Part I: Guatemala City
Guatemala City bookended our nearly three-week stay in the Land of the Eternal Spring. Although friends who know the city well advised me to budget my time elsewhere, we ended up spending a few nights in the city. Here’s where we stayed:
HOSTAL DONDE REGINA: We landed in Guatemala City around midnight and had an early flight to Flores in the morning, so I didn’t want to venture too far into the city. I opted for this no-frills but sweet place within walking distance of the airport. It was about $40/night, home-cooked breakfast was complimentary, and the hotel hung on to our luggage for a few days while we went to Tikal.
Definitely recommend for brief stays.
HYATT CENTRIC: This is where we stayed on Dec. 30, the tail end of our trip, and it was one of the nicest Hyatts I’ve ever had the pleasure to visit. The employees were warm, our room was spacious and comfy, and my son ended up with a bunch of free perks (coloring pages, free ice cream, cookies, a special holiday punch).
As an added bonus, there was a lovely rooftop pool.
Here’s where my ambitious planning went awry, though. Our flight was at 1 a.m. Jan. 1. So I didn’t want to book an entire night’s stay if we were just going to check out at 9 or 10 to head to the airport. We definitely did not need to pay for another night’s stay.
Since we had stayed at the Hyatt the previous night and I have Hyatt status, our late checkout was 3 p.m. I figured it would be easy enough to find something to do in the city, have a long dinner, and waste time until 10 p.m.
I didn’t expect to hit a wall of exhaustion at the end of the trip. I also did not consider how many things would be closed on Dec. 31. We wandered around a little bit, had a sad dinner at a chain restaurant, and walked loops around an empty mall — and then I gave up and tried to book another night at the Hyatt. Alas, it was New Year’s Eve. Everything was either sold out or priced out of our budget. So I used credit card points to book …
HOLIDAY INN GUATEMALA: It was fine.
Why didn’t I stay an extra night somewhere else in Guatemala and use Dec. 31 as a travel day to get to the airport? That’s a good question, and I probably should have done that. But there had been some protests in Guatemala around the time of this trip, and that included road blockades, so I allowed plenty of extra time (a whole day!) just in case. Luckily, we didn’t run into any travel issues.