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Antigua or Lake Atitlan?


Krazeniq

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Hi everyone! I will be on the Coral Princess for the RT Panama Canal in April 2009. I am torn between visiting Antigua or Lake Atitlan while in Guatemala. Has anyone been to either place? Which one would you

recommend? Can anyone give me any info. thoughts or suggestions on either of these places? Thanks :o

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We are just back from the Jan 6th sailing of the Coral and while we didn't go to the lake we did do the tour of Antiqua and would recommend it highly....lots of scenry on the way up, beatuiful colonial 16th century architecture and a super lunch at the El Porta Hotel.

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Hi everyone! I will be on the Coral Princess for the RT Panama Canal in April 2009. I am torn between visiting Antigua or Lake Atitlan while in Guatemala. Has anyone been to either place? Which one would you

recommend? Can anyone give me any info. thoughts or suggestions on either of these places? Thanks :o

 

I was on the Island Princess last year and did the Princess Cruise Lines sponsored shore excursion Colonial Antigua from Puerto Quetzal.

 

A video of this excursion has been uploaded to YouTube.

 

Click on the link below for information on viewing this video.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=926243

 

Cruzer Two

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WOW! Thank you so much for the wonderful video of Antigua. It's beautiful and after watching your video I am very glad that I booked the Colonial Antigua with lunch excursion. I can't wait to go see it in person :) You did a brilliant job and I cannot thank you enough for posting this. I even viewed some of your other videos since we will be in Costa Rica as well. All of your videos are very helpful...thanks again!

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WOW! Thank you so much for the wonderful video of Antigua. It's beautiful and after watching your video I am very glad that I booked the Colonial Antigua with lunch excursion. I can't wait to go see it in person :) You did a brilliant job and I cannot thank you enough for posting this. I even viewed some of your other videos since we will be in Costa Rica as well. All of your videos are very helpful...thanks again!

 

Krazeniq:

 

I think you have made the right choice. Colonial Antigua is a fascinating place as you can see from my video. The ride from the port to Antigua offers some spectular views of the volcanoes. If you are on a Princess tour, you will have lunch at Hotel Casa Santo Domingo. It is built on the ruins of the Santo Domingo Convent and the gardens of the hotel are beautiful.

 

You could spend a full day just wandering around Antigua and poking into all of the shops. But as is usual on a ship’s shore excursion not enough time remains for shopping. This is one of our favorite places in Central America and one that I would go back to again. I know you will enjoy your day in Antigua.

 

Cruzer Two

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I agree, Antigua is the right choice. We did our tour with Go with Gus, because we had used him on the Caribbean side of Guatemala. He included a stop at a local school in San Antonio Agua Caliente, a small town with an interesting crafts market. We also had lunch and visited the Filadelpia coffee Plantation. It was an informative and thoroughly pleasant day without the feel of a big bus ship's excursion, and plenty of time for shopping.

Sam Adrezin

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WOW! Thank you so much for the wonderful video of Antigua. It's beautiful and after watching your video I am very glad that I booked the Colonial Antigua with lunch excursion. I can't wait to go see it in person :) You did a brilliant job and I cannot thank you enough for posting this. I even viewed some of your other videos since we will be in Costa Rica as well. All of your videos are very helpful...thanks again!

 

Krazenig,

 

If you enjoyed my videos, please go to the Cruise Videos section of Cruise Critic and post your comments for other viewers.

 

Thanks,

Ron

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I agree with the other posters that both are equally great. We visited both while picking up our daughter that we adopted from Guatemala. My favorite though was the lake, it was just so peaceful and the boat ride on the lake was wonderful. Antigua was great if you are going for the shopping.

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I was on the Island Princess last year and did the Princess Cruise Lines sponsored shore excursion Colonial Antigua from Puerto Quetzal.

 

A video of this excursion has been uploaded to YouTube.

 

Click on the link below for information on viewing this video.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=926243

 

Cruzer Two

 

All I can say is Wow!!! Thanks for posting all your great travel videos. :)

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My BIL runs a lodge halfway up the mountain overlooking Antigua. I LOVE it there. It is a town that you could explore forever. Great shopping. Great food. Great scenery. His lodge has the most amazing view of the town, coffee plantations and volcanoes.

 

Lake Atilan is incredible as well. Pana is okay, but take the time to take a water boat (taxi\shuttle) to some of the other towns. Santa Cruz or Santiago....even just for lunch. We went to the 'Posada Santa Cruz" for a night and loved it.

 

If you want any pics, let me know and I will post some. :)

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My BIL runs a lodge halfway up the mountain overlooking Antigua. I LOVE it there. It is a town that you could explore forever. Great shopping. Great food. Great scenery. His lodge has the most amazing view of the town, coffee plantations and volcanoes.

 

Lake Atilan is incredible as well. Pana is okay, but take the time to take a water boat (taxi\shuttle) to some of the other towns. Santa Cruz or Santiago....even just for lunch. We went to the 'Posada Santa Cruz" for a night and loved it.

 

If you want any pics, let me know and I will post some. :)

 

Atitlan is nice, we have stayed around there several times, Santa Cruz is my fav, San Lucas and Santiago ok too. Not a huge fan of Panna. But Antigua is not only my fav spot in guate, but one of the nicest old town in central america.

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Antigua is nice but it's difficult to enjoy when you're being harassed by the locals pestering you all day to buy something. We've traveled all over the world and found these peddlers especially annoying and persistent. They'll follow you for blocks and will wait for you to come out of the buildings you are visiting. This is one tourist trap we have no interest returning to.

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