Visa/Crossing the border
It's no longer necessary to have a visa since 1996. Most nationalities will be granted access from 30 to 90 days upon presentation of a valid passport.
Entering Guatemala through the airport goes very smoothly and the official was extremely friendly. There's no entry tax for the moment. Once you've passed customs, there are several banks all charging reasonable exchange rates. You can also arrange a shuttle to Antigua.
Make absolutely sure you get an
entry stamp. In Guatemala City, this will be no problem, but in Flores they might not give it to you, and then someone might ask for a tax or a bribe when you try to leave again.
Entering from Mexico in La Mesilla you will get an entry stamp in your passport and pay 30 pesos pp. Afterwards you go to customs where you pay about 10 Q for some kind of ticket.
Leaving the country towards Belize or Honduras (Copan) is pretty straightforward. There's an exit tax for Copan of 10 Q and an entrance tax of 1 US$ for Honduras.
Money matters
There's no black market in Guatemala, in fact the first day, our hotel owner even refused to take cash dollars.
If entering overland (f.i. in Mesilla, border with Mexico) or Melchor de Mencos (border with Belize) or El Florido (border with Honduras) you will be hassled by money changers.
It might be safer to take travellers cheques, in some cases you will even get more Quetzales then for cash. Thomas Cook was readily accepted (contrary to other reports), American Express is less likely to be accepted. Take some small denominations as well. Changing them can take some time!
It's worth shopping around before changing large sums of money, rates differed from 6,8 to 6,97 Q for one dollar (1/99). The rate in 12/99 was about 7,8 Q for a dollar.
Credit cards are often accepted in tourist areas, but they are bad value since usually a surcharge of 7 to 15% is added.
There are more and more ATM machines, but they tend to be out of order quite often. You can find them at these places:
-The airport, next to the Quetzal bank, 2 levels above the arrivals section. It accepts Visa, Plus and Cirrus.
- Antigua: there are 4, but only the one at the Parque central accepts Cirrus.
The exchange rate is about 1 US$ = 7,8 Q (12/99). Have a look at the currency converter for an update.
http://www.oanda.com/cgi-bin/travel
Flights within Guatemala
If there's 1 domestic flight you're most likely to use, it is the Guate-Flores flight. There are several options you have here:
- Either you take the more expensive one from
Aviateca. This is an international airline with a good reputation. They have 3 flights a day (6.30 am 9.55 am and 6.15 pm). They are the most expensive (+/- 90 US$ single flight) and you can book this one from anywhere in the world.
However, I strongly recommend NOT to take the 9.55 flight, because there are only few tourists on it (most passengers are Guatemalans flying further on to Cancun), and this means that at the airport in Flores, you'll be very few or even none to share a taxi to Tikal, and all the public minibuses have left already. (This is what happened to us).
- The best option nowadays is
Tikal Jets. They are affiliated with Aviateca, but they are cheaper and still offer good service. They have a plane at 6.30 and 9 am. Prices are 74 US$ single ticket or 107 US$ return, return trip at 4.30 pm and 6.30 pm (12/99).
- The cheapest option is
Racsa a bit less reliable. They have 30-seats propeller planes and charge 59 US$ single trip and 87 round trip, return trip at 4.30 pm (Price Ecovision tours Antigua 12/99).
- When comparing prices, always make sure the 20% tax is included.
There's also a flight from Guate to Xela, have a look at the
Xelapages for more info.
Airport tax for domestic flights is 5 Q, for international flights a hefty 20 US$ is asked, only to be paid in cash US$ or cash Quetzales (12/99).
Flights to other countries like Belize and Mexico are equally possible. RACSA's plane to Tikal continues onwards to Belize City on monday, wednesday and friday. There are also flights to Havana on tuesday, thursday and saturday, but that plane crashed on 23/12/99.
Bus
Public bus Public buses will get you anywhere, they are dirt cheap, but often very uncomfortable. Most of them are American schoolbuses. There's enough leg room for an American kid, and probably also for a small Guatemaltese, but not for my 186 centimeters. First class buses are better quality.
Some prices (4/99):
- ANTIGUA-LOS ENCUENTROS: 20 Q (1st class)
- LOS ENC-HUEHUETENANGO: 20 Q (1st class)
- HUEHUE-LA MESILLA: 7 Q
(2nd class)
- TECUN UMAN-XELA: 12 Q (2nd class)
- XELA-LOS ENCUENTROS: 11 Q (1nd class)
- PANA-CHICI: 6-10 Q (2nd class)
- CHICI-ANTIGUA: 15 Q (2nd class)
Tourist buses On the main tourist routes you will find minibuses for tourists like (prices 10/98 one way):
- Guate-Antigua: 9 US$
- Guate-Panajachel: 18 US$
- Guate-Copan: 40 US$
- Panajachel-Chichi: 7 US$
- Guate-Chichi: 18 US$
They are a bit more comfortable, certainly faster but also much more expensive, to the extent that this will put you off if you're on a budget. The Guate-Copan bus f.i. (a 7 hours ride) is 40 US$ !
Taxi
You probably won't take too many taxi's, except maybe to and from the airport. Price from the airport to Guate is now 7 US$ (11/98).
Renting a car
I didn't do it, and it doesn't seem to be a good option to me.
The Guatemala Web has an exhaustive list of car rental agencies at
http://www.guatemalaweb.com/encarrental.html (PS: this site is sometimes off-line, try again later if it's not available)
Here are some prices:
| COMPANY |
CAR 4 PAX SMALL |
PRICE PER DAY |
PER WEEK |
| AVIS RENT A CAR |
CHEVY MONZA |
Q.510 |
Q3165 |
| AMERICAR RENTAL |
HYUNDAI ACCENT |
Q.278 |
Q.1031 |
| HERTZ RENT A CAR |
KIA PRIDE GTX |
Q219 |
Q.1314 |
| NATIONAL CAR RENTAL |
CHEVY MONZA |
Q315 |
N/A |
| TIKAL RENT A CAR |
NISSAN SENTRA |
Q299 |
N/A |
| TABARINI RENT A CAR |
MITSUBISHI LANCER |
Q280 |
Q.1740 |
| AHORRENT |
VW BUG |
Q191 |
Q.1185 |
| SAN. JUAN (PETEN) |
SUZUKI VITARA A/C. 4x4 |
$70 |
N/A |
| KOKA (PETEN) |
SUZUKI SAMURAI A/C 4x4
|
Q423 |
N/ |
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