Antigua Guatemala Travel Forum

Hi Folks..I'm taking a trip to Antigua Guatemala in mid August. I'm wondering if anyone has any input on what the weather will be like and what if any other things I should know about traveling there during this period. Events, natural phenomenon or anything else.

Many thanks in advance,

Giampiero

now that you just had a little warm up with some easy vulcano hiking in santorini, you might want to try something a little more challenging.
the vulcano hiking is very good in guatemala.

hola amigo...yes indeed. Hey do you know how august will be in Guatemala weather wise?

i think it should be fairly hot, but you are in high altitude, so it won't be boiling hot.

Hello there, of course you're going to be in the middle of the rainy season until november. And the weather forescasters have been accurate in terms of predicting that this rainy season was expected to be a little heavier than normal. But in the Antigua area you cannot expect floods or for the weather to mess up your travel plans. Not even hiking the pacaya volcano because you leave in the morning for a 3 hoour hike to the top to get close to the lava and the crater and they bring you back to your hotel by noon time. It normally rains in the afternoons for about 2/3 hours every other day. So bring your jacket and good shoes to hike any of the 34 volcanoes around the country. Of coure I'm sure you're including Tikal in your travel plans right.

Thanks JJ for the great advice. I haven't termined all the plans yet... Looking forward to it@!

I will certainly be doing a volcano walk...thanks for any advice you have!

when i was in antigua i met a lovely ethiopian/armenian girl who had just rented a place where she was gonna start an italian restaurant.
she's worth checking out :O)

nice tip! I will definitely keep an eye out for her... ;)

I hope her Amarone selection is good.

I was just there a week ago and the rains were never very long or heavy in Antigua. But as already stated the rains are typically in the late afternoon or in the evening. Take a good rain shell with you and you should be good. Temperature-wise Antigua was very nice with highs around 80 and lows around 60. Not very humid at all which is a 180-degree switch from the Peten area where Tikal is.

I hope to get some tips up in the next week or so. Lots of cool churches (ruined and/or operating), a vibrant market, and it's worth it to check out some of the surrounding villages to get a better flavor of how the locals live. Are you only going to be based in Antigua?

As for natural phenomena, I did experience a 6.7 quake while I was there. It was a nice 50-second roller. Shouldn't be a problem for someone from California though.

Andy

Hi Andy...thanks for the great advice. Good to hear about the temps and the rains. LA is so dry, I would welcome some rain and lushness!

G

No problem. While there they told me that Guatemala is known as the land of eternal spring because of the year-round moderate temps and the precip from the extended rainy season. Flowers bloom all year round there.

OH, G WANTS TO GOTO ANTIGUA EH?

AUGUST HMMM...

I'D SAY IT'S MORE LIKELY TO BE RAINY SEASON THAT TIME ALTHOUGH IT'S NOT TO SAY THAT IT WILL RAIN ALL THE TIME.

YEP, PACAYA IS DEFO WORTH THE HIKE...JUST WEAR SOME STRONG HIKING SHOES OR DON'T WEAR YOUR BEST SHOES AT ALL COS THE CHANCES ARE, YOUR SHOES (THE SOLES) WILL MELT IF YOU HIKING ON THIN CRUST OF LAVA. YOU MIGHT WANNA CHECKOUT VOLCAN AGUA TOO IF YOU IN A GROUP, ACATENANGO IS QUITE GOOD I HEAR BUT THAT ONE TAKES LONGER.

TAKE A 3-4 HOUR TRIP TO LAKE ATITLAN (PANAJACHEL) TOO COS THAT'S A VERY SCENIC PLACE. THERE ARE NUMEROUS PLACES IN ANTIGUA WHERE YOU CAN BOOK TOURS.

GOOD LUCK

Antigua?- I was there last august for almost a month and during this time Guatemala experiences their version of winter, or rainy season. Every day of my visit it rained, but it was usually just one, brief rain in the afternoon. There were some days when the rain lingered throughout the day. Other than that, it was always very pleasant- warm, non-humid- mornings are wonderful and the days are really nice as well. hope that helps!
emily

I'm VERY confused about the rainfall in Antigua. My husband and I are (were?) planning to be there for two months...October and November. We expected afternoon rain, about like you mentioned (several hours in the afternoon, maybe every other day). But we've just checked out some weather sites, and they seem to agree that there are 35-50 INCHES of RAIN each month during the wet or green season. That seems a bit overwhelming! How would you go about your life with that much rain???
Appreciate hearing any replys. Thanks!

see my reply to your other post. Rain is there in the afternoons, not a big problem, clouds covering dramatic views is the biggest downside....