By the time we left Guatemala we'd climbed a volcano, slept beside an erupting one, swum in turquoise pools in the jungle, walked through a 2,000 year old Mayan city, and circled a lake with about five different personalities. I've written up every one of these properly already, so this is more of a highlight reel tying it all together, if you're planning your own trip and want the shortcut to what's worth building your route around.

Nothing beats climbing Acatenango, dusty, steep, genuinely tough at points, but you camp on its slopes looking straight across at Volcán Fuego spitting lava and ash through the night, then summit for sunrise the next morning above a sea of cloud. If you're actually planning to do it, I've also put together everything I wish I'd known beforehand, altitude, gear, and which tour company details actually matter.

The closest big town is Antigua, colonial, colourful, and easily Guatemala's food capital. Between Fat Cat's coffee, Frida's veggie tacos, a chocolate workshop that ends with singing an actual chocolate anthem, and a coffee farm tour that felt like a scene out of Narcos, we barely stopped eating. I've also written a shorter shortlist version if you just want the highlights.

A long drive north gets you to Semuc Champey, a limestone bridge hiding a series of turquoise pools in the jungle near Lanquín, sacred to the Maya and genuinely one of the prettiest places we saw all trip. Tubing down the river afterwards, bumping into strangers and getting shouted at to duck under hidden rocks, might be more fun than the pools themselves.

Further north again is Tikal, one of the greatest Mayan cities, built around 600 BC and once home to over 100,000 people before the jungle swallowed it whole. Climbing the temples for sunrise, hearing howler monkeys roar somewhere unseen in the canopy, genuinely feels like stepping into an Indiana Jones film.

And then there's Lake Atitlán, which isn't really one destination at all. Sunrise from the Indian's Nose above San Pedro, a stingless bee sanctuary and painted streets in San Juan where the bees don't sting but do bite, cliff jumping and hippy energy in San Marcos, and Free Cerveza, quite possibly the best hostel either of us has stayed in anywhere. I've gone into each of those towns in far more detail in their own posts.

Guatemala genuinely has a bit of everything, erupting volcanoes, ancient ruins, jungle rivers, chocolate history, and a lake that somehow contains five different trips inside one. If you're short on time, Acatenango and Antigua alone would justify the flight. If you've got longer, keep going north.