Antigua on your own or formal tour??

Can't decide if we should just catch the ride from the ship to Antigua and walk around on our own or if we will enjoy sticking with an all day ship tour and really hear all the history. They provide lunch too at Casa Santo Donmingo Hotel.

Any ideas one way or the other?

Wandering on your own it will be just a bunch of old buildings

Go with the group & get the history of the place

Does the tour give you free time?

yes it does/ thankyou, I think you are right/ if we go all the way there might as well get a good history of everything

yes it does/ thankyou, I think you are right/ if we go all the way there might as well get a good history of everything

Be sure to look around the grounds of the hotel after lunch

Enjoy the trip

have read on this forum that the DYI ship tour drops you off at the tourist office.

You can hire a certified guide there for a walking tour of the town.

We plan to do this.

Just off the Infinity- Antigua on your own. Easy to get your own guide at the drop off- $10pp- and get a good tour, etc. Just be aware lots of traffic issues- we spent 3 hrs there and almost 5 on the bus!

We did the "Antigua on your own" tour last April. After a ninety minute drive the motor coach delivered us to the visitor's center. Numerous guides were available for personalized tours of Antigua. These guides are multi-lingual, and their english was excellent. They are also certified by the Guatamalan tourist board. I would definitely recommend the this type of tour of Antigua as it was my understanding from talking to another passenger who took the ship's tour of Antigua that they basically were in buses who drove by the various buildings, versus actually going into them.

There also were numerous interesting restaurants in Antigua.

We were there for a week before we did the walking tour. The main reason to do it is that there is absolutely no street signage, so once you move from the central park and cathedral it is easy to get turned around, if you dont keep in mind your route. On the plus size, it is the grid system and there is plenty to see and do without going very far at all.

Food in restaurants are safe.

There is a lot of free wifi to send your instagrams. In fact I facetimed my daughter from Cafe Barrista to show her the volcanos!

Just back from the Celebrity Century.

We did the DIY ship tour to Antiqua.

There were four of us who hired Miguel for $10.00 per person at the tourist center. He asked us what we wanted to defintiely do? We said buy great coffee and have lunch at a local Guatemalan cafe and see the places of interest.

We walked to Santo Domingo, a upscale hotel embedded in monastary ruins. We explored many of the courtyards, the ruins, the crypt with bones of early monks and the church on the grounds.

We then walked to another boutique hotel that was in a old spanish house. Again beautiful courtyards, rich architecural details, antique Spanish furniture.

Miquel said the rooms cost about $80 USD a night.

We then went to the main square/park. It is beautiful with a large Ceiba tree in the middle and beautiful fountains. Off the square was a coffee shop. We got to sample various coffees from different parts of Guatemala. After about four expressos we all bought coffee.

then on to lunch at a cafe facing the square. We had a typical Gautemalan lunch.

I had chicken soup, big pieces of chicken in a tomato broth. They brought a plate of rice and some other vegetables to pour into the soup. It was very tasty. Others had roasted chicken, rice, beans.

After lunch Miguel took us to the market also near the square to wander around and shop.

Miguel told us that he was sent to Belize to live with his grandmother during the civil war to escape the military. That is where he learned English and went to high school. He is of Mayan descent.

In fact, all the tour guides in Antiqua are of Mayan descent. Our guide on the bus could give tours all over Gautemala but not in Antiqua. Here only the locals are allowed to be guides. They are all certified.They all wear light brown vests.

We got back to our drop off place by 2pm for our 2:30 pick up back to

the ship.

It was a great day, saw the volcanoes, some of the countryside, including the sugar cane plantations which are owned by one family. Learned some more of the history of the country and leisurely paced tour of Antiqua made for a great port day.

Can't decide if we should just catch the ride from the ship to Antigua and walk around on our own or if we will enjoy sticking with an all day ship tour and really hear all the history. They provide lunch too at Casa Santo Donmingo Hotel.

 

Any ideas one way or the other?

The lunch at Casa Santo Domingo was pretty good when we did the tour. It doesn't matter what you decide but make sure it's the "SHIP'S TOUR" as we were 30 minutes late getting back and there were 2 other buses after us.

as it was my understanding from talking to another passenger who took the ship's tour of Antigua that they basically were in buses who drove by the various buildings, versus actually going into them.

This must be a misunderstanding. Only minibusses fit in the narrow cobblestone streets, but they use big busses to take you from the port to the city.

We took the 'Antigua on your own' tour, glad we did because the busses got stuck in traffic on the way back to port. One of them arrived 1 1/2 hours late. Antigua is too far from port to risk independent transportation.

While the licensed guides in Antigua charge $10 pp for the walking tour, is there a reduced rate for children and infants?

Also, from the discussion above, which I greatly appreciate, I take it that one can use $US in Antigua?

RoupMom,

yes you can use USD. If you buy somenting they will give you a price in dollars.

i bought some lovely beaded necklaces with small figures of Guatemala women in bright dresses on them from a street vendor. She charged $1.00 per item.

Enjoy your day in Antiqua.

Did anyone buy good coffee? If so, where and what was the brand? Cost?