Total Time:
4-5 Hours
Total Cost:
60-95 Quetzales
Getting to Lake Atitlan from Guatemala City by public bus is easy and is by far the cheapest option you can find apart from hitchhiking. Moreover, you’ll definitely remember the journey as a crazy and authentic Guatemalan experience.
First, you have to make it to the chicken bus station in Zone 8 of Guatemala City (see below). An uber to make it there from Zone 1 or 4 will run you anywhere from 20 to 35 GTQ. The next step is to board a bus to Los Encuentros (50 GTQ), it will be labelled Xela/Quetzaltenango but you will have to get off before the final stop. The drivers will most likely approach you as soon as you get out of your uber or you will hear them yell the name of the destination. I am unaware of a direct bus route to Panajachel that still exists but you can try your luck and ask around. This first bus is the longest and is a good chunk of the distance to your destination (~3 hours).
Once you get off the bus in Los Encuentros, there will be buses to Solola (5GTQ, ~30 minutes) that depart from the same place you were dropped off at. In Solola, you will be dropped off at the main square where you will catch your third and final bus to Panajachel (5GTQ, ~20 minutes). If this is where you are staying, congratulations! You have survived your day of chicken bussing. From here, you can either walk or hire a tuktuk to make it to your accommodation.
If you are staying in San Pedro, San Marcos, San Juan, Santiago, San Antonio Palopó and Santa Catarina Palopó… you have a little further to go. You have to go to the port and hop on a public boat. There are other ways to make it to some of these towns strictly by land, but arriving in Panajachel and taking a boat is the no fuss, quicker option.
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