Guatemala City Trip 2019

For the very first time this past August 2019 I had the opportunity to travel to Guatemala City. Another first, was that I traveled alone. So I’d like to share a few details of my stay in order to help other lone travelers. 

As I arrived in the aurora airport in Guatemala City at 7:30am I was greeted with folks trying to sell me phone cards, tourist guides, and taxis. So be prepared for that and have a plan. 

The people were very friendly and informative. The guy trying to sell me the phone cards, when I asked which way I could walk out of the airport, he responded “no you shouldn’t because it can be dangerous” so he recommended I call the shuttle or have someone pick me up from within the airport, so make sure you do make arrangements for someone to pick you up from the airport ahead of time.

Traveling alone can get tricky. Being that the taxis in Guatemala City are not all reliable or trustworthy, and this is not just coming from foreign people commenting but from the natives as well, they say you got to avoid certain areas. In the area that I stayed in called zone 13 was not the safest. I ended up booking that place last minute because the other Airbnb in zone 1 didn’t have all the dates available so for my first three nights I had to find somewhere to stay. 

  

  

 

My first thought was to stay near the airport so I booked an Airbnb about 10 minutes from the airport without knowing how risky it was. There was large street blocks that you couldn’t really walk through for risk of being mugged. The area that I stayed in did have the Museum of modern Art nearby and that was a huge plus. I definitely recommend 
that you visit the Museum of modern Art as well as the  

Museum of history and archaeology and the zoo nearby. Don’t miss out on the marketa de artesanía which is a great place to buy souvenirs. 

I was fortunate that the host that I stayed with told me

about a friend Uber driver that lives nearby and he was very trustworthy. He would give me really reasonable prices whenever I needed something from the grocery store or a restaurant. So make it a 

priority when traveling alone to find a trustworthy driver or trustworthy Uber driver because it’s tough to get around if you’re in that part of town. 



I was able to get some really good shots of the city while in the passenger seat. You really have to drive around and get to know the nitty-gritty of the city there in that zone.

Guatemala is known by it’s different zones, and they each have a different aesthetic. In zone 13 and 1 it’s sketchy after 8 PM so you don’t want to be walking about anywhere after that time.

After the third night, I ended up going to zone one which is the center of the city/downtown. The nearest place to check out would be sexta avenida which is a pedestrian only street with restaurants, shopping, theaters, some residential apartments, and a park in between the long avenue. It’s like the third street promenade in Los Angeles but much bigger with much more options. There were artist selling paintings or drawing portraits, and musicians playing.

   

It’s very lively, very very colorful, very beautiful place.

At the very beginning of sexta avenida there is el centró histórico and it’s very very large plaza where people just hang out, and walk around with lots of ice cream eateries and people selling fruit. 

There was a little bit of everything there but again you want to watch your back. Those type of places you’ll find a variety of different people from all walks of life and so that’s another thing to just always 

know. Good thing there is a very large police presence and so you do feel a bit safer knowing that there’s police around. There’s also a cathedral and a small outdoor venue for people to watch concerts and plenty of things to eat.

  

   

If you walk down about a block east from the plaza you’ll notice a Mercado Central which is where people are also selling stuff outside but it has an underground space downstairs where you’re going to find local cooks in what they call comedores and you really get a sense of the food that is native to Guatemalan's and there’s a few choices including a seafood choice which was delicious. 

The food was very inexpensive which was great. These were some of the places that I visited as you can see in the photos there was just so much to see.