Exploring Lake Atitlán for Less Than $100 Per Day
Ahh, the beauty. Lake Atitlan lived up to the hype. Waking up every morning on the deck facing east to view magnificent sunrises, hearing the lapping of the calm early morning waves. We enjoyed our almost 2 weeks in Santa Cruz La Laguna, a small town on the northern part of the lake. Our kids playing in the small yard with a hammock. The family had a great time. Here is our breakdown of how much we spent for the 13 nights. In total, we spent $1277.91 for 13 nights for a total of $98.30 per day for our family of 4. Let’s see how that is broken down. All amounts shown are in US dollars.
Accommodation—$514.50 or $39.57 per night.
Anna found this amazing, east facing, water front villa on the lake with complete privacy. Sunrise views every morning, small yard for the girls to explore in a quiet part of the lake.
Eating Out – $73.29
We we ate out a couple of times:
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Comedor Mary – Small hole in a wall place with local food away from the tourist spots. Authentic Guatemalan- $14.88.
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Empire Cafe – Craving nachos in our trip to San Pedro- $11.00.
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Unnamed restaurant in Chichi – It was raining, we were hungry in Chichi Market, found this place- $10.33.
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Holy Tortilla– Most touristy place we ate at. One of the only restaurants in Santa Cruz. $37.08.
Groceries – $363.88
We did the a lot better by buying our produce in local street markets or on Farmer’s Market days. This cut down our prices significantly and got fresh produce while we were at it. The girls tried a bunch of tropical fruit for the first time and had the best tomatoes, potatoes, and bell peppers. Store bought cannot compare! We did go into Panajachel a couple of times to get extra food. We spent about $3.63 per meal for our family of 4 including all the snacks for everyone throughout the day. Here’s how that broke down:
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Sandra’s Supermarket– Extremely happy ladies working with great selection of healthy foods in the main town along the lake called Panajachel—$143.94
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La Torre –$154.07
- Farmers markets and local tiendas— $65.87
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Transportation – $257.78
I have specifically omitted our flight cost for the sake that readers will have to get to Lake Atitlan from many different places in the world, and all flights and means of transportation will be different. We did use Daily Drop Pro, which is a search engine to help you search for redemption flights, from the points we earn from this credit card.
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Airport Transfer- Private shuttle transport from Guatemala City airport to Panajachel in Lake Atitlan including tip to the driver. $145.00
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No rental car for this location, which saved a lot of money. Main mode of transportation are boats, or launchas. We paid anywhere from $6.50 to $13.00 one way for a family of 4 with 2 small kids on the launcha. Tourist adults are always 25 quetzales or $3.25 USD per person. The price difference was whether we were successful in negotiating not paying for the little ones. Total launchas—$82.25
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Chichi day— We took a public transport day to the famous Chichi Market. In total we took 2 boats, 4 buses, 2 vans—$24.68
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Tuk-Tuk up to Santa Cruz– $1.93
- Carros, Sit in a back of a pickup truck on benches, crammed in with locals. $3.89.
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Tourist Attractions – $20.72
We had the beauty right at our rental. :
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Kayaking on the lake – $20.72
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Miscellaneous – $47.77
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We bought a Christmas gift from a local women who was generous enough to show our daughters traditional way to make textiles. $32.38
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Dad got a haircut. $2.58
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Total: $1277.91
How We Improved from prior locations:
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Transportation: No car rental and doing the bulk of our transport like the locals do saved big.
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Groceries: We bought from more local tiendas and found out when the Farmer’s Market days were. Better produce at cheaper prices than grocery stores.
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Lake Atitlan was a highlight of our trip. We were there for 13 nights and lucked out by getting our rental right on the water without any obstructing views, facing east for beautiful sunrises. We would highly recommend taking in this beautiful area of Guatemala.
More on the Blog:
What is there to do in Lake Atitlán with kids?
