Top Panajachel Half-day Tours

An awesome way to go exploring around Lake Atitlan, this sunset ATV adventure tour takes you up into the mountains around the caldera lake—formed after a volcanic eruption over 1.8-million years ago—before heading down to the shore for a swim. You’ll also explore local villages and colorful towns, learn about the fascinating culture of the region, watch paragliders soar through the skies, and find the best spot for sunset.

Watch the sunrise light up Lake Atitlan and the Volcanic Ring of Fire from one of the highest points at Lake Atitlan: Indian Nose. After pickup from your Panajachel lodging and a 90-minute drive through the highlands, take an easy 30-minute hike to the summit of Indian Nose, followed by a trip to Sacred Hunters Cave. This tour includes round-trip transportation from your hotel as well as all entrance fees and a professional guide.

Once famously described as "too much of a good thing," Lake Atitlan's stunning beauty and broad diversity of towns can make it difficult for visitors to decide how best to see its attractions. This tour lets you see it all while connecting with the landscape and the local people in ways that few visitors get to do. After taking a boat from Panajachel to the small Mayan village of Tzununa, hop on a bike for a ride through the countryside, stopping to visit weaving cooperatives, coffee plantations, art galleries, and some of the best viewpoints on the Lake.

Step back in time to the ancient world of the Maya during this 6-hour exploration of the Iximche ruins near Lake Atitlan. Explore this 1,000-year-old city’s wealth of ball courts, pyramid-temples, royal palaces and the on-site museum. You’ll also learn about the history of this iconic archaeological site up through the Spanish colonial era, and discover details about the Mayan calendar, astrological studies and the attitudes of the present day Mayan people towards their ancestors. Your trip includes entrance fees, a guide and a choice between shared and private round-trip hotel transport.

Sit alongside local women and learn the art of Maya beading with this hands-on workshop in Santa Cruz la Laguna. Not only is this socially responsible tour a great way to learn about the Maya cultures found on Lake Atitlan, but it also directly benefits local communities. Upgrade to include lunch at Lake Atitlan’s top restaurant—also run by a social enterprise—or a community-led tour of the village.

Whether you’re an admirer of avian or if you just love a walk through lush forests, this walking tour around the trails of Lake Atitlan is a great option for low-impact travel. You’ll either meet your guide in Santiago or receive pickup from Panajachel via boat and begin a hike up the Rey Tepepul Trail. This forested trail features river and wildlife views, as well as opportunities to see locals tending to their farms.

Explore the small town village life and gorgeous scenery of Lake Atitlan during this 5-hour hiking excursion from Santa Cruz la Laguna to San Marcos. During the course of your trip you’ll observe local villagers tending to coffee and corn crops in area farm fields and pass through small Mayan hamlets like San Marcos, Tzununná and Jaibalito. Best of all your hike offers a chance to enjoy the gorgeous scenery of Lake Atitlan and its nearby volcanoes. This Lake Atitlan hiking adventure also covers one-way transfer to the start point, hotel pickup, guide and entrance fees.

Led by local women, this cultural tour of Santa Cruz la Laguna offers a fascinating insight into Maya life on Lake Atitlan and how the ancient traditions can still be seen in modern Guatemala. Arriving in Santa Cruz by boat, you'll meet the women at the dock and walk up to the town, where you'll visit a home for a cooking class, learn about local handicrafts, and relax with a steam bath in a traditional adobe temazcal.

Not far from Antigua, Lake Atitlan is one of the deepest lakes in Central America and home to Mayan tribes. The villages surrounding the lake are each known for a handicraft, food, or tradition, and you’ll have the opportunity to explore them on two wheels. This motorcycle tour takes you from Panajachel around to Santiago, all while stopping at different villages and viewpoints around the lake.

Step inside the Maya community of Santa Cruz with this NGO visit. Check out a successful non-profit vocational training center with classes in cooking, beading, sewing, and carpentry. Visit a classroom, café, and store run by the organization. Explore the village of Santa Cruz, home to one of the oldest churches in Guatemala, and end your tour with lunch at the NGO-run rooftop café overlooking the waters of Lake Atitlan.

Whether you consider yourself a connoisseur of coffee or you simply enjoy a fresh cup no matter where it’s from, you’ll love this coffee tour around Lake Atitlan. Wake up in ready for a cup and hop aboard a shared water taxi. Sail around Guatemala’s lake, stopping in Mayan villages for sips of locally grown and roasted coffee. Learn how to taste the different notes and flavors in each cup, all while discussing the process from bean to brew.

Learn all about Mayan culture on this guided tour to Mayan villages that you arrive at by boat. Your guide organizes logistics, including transport and lunch, so there’s no need for you to organize this separately. Your guide introduces you to villagers you might not meet on your own, who teach you about local textiles, chocolate processing, medicinal herbs and plants, and much more.

This is a 16-kilometer bike ride where you will encounter ups and downs in one, along the way. Our guide will make stops at points or in viewpoints so that they can enjoy the lake at different points. The towns that are visited are Santa Catalina and San Antonio in these towns will also stop at different points to visit women weavers, colonial churches, factory Ceramic

Enjoy and discover the colorful market days of Sololá on Tuesday and Thursday! This is a good spot and very important  colourful market close fo Panajachel. That will be a good experience for you will see how is the local people live and doing their activities in the market days

Enjoy a leisurely, laid-back, 3-hour cycling trip amidst the idyllic mountain villages near Panjachel. Spend most of your trip pedaling downhill, soaking up scenic views of Lake Atitlan, quiet rural roads and the tiny indigenous towns of Godinez and San Andres Semetabaj. With more than 98% of your cycling trip on downhill terrain, it’s a chill, easy, way to see a lot of scenery with minimal effort. Your ride includes a guide, bike and transport to the cycling start point.

This tour starts in Panajachel where we pick up the people who are staying at the hotels in Panajachel and on the way to Santa Catarina. We also pick up at the Tzanjuyu dock. The tour starts in Panajachel where we will tour the museum of photographs, then we will go to the villages of Santa catarian to visit the colonial church, cultural center where we will learn the history of the town history of traditional costumes, then we will continue to santa catarina palopo to learn about the manufacture of ceramics, crafts made by people, view of the vegetable market, then If we find ourselves on a sunny day we will have the best sunsets of the lake with the fall of the sun on the volcanoes

With their costumes, music, and parades, Day of the Dead celebrations are some of the most iconic in Latin America. Take part in the cultural tradition of giant kites on this Day of the Dead festival tour from Sumpango, which shares with you the history of the holiday and teaches you about the kite making ritual. This tour presents a rare opportunity to learn directly from a local guide about a unique regional custom.

This is a tour that starts from Panajachel where in our office we will go to the ferry to take a public boat that will take us to the town of Tzununa, from there our bicycle adventure begins, visiting the towns of Tzununa, San Marcos, San Pablo, San Juan and San Pedro, on the bike tour stops will be made where you can appreciate panoramic views, you will also visit weavers, medicinal plants, colonial churches, and coffee plantations. The route has a total of 7 miles, so the bicycle tour lasts approximately 2 to 3 hours, the road that starts with dirt for approximately 3 miles later with a paved road, there are also ups and downs of small hills so It is recommended to be in good condition.

Book this private mountain biking tour to explore the region around Lake Atitlan with your guide, who will take you several stops you might not find on your own. You’ll visit Mayan villages, learn about the textile making process in San Juan la Laguna, and also about natural medicine and midwifery. Your bike and helmet are provided for you, so you just need to be ready to go for a Lake Atitlan adventure.

Immerse yourself in the ancient Mayan heritage and fascinating traditions of Guatemala during this 6-hour day trip to the villages of San Antonio and Santa Catarina. Explore the indigenous artisan traditions of the towns near Lake Atitlan as you tour local textile and craft cooperatives and then visit a ceramics studio. Then participate in Mayan rituals as you learn about the Protection Fire Ceremony and take part in an optional hike along the lake’s edge. Your trip also includes a guide and round-trip hotel transport from Panjachel and Santa Catarina.

Our adventure begins as we board a private boat, that makes a stop in the middle of Lake Atitlan. Our knowledgeable guide unveils the secrets of the Maya Atlantis, a mystical submerged city hidden beneath the lake's surface. Leaving the mysteries of the deep behind, we arrive at Chuitinamit, an archaeological site nestled amidst the awe-inspiring beauty of Lake Atitlan. Here, we marvel at the meticulously carved stone structures, each a testament to the artistic prowess and advanced engineering of the Maya people. Our journey reaches its pinnacle as we arrive in Santiago Atitlán, a vibrant and culturally rich village. Experience the essence of Mayan heritage as we explore the captivating murals that narrate stories of their past. Visit the village church, witness the communal washing basins, and have the opportunity to partake in a ceremonial request to Maximon, a revered religious figure blending Catholicism and Mayan traditions (if we are lucky enough to witness a ceremony).