tourist attractions and sightseeing

Spending time in the western highlands means you'll have lots of choices with spectacular verdant scenery yielding up atmospheric highland villages of adobe houses and whitewashed colonial churches at every turn. On top of the colorful market towns and astonishing landscapes for which the regions is known for, ther are a few historical sites sucha as the pre-conquest cities of Iximche, Utatlán and Zaculeu.

Itineraries

Western Highlands city tours

The numerous Spanish language schools, volunteer opportunies, and opportunities for laziness which the Western Highlands offer are described in the individual articles of the region's cities.

Western Highlands Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Western Highlands nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

Stay safe

It's sad but as you might have expected, crime against tourist including armed robbery and rape is not uncommon in the Atitlán area. There have been isolated incidents reported in Panajached late at night and if you are planning to hike the volcanoe nearby, check with the tourist office first for the lastes security information.

Get out

Destinations in Western Highlands:

• Lake Atitlan
• Lake Atitlán
• Quiche
• Quiché

This page was last edited by Wikitravel user Duende. Based on work by Jim DeLaHunt, Todd VerBeek and Bruce Alderman, Wikitravel user(s) Episteme and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license