Lake Atitlan and the surrounding villages of San Marcos, San Juan and San Pedro rank high on any must-see list for Guatemala. Lonely Planet once called it ‘the closest thing to Eden on earth’ and everybody that ever visited will tell you about its magical tranquility and mesmerising beauty. Was I mesmerised during my visit? Not quite. But with 3 volcanoes dramatically lining its shores plus a few more in the distance it certainly isn’t your average joe lake. The reason why I feel you should include lake Atitlan in your Guatemala itinerary is a close relative to the well known activity of island hopping. At lake Atitlan you go town hopping.
What to do in Lago Atitlan
Lake Atitlan (or Lago Atitlan in Spanish) is the most visited lake in Guatemala and for good reason. It is a pretty sight and easily accessible being located only a few hours drive from Antigua, the tourist capital of Guatemala. The lake is surrounded by little villages that all have their own vibe. Consequently they all attract their own type of traveller. A ferry network connects them all making it possible to visit most in only a day or 2. This is the main reason why you want to visit Atitlan. The villages are truly distinct and taking short boat rides over the lake not only gives you the best views of the surroundings but is a pretty adventurous as well. It feels like island hopping except now your hopping towns.
Panajachel
Panajachel is the biggest town around and most visitors make it their home during their visit at the lake. Not a bad choice considering it is the spot with the most restaurants & bars and the biggest (souvenir) market of all lakeside towns. It also has the best (mini) bus connections. Panajachel itself is nothing special but it does host one of the best attractions the lake has got to offer: Reserva Natural Atitlán. If you’re just visiting Panajachel for a few hours: don’t stay lingering along its lakeshores: the best part of town is the Calle Santander a bit deeper into town.
Reserva Natural Atitlán
Entrance fee: Q50
I was pleasantly surprised when I visited this natural reserve. The former coffee plantation promotes itself pretty much as a zip-lining mecca – no clue if it is any good – but as soon as you start venturing out into the reserve you’ll hardly notice people zip-lining. You can explore the reserve by walking an hour-long trail that takes you high up in the canopies, alongside waterfalls and through brushes of rainforest and cloud forest. Seeing monkeys and coatis is almost a guarantee. There’s also a small butterfly reserve. Try the sandwiches they sell at the restaurant.
San Marcos la Laguna
San Marcos la Laguna draws crowds of hippies from all around the world because it is claimed to have magnetic earth forces that are good for holistic healing. This remains an important spot for the Mayas. But if you’re visiting for a short while your spiritual journey will be limited to smoking pot with European rastafari’s. To walk around in San Marcos is pleasant. People are laid back and friendly. You’re constantly surrounded by spiritual live music. On top of that: all food that is served is organic and tastes really good. Many people looking for spiritual healing plan only a few days here but never leave. Awesome spot for a late breakfast, coffee break or lunch (try the organic banana bread which is awesome).
San Juan la Laguna
San Juan is the most authentic of the better visited Mayan villages. Except for the street that leads to the dock, most of the village has seen little influence from tourism. San Juan is a good spot to learn a bit about Guatemalan coffee culture as there are a few roasteries, a coffee museum and you’ll see the coffee beans drying out in the sun right from the streets. Quieter than its neighbour San Pedro but still only a 10 minute tuktuk drive away from its restaurants & bars it makes for a good base to explore the lake if you’re looking for a bit of peace and quiet.
San Pedro la Laguna
San Pedro is the backpacker hotspot of lake Atitlan. Known for cheap hostels, eateries and boozefueled nights it attracts young travellers that are looking to party. Don’t let that scare you though. San Pedro is still a nice enough spot to stay.
Catering to budget travellers San Pedro offers the widest variety of tours, activities, Spanish classes and budget eats. And compared to backpacker party hotspots such as Koh Phangan, Thailand, San Pedro will feel like a tranquil countryside town. San Pedro is a nice enough place to wander around in but it doesn’t host any mayor highlights.
Where to eat & sleep
Sleeping
We found out that Booking.com will consistently give you the best rates on hotels. To make finding the perfect spot a little easier we made a selection for lake Atitlan. Click the link below to find the best places to stay around the lake. While booking make sure you pick a place within walking distance to one of the villages docks or that is connected by road to San Pedro or Panajachel. This way you enable yourself to go town hopping without too much hassle and can pop our for a bite in the evening.
Eco Hotel Uxlabil
Booking rate: 8.6 | Privates from EUR 65
On my visit to Atitlan I stayed in Eco Hotel Uxlabil. This hotel operates in a sustainable way without hampering on comfort. Comfortable rooms & good beds. Add to that killer lake views and a good breakfast included in the roomrate. Uxlabil is uniquely located between San Juan & San Pedro which means you can easily visit both villages by foot and still sleep in the middle of nature. A unpaved path takes you to San Juan in 10 minutes and a (steep) rocky trail takes you up to the main road going to San Pedro (15 – 20 min walk to the docks). If you don’t feel like walking on the main road after nightfall you can easily find a tuktuk – they pass by every few minutes.
Eating
To be honest: there wasn’t a place in Atitlan that blew my socks off on the culinary scale. A nice quiet spot for a bite in San Pedro is El Gato Perdito. Shanti Shanti is recommended in many guidebooks but while it serves huge portions the quality is subpar. Try Café El Artesano in San Juan for fine cheese platters (they only open from noon to 4PM) or Il Giardino in San Marco’s to sample great organic food in a lush secluded garden.
Drinking
San Pedro has the best offer of bars in Atitlan and a good pick is Bar Sublime which offers cheap beers on a large terrace with killer lakeside views. A good selection of beers can be found in El Barrio which caters mainly to expats but serves very food burgers. If you’re planning to party until dawn you’ll be limited to private parties in hostels as at 1 AM, everything in Guatemala shuts down.
Practical information
When
Guatemala is located in the tropics which means hot days year round, Atitlan is no different. But because the lake is located about 1500 meters above sea level the day temperature hovers around a comfortable 25-27 degrees Celcius, dropping to 10 -15 at night. From November – May you can expect dry sunny weather. Visiting in December/January is best because the area will still be lush and green from the autumn rains.
Budget
Exchange rate: 8Q = €1/$1 (incl. fees)
Guatemala is a cheap country to travel and Atitlan is no exception. It might be hard to find cheap local eateries as tourism has found most bars & restaurants around town, but except for some high-end luxury resorts prices are still fairly reasonable.
| Daily Budget (p.p.) | 300 Q |
| Street food | 5 – 15 Q |
| Meal in a restaurant | 30 – 80 Q |
| Dorm | 50 – 100 Q |
| Double in a 3-star hotel | 300 – 700 Q |
In, Out & around
The closest airport to the lake is Guatemala City Airport which is still a 2.5 hour drive by minivan or taxi/Uber. As Guatemala also lacks a railway network your only options are to travel by road.
While chicken busses are the cheapest, and undoubtedly the most local experience, tourist mini busses bring more comfort and save a lot of time. San Juan, San Marcos, San Pedro and Panajachel are all well connected to Antigua with several mini-busses leaving daily. Going to other places means going multi-modal. You’ll probably switch from minibus to private car, to bus to another minibus all without a ticket or voucher. Don’t worry too much – this is just how things work in Guatemala. Ask your previous driver for the name of the next driver and make sure to book through an agency that has a direct line that you can always call/ Whatsapp. Also expect to have a stop over in Antigua regardless of what you’re told. Yes, that includes your ‘direct shuttle bus to the airport’.
Best places to stay in Amsterdam
When deciding which hotels to recommend as the best places to stay in Amsterdam I regarded a couple of things. Firstly: location. Great Amsterdam hotel but in a shitty spot far away from sights or ways to get there? Not on this list. Holiday accommodation should facilitate the trip, the trip does not revolve around it.
Secondly: uniqueness combined with comfort. I love hotels that have a cool interior or a unique sleeping arrangement offer. Something to remember your stay by. “Remember when we went to Amsterdam and stayed in that cool spot?” Immediate mood booster. However some places might be quirky and unique, but take it a tad too far and forget about comfort. Again: a top accommodation should enhance your trip. No compromises on comfort.
Lastly the best hotels in Amsterdam, for me, have environmentally friendly policies – but again without compromising on comfort. Having lived in the city for the past 3 years I feel I know it well enough to pick out the best places to stay in Amsterdam.
Continue reading “Best places to stay in Amsterdam”Montenegro in a day: the inlands
Ever tried to see a whole country in a single day trip? Of all the countries hugging the Mediterranean sea, Montenegro is the smallest. The tiny Balkan country, that by beautiful paradox is home to some of the tallest people, stretches only about 200 kilometers in both dimensions. Surely one should be able to visits all highlights in one day? As I planned most of my holiday in Montenegro along the Adriatic coast, I had little time to spare for Montenegro’s inland. To make the best of my time I sought for a local guide that could show me as much of Montenegro’s adventurous side as was possible in one day. I found one in Niko, the first tour guide of Montenegro Eco Adventures. And what a day it was.
Continue reading “Montenegro in a day: the inlands”Budva city guide: the medieval beach town of Montenegro
Budva was the first coastal town I visited after I arrived in Montenegro and even though I was battling a stomach bug, it was a pleasant welcome to the Montenegrin coast. Budva is definitely a touristy beach town but it offers more than sleazy beach lounges and overpriced crappy fish restaurants.
Continue reading “Budva city guide: the medieval beach town of Montenegro”Podgorica the capital of Montenegro: is it worth the visit?
Even though Podgorica is the capital of Montenegro, it does not top many peoples’ itinerary for a visit to the little Balkan state. If you start browsing online on what things to do in Podgorica it doesn’t take long before the blog posts describing it as ‘the dullest shithole I’ve ever been’ start to dominate your search history. As it is geographically situated quite ideal for a stop over between Albania and Kotor, I decided to visit anyways and make my own judgement.
What to do in Podgorica
The Millennium Bridge is one of the 5 bridges criss-crossing the Moraca river that meanders through the city centre of Podgorica
Discover Podgorica by foot
Podgorica has one highlight that towers fiercely over all others and justifies visiting the little Montenegrin capital on its own. Obviously the first thing you have to do when you set foot in Podgorica is arrange for seeing this awesome highlight as soon as possible. Sadly the next thing to do is arranging transportation for your way out. Stay one night and then move on. You don’t need more time to see it all.
I am not exaggerating when I state that all highlights in town can be visited by foot within 3 hours. Unfortunately these ‘highlights’ are not that special. I could start a whole epistle in lyrical prosaics on how shitty these sights are but that wouldn’t serve any other purpose than showing off my writing skills as they aren’t that shitty. Just not overly exciting. Except for the one awesome highlight I mentioned. One you MUST see, so you really got no other choice than to linger for about 24 hours in Podgorica. Here is how you should spend those 24 hours.
Old town
The Ribnica Bridge (on the left) right next to the old fort is the prettiest part of Old Town.
So the first thing you do after checking into your accommodation is booking a taxi to visit the Sipcanik wine cellars of the Plantazane Winery – possibly the most interesting wine cellars I have ever visited (and I have been to Bordeaux). When you’ve got this fixed you can head out on foot to go explore historical Podgorica.
Walk past the Clock Tower straight towards the Ribnica Bridge which is the prettiest part of the historical centre. Podgorica suffered over 70 bombings which destroyed most old buildings but the ruins around the bridge are nice enough to justify spending a little time.
The old Clock Tower is right next to Pod Volat, the best place in town to have a local bite
Bring your swimsuit as there is a nice little pebble beach here where you can take a dip in the Moraca river – yes its quite clean. There is also a nice beach bar built up against the fort, pumping out mellow deep house tunes. I can totally imagine this being a cool hangout spot for locals. When I was there – mid September – it was virtually deserted.
The pebble beach right next to the Ribnica bridge – great for an afternoon swim or sunset cocktail during the summer heat
If you do a little more research leafing through travel guides and blog posts you’ll discover the other highlights in town are the Millennium Bridge, Petrovic Palace, Vladimir Vysotsky Monument, Moscow Bridge and several lookout points. All not really worth the detour.
Worth visiting are the Goricom Park with the little St. George Church in front of it. The small church is really picturesque and the park is a great way to escape the summer heat. If you have small kids you’ll love the park as it has a big adventure climbing park laid out around a big cafe. This means mum and dad can take shifts playing with the kids and kicking back on the terrace with a pint of local lager.
St. George Church at the entrance of the park
Visit the Sipcanik wine cellars
The entrance to the Plantaze wine cellars
When I booked a winery tour at the Sipcanik wine cellars of the Plantaze Winery I was expecting a normal wine tasting tour in a cool cave-like cellar. The reality is much better. The Sipcanik wine cellars are actually an old secret military underground aircraft hangar which had been lost for decades and has recently be rediscovered. In 2007 the Plantaze Winery invested heavily in turning this historical treasure into their new wine-cellars and the results are awesome.
The Sipcanik cellars of the Plantaze winery
Even if you don’t like wine, when do you ever have the chance to visit a secret military airbase built into a cave to avoid detection? Not just any hangar, the cellars fit over a dozen airplanes. To top that, the wine-tasting tour as well as the wines themselves are excellent. Montenegro might not have the reputation as as wine-country, but Plantaze is working hard to change that. The wines on the tasting go with tasty food-pairings. When in Podgorica this visit really is a must.
Because the cellars aren’t in town, and you want to be able to have a few wines at the place the only way to visit is by taking a taxi. Ask your hotel to book one for you to avoid getting ripped off. Have an maps-app open on your cellphone to track the route to make your driver aware that you know the way. Scamming taxi-drivers are a problem in the whole of the Balkans. Anything between €4-6 for a single ride is reasonable.
Where to eat and sleep
Eating
La lantern’s outside terrace. Probably the best restaurant in town for good food at reasonable prices.
Podgorica got a few good places to grab a bite. If you’re looking for good local dishes Pod Volat in Old Town is a good option. The place I personally liked best was La Lanterna situated in Novi Grad (new town) which has a nice ambiance both inside as well as outside. In downtown Podogorica there are three streets that are littered with little restaurants and bars, perfect for a couple of drinks – albeit at slightly elevated prices compared to elsewhere in town. Try the bars at Njegoseva, Slobode and Balsica street.
Some people recommend particular bars (for example Bar Berlin is often mentioned on blogs) but I didn’t find certain particular bars stand out more than their competitors. Just head over there and see which crowd suits you best.
Sleeping
Ramada Podgorica
Booking rating: 8.6 | Privates from EUR 79
On my visit I stayed at the Ramada Hotel one of a few luxury hotels in Podgorica. They have lavishly large rooms and a tasty buffet breakfast served on a balcony with a great view overlooking town. Our room even had a private terrace! The Ramada is conveniently located within walking distance from both the train station and bus terminal and also about a 20 minute walk from Old Town. Their general manager makes an effort in employing local people and helping them with their personal goals as well as their professional.
Practical Information
When
The best time to visit Podgorica is in spring, when the days start to get longer and the weather is warm and sunny. From June to August temperatures soar up to 40 degrees Celsius making a visit less than pleasant. September and early October are ideal times as well but the chance of rainy days increases dramatically towards the end of October.
Budget
Because Podgorica receives little tourism prices aren’t elevated above the local standard as much as in other European capitals. For a Balkan country however, Montenegro is not cheap.
| Daily Budget | 45 EUR (50 USD) |
| Local bakery | EUR 1 (1.10 USD) |
| Meal in a restaurant | EUR 10-15 ( 12-17 USD) |
| Dorm | EUR 12 (13 USD) |
| Double in a 3-star hotel | EUR 40 (45 USD) |
In & Out
Podgorica’s bus station
Airport
Montenegro has two airports, Tivat Airport and Podgorica Airport. The latter is located 11 kilometers South of town and is the quickest way in. There are no busses so the best way to get to the city centre is by taxi which will costs you between € 8-12.
Railway station
Montenegro is connected to the European railway system and can be visited by train from Belgrade or Bar. Podgorica also has a line going to Niksic, the second largest city in Montenegro. The railway station is located next to the main bus terminal and close to the Podogorica mall – about 2 kilometers from the city centre.
Bus terminal
The best way getting in and out of Podgorica is by bus. There are connections to Albania, other Balkan capitals and also to the historical seaside towns of Kotor, Budva and Tivat. As the timetables regularly change and busses don’t necessarily run on time its best to book your tickets directly at the station and inquire for the fares and times as well.
The best hotels in Luang Prabang
Looking for the best hotels in Luang Prabang, Laos? Easily one of the most important parts of planning a trip to a city is booking the right accommodation. For me a good hotel means it is close to the destination’s highlights, within walking distance from nice places to eat and have a drink and is both comfortable as well as authentic. Adding to that, all hotels listed are environmentally conscious without the stay revolving around this topic. The perfect places to stay in Luang Prabang for green travel without compromising on adventure or comfort. True to the No Road Back travel style.
Skiing for beginners: going skiing for the first time
Skiing for beginners can be tough. If your parents never took you skiing as a kid, going skiing for the first time in your adult years can be quite daunting. It sure was for me. Your friends tell you scary stories on how they broke their leg on a particular icy black run and in the same breath exclaim that you’ll be fine. Yeah sure. When you spot the snow-capped peaks on your approach to the mountains you’re thrilled. But as soon as you see the slopes up close in all their steepness and massiveness the sweat starts to break out. 5 year olds whizz past as you’re desperately trying to perform the best ‘Pizza, French fries, Pizza, French fries’ to not die on your first attempt off the baby slopes.
I had an incredible hard time skiing for the first time and in a couple of months I’ll be going on my second trip. Hopefully this time it will be going a bit better. There were a few things I wish somebody told me before hand that could have made my experience a whole lot better. Going skiing for the first time? You might want to read this one.
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Theth to Valbona: hiking in the Albanian Alps
When I convinced my girlfriend to join me on hiking from Theth to Valbona in the Albanian Alps and she agreed, I was pumped. Firstly because this hike is part of the iconic Peaks of the Balkan trail, a 192 kilometer long trail known for its rugged terrain, wild nature and epic scenery. Secondly because up until now, I have always gone trekking or mountain biking on my own or with friends, never with Lisan. If this one would deliver the same thrill to Lisan as I usually get from a good trek, it could mean we could go trekking together more often.
Luckily for me, the Albanian Alps did not disappoint. Because the trek is not overly tough, very easy to navigate and the scenery beautiful, it is perfect for travelers of any type. So you better include it into your trip to Albania! No need to book a guide, you can tackle this one independently. Let me tell you how.
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The Best Hotels in Albania that are green
It doesn’t matter what your travel destination is, finding the right spot to stay can make or break your trip. For an off-the-beaten travel destination like the Balkans it is even harder to find the best spots to stay. Let alone finding a place that takes good care of its environment. But if you are looking for the best hotels in Albania to rest your head, you’re in luck. I listed the top 5 green hotels in Albania that take care of the environment, without compromising on comfort or hospitality.
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Saranda Albania: is the ‘capital of the Albanian Riviera’ worth the visit?
Under explored and underrated: The Albanian Coast should be on every beach lovers’ bucket list. Saranda Albania is fondly called ‘the capital of the Albanian Riviera’ but what can be said about many countries around the world is equally true for the Albanian Riviera: the capital is not the prettiest city in the area. I picked the spot to relax a couple of days in the middle of an action-packed itinerary. Saranda is perfect for that, but the Albanian coast has way better places to glue yourself to your beach bed and not leave until the sunset cocktails start calling for your presence at the bar.
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