Guatemala: The Rough Guide

I recently spent six weeks in Guatemala, and I was able to visit most sections of the country. Although the Rough Guide book was the only guidebook that I brought with me, I have looked through the lonely planet book quite a bit and also the guidebooks from the other travel publishers. I believe that the Rough Guide version is the best guidebook for Guatemala, hands down. I have read the book literally from cover to cover. I especially liked the commentary and general descriptions located throughout the book as well as all of the historical data in the back (which is actually a significant section of the book). Even when I was taking a chicken bus through a random section of the country I could find information any any given area or town along the way--housing, food, and cultural commentary. I've been told by others that the Lonely Planet edits out some places to see (such as Fuentes Georginas near Quetzaltenango). Rough Guide will just give you everything, even if the location is way off the beaten track.The only complaint I would have is that the author tends to be very socio-politically biased. For example, he dismisses the Eastern Highlands as a stronghold of right-wing politics...the ladinos acting like cowboys..."violent demonstrations of macho pride are common." I suppose this is why "your best bet is to travel directly to San Salvador by pullman" (rather than visit this aweful place of conservatism). I actually liked the Eastern Highlands.

I just returned yesterday from 10 days in Guatemala and Belize and found the Rough Guide invaluable. I went with 7 friends and between us we had Lonely Planet's "Central America", Lonely Planet's "Guatemala" and Fodor's "Guatemala and Belize". The 2 of us carrying Rough Guide were in the most demand and we relied on it for all our housing and most of our eating recommendations. In addition, the book begins with 33 things you must see/do in Guatemala and we hit most of them.Housing: Finding a place to stay was not difficult, but in Guatemala the comfort can vary a lot even in the budget range. We were able to find clean, comfortable and affordable accomodations at all of our stops. I highly recommend the Hotel Santa Clara in Antigua which has a lovely courtyard and older colonial rooms (ours had a cute, decorative fireplace). All the pricings for accomodations were on target throughout our trip (with the Santa Clara coming in at about 17$ per person based on double occupancy). Depending on how much you want to "rough" it - a $5 difference can be a big one in Guatemala and we often reserved rooms at 2 places in each of our locations. If you are traveling in a smaller group or by yourself you probably don't even need to call ahead.Food: We used this book for many of our eating recommendations and it never failed to give us an idea of the type of food and quality to expect. History and Culture: The book was enjoyable to read and provided some good information on preparation, recent happenings as well as history. A little more info on Tikal would have been great - perhaps a walking tour guide - but there are other books available for that and the site is huge.Overall: I plan to use Rough Guide again in the future. After my less than desirable experience in Peru with Lonely Planet, as their descriptions are often flat and pricing out of date depite the "new" edition.

This is my personal favorite. We used it a lot on our trip through the Western Highlands and Tikal. It has good maps, from city to national scale. It has something of interest to say about many places, including small villages. It presents lodgings in a logical manner. I found it easy to use. This guide gave us a pretty good overview of places, although it appears that unlike in many very studied/touristed places (such as Europe) there is not as much deep background available on many towns. Of all the guide books I have used for Guatemala this has the most breadth and depth, coupled with ease of use.

I traveled to Guatemala Dec99=Jan00. This book was great. Information was accurate and informative. In Chichicastenango I recommend the Hotel Chalet Buy this book.

When I traveled to Guatemala I found this guide invaluable. Particularly useful were the listings of hotels, the maps, and the information on bus routes; I always found them accurate. The book includes a plentiful amount of historical background that is essential to understanding this colorful and complex country.Although this book is aimed at the independent tourist traveling on a budget, the wealth of information it provides would be useful for anyone whose full itinerary hasn't already been determined or who wants to know more about the people and culture he/she is visiting.