Guatemala tailor made vacations
Highlights
Antigua on foot tour | Lake Atitlan | boat ride to San Juan La Laguna | women’s textile cooperative | San Juan | Chichicastenango market | Biotope El Quetzal | hike and swimming in Semuc Champey | Lanquin Caves | Candelaria Caves | optional: cave tubing tour | Flores | Mayan sites in Yaxha National Park and Tikal National Park |
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this vacation or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
Toll free 1-866-821-6866 Calling from outside the US? rosy@responsibletravel.comDeparture information
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your vacation will help support conservation and local people.
As with all our vacations, the accommodation you stay at has been chosen to meet at least our basic environmental requirements. These include the hotels actively reducing energy and water usage and providing advice on how guests can reduce their own footprint through individual actions like turning off air conditioning and reusing towels. On top of this we only work with hotels in Antigua that preserve the cultural heritage of the colonial town.The different elements of this specific trip are regularly checked by our local partners in Guatemala to make sure they are run in an environmentally sensitive way. This includes training and monitoring of guides to provide locations to refill water bottle rather than stopping at shops to buy new ones, making sure the restaurants that are included in the itinerary all buy their produce locally and that the transportation is maintained to a high standard to minimize CO2 emissions.
Our local guides in the main Mayan citadels of Tikal and Yaxha make sure you see the various temples and ruins in different and varying routes to other travelers. This is not just to give you a better viewing experience but it is also a way to minimize the damage caused to the local environment by crowds traveling along the same routes.
All of the guides on this trip are from Guatemala and are passionate about preserving their local environment. Throughout your trip they will help you keep your impact to a minimum.
The Impacts of this Trip
Throughout this specific trip our aim is to support the various communities we visit. In Antigua you are taken on a walking tour that not only takes you to the local restaurants and markets, where you money goes the furthest but it highlights where you should go to eat and shop for the duration of your stay in Antigua. In Chichicastanago Market the Local Guides know which stalls are run by the local families and which are run by companies. They will make sure your are spending your money in the most effective ways. Lake Atitlan offers the chance to visit San Juan artisinal Colony. San Juan is homes to various families that have kept their traditions alive, offering travelers the chance to by textiles and other crafts form the real artisans and learn more about there work. Each family offers free demonstrations of the various art forms. These include; a women's textile cooperative, choclateers, tea manufacturers, medicinal tea, painters and story tellers. All of our itineraries include local free lance guides, day trips always eat in local restaurants and communities and cultures are respected in every destination.
The Mayan population in Guatemala has been persecuted throughout the modern era of the country. Although they make up the majority of the countries ancestry they have always been treated like second class citizens. Due to this we ensure that we support the markets and destinations, such as Chichicastanango, where the modern Mayan population are selling their goods. We also only employ guides who have an in depth knowledge of the Mayan Culture. This way they can ensure our clients get to know all bout the culture and history allowing it to thrive though tourism.
Our Partners in Guatemala have their our own NGO Proyectos Creativos. The NGOs main focus is the school project Escuela Semillas Exito involving 38 kids from 6 - 9 years olds. The main goal of this is to provide solutions and high quality education to children facing extreme and diverse problems such as poverty, lack of identification and a lack of resources. As well as the education, the NGO works with the children's families to find ways to supplement their low incomes. Projects like facilitating mothers of the children to make and sell tortillas and a programs that offer families home gardening help and a supply of chickens so they cans sell vegetables and organic eggs. There are 30 families that benefit form these types of programs.
As with all our vacations, the accommodation you stay at has been chosen to meet at least our basic environmental requirements. These include the hotels actively reducing energy and water usage and providing advice on how guests can reduce their own footprint through individual actions like turning off air conditioning and reusing towels. On top of this we only work with hotels in Antigua that preserve the cultural heritage of the colonial town.The different elements of this specific trip are regularly checked by our local partners in Guatemala to make sure they are run in an environmentally sensitive way. This includes training and monitoring of guides to provide locations to refill water bottle rather than stopping at shops to buy new ones, making sure the restaurants that are included in the itinerary all buy their produce locally and that the transportation is maintained to a high standard to minimize CO2 emissions.
Our local guides in the main Mayan citadels of Tikal and Yaxha make sure you see the various temples and ruins in different and varying routes to other travelers. This is not just to give you a better viewing experience but it is also a way to minimize the damage caused to the local environment by crowds traveling along the same routes.
All of the guides on this trip are from Guatemala and are passionate about preserving their local environment. Throughout your trip they will help you keep your impact to a minimum.
The Impacts of this Trip
Throughout this specific trip our aim is to support the various communities we visit. In Antigua you are taken on a walking tour that not only takes you to the local restaurants and markets, where you money goes the furthest but it highlights where you should go to eat and shop for the duration of your stay in Antigua. In Chichicastanago Market the Local Guides know which stalls are run by the local families and which are run by companies. They will make sure your are spending your money in the most effective ways. Lake Atitlan offers the chance to visit San Juan artisinal Colony. San Juan is homes to various families that have kept their traditions alive, offering travelers the chance to by textiles and other crafts form the real artisans and learn more about there work. Each family offers free demonstrations of the various art forms. These include; a women's textile cooperative, choclateers, tea manufacturers, medicinal tea, painters and story tellers. All of our itineraries include local free lance guides, day trips always eat in local restaurants and communities and cultures are respected in every destination.
The Mayan population in Guatemala has been persecuted throughout the modern era of the country. Although they make up the majority of the countries ancestry they have always been treated like second class citizens. Due to this we ensure that we support the markets and destinations, such as Chichicastanango, where the modern Mayan population are selling their goods. We also only employ guides who have an in depth knowledge of the Mayan Culture. This way they can ensure our clients get to know all bout the culture and history allowing it to thrive though tourism.
Our Partners in Guatemala have their our own NGO Proyectos Creativos. The NGOs main focus is the school project Escuela Semillas Exito involving 38 kids from 6 - 9 years olds. The main goal of this is to provide solutions and high quality education to children facing extreme and diverse problems such as poverty, lack of identification and a lack of resources. As well as the education, the NGO works with the children's families to find ways to supplement their low incomes. Projects like facilitating mothers of the children to make and sell tortillas and a programs that offer families home gardening help and a supply of chickens so they cans sell vegetables and organic eggs. There are 30 families that benefit form these types of programs.
1 Reviews of Guatemala tailor made vacations
Reviewed on 17 Dec 2019 by Richard Nagle
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Yaxha National Park, but all parts were memorable
2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Spend two nights at Flores. Do not attempt early morning flight up to Tikal, everybody who did this was wrecked.
3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
For sure. Apart from the obvious local tourist workers including hotel staff, there are the national park employees, textile ladies, ferry boat personnel etc Tikal and Yaxha doing well on the environmental side. Hope Lake Atitlán is well protected with adjacent population and activities.
4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Excellent. Pace was just right, all worked very well. Saw and did lots. Tour guides and support very good.
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