Yes, my final country to visit in Central America.
I did it! Oh, and I also loved it.
For the Easter Long Weekend 2025 I traveled from Toronto to Guatemala City, Guatemala by myself. Yes, I traveled solo. And yes, I made it back just fine — before the ‘OMG NOT ALONE?!’ comments start rolling in. It was all good.
Here is a recap of everything I got up to on my quickie trip.
Also, this might be the fastest turnaround for writing a recap. Be proud of me.
Thursday, April 17th
The flight left at 5:10pm from Pearson, heading to San Salvador, El Salvador.
My quick layover would be there. I wish the layover was a little longer so I could go have the amazing pancakes I tasted while in San Salvador last year, but no being greedy. Stayed inside the airport.
I recently got a new fancy pants credit card which gives me access to lounges and I took advantage! The Avianca VIP Lounge in SAL airport was awesome. I got to relax, kick my feet up and eat some pupusas. If the layover had been longer I probably would have taken advantage of their nap area. LUXURY.
Eventually I got on the 45 minute flight from San Salvador to Guatemala City.
There were no entry or visa requirements, and my hotel had arranged a car to pick me up. No way I was dealing with taxis at 11:15pm, especially while traveling alone.
Bonus, the hotel was literally a five minute drive from the airport. That is why I chose it. GOOOOOOD choice.
Friday, April 18th
I had to wake up at 7am today because I had a tour leaving at 8am, yay. Small amount of sleep.
Hostal Villa Toscana was the name of the hotel I stayed in.
The breakfast was included (and yummy), the location being near the airport was clutch, the place is very clean and the gentleman working the front desk is really nice. I stayed here and felt very safe traveling alone and would recommend it. I know many people stay overnight before they head to other parts of Guatemala, but I stayed the three nights and was very happy with my decision to do so. Also, the price was right! Only $226.75 CAD total.
My room was small, but perfect for me. Note, there is NO air conditioning in the room (and it was like 29 degrees celsius outside) but I never felt hot! There was a small fan in the room and it actually did the job. I can’t sleep if I feel hot and I had no issues.
I got picked up for my tour on time and hopped into a nice air conditioned van. Off to Hobbitenango first.
This was one of those ‘the photos don’t do it justice‘ moments. The drive up to the destination and walking around there? The views? Breathtaking. What a beautiful place. The line to take photos on the famous ‘HAND‘ weren’t bad either. Waited maybe 15 minutes — probably got lucky because of the holiday. Make sure to buy some arroz con leche while at Hobbitenango! Yummmmmy.
Please see all the beauty below.
Following an hour or so at Hobbitenango we headed down to Antigua. Another gorgeous place. Surrounded by volcanoes and mountains, the cobblestone streets, the spectacular Good Friday processions. It was perfect. Busy, but perfect.
We watched the processions, then we went to the jade museum. I learned a lot there and got some goodies for my mom. There was a lunch stop included at a place called Las Antorchas with the tour. I chose a decent fish dish and a hibiscus juice, nothing too fancy.
Immediately after the lunch I went gallivanting over to get some tres leches at Panaderia y Pasteleria Doña Luisa Xicotencatl. HELL YEAH. Biggest piece of tres leches I have ever received. It was delicious.
I like that we had two hours to do whatever we want! Just wandering around Antigua before meeting up to leave back for Guatemala City. It was also a great tour because there were only six of us total on it. No fuss.
I will tell everyone here- MAKE SURE YOU WEAR COMFORTABLE SNEAKERS TO ANTIGUA! I watched people in sandals and flip flops tripping and falling every couple of minutes. Don’t do it. There is a lot of walking and the cobblestone might have you breaking your nose if you are as clumsy as I am.
The link to this tour can be found here, and the total cost for me was only $36.00 CAD because one of my friends got me a voucher as a birthday gift! Yay.
I was supposed to be dropped off back at my hotel but instead asked them to leave me at a restaurant in another part of Guatemala City. I was hungry, it was time for some seafood.
Rias Bajas Seafood Restaurant was the dinner choice.
I went crazy here with some clams and fries with shrimp for my starters. Then for my main I got a dish with fish, shrimp, mussels and calamari. Yes, all of that. And then of course, a dessert. I will say everything was delicious, except the dessert. It was pretty much frozen and impossible to eat, which was a shame because it did LOOK delicious.
The seafood was worth the visit.
After dinner I took an Uber back to the hotel and watched some NBA action. Needed to rest after the lack of sleep and lengthy tour day.
Saturday, April 19th
Today my only plans were to eat some more. My priorities on vacation typically do involve extensive planning of food, food and more food.
I took an Uber over to the Central Market aka the Mercado Central. I figured most of the shops and restaurants inside would be shut down for Easter, but I did have some luck.
Came across a stall named ‘Comedor Lupita’ and they were serving up goodies. I ordered pepian and chiles rellenos. Hell yeah. Great start to the food activities.
After this meal there was also another stall where a woman was selling cut up mangoes. On a really hot day, this especially hit the spot.
From Mercado Central I walked over to a busy square nearby with yes, more food stalls. But before that I turned my attention over to the beautiful Palacio Nacional de la Cultura.
The building is beautiful and I got lucky there was free admission for the long weekend. Walked around and looked at some cool displays for a bit.
The central square had a lot going on and if it wasn’t so damn hot outside, I probably would have just sat there for longer. Not only was it hot, I decided to be super gluttonous DURING A HOLY WEEKEND.
That uncomfortable feeling of when you’re stuffed and hot? No bueno.
What did I end up eating more of? Well first, I got esquites. I literally saw a photo of it and said YEP, NEED THAT. While eating, I also tried my first ever horchata drink. Now this? Only reason I was so sad for being too full was that I couldn’t drink 3-4 glasses of horchata. I could only manage the two cups of it. Delicious. It was actually so good, when I got back to Toronto I made sure to order it from somewhere just so I could enjoy it again. Unfortunately, it did not taste even close to as good as the one in Guatemala City.
Finally, I decided to have Nutella churros. These weren’t the regular churros either, they were thick and soft. Like me.
And I’m pretty great, and these churros were even better.
Because I overindulged in literally every food available in Guatemala City, it was time to relax at the hotel for a couple of hours and watch more NBA action. Doesn’t matter where I am, if there are sports to be watched – you better believe I will make time to watch them.
After being lazy and enjoying not being in the heat……..time to go out and eat again. I must have gained ten pounds that day.
I had a dinner reservation at a place called Las Carnes de Rodrigo.
This seemed like a more upscale place and they even had someone singing to the diners. Cuteeee.
I already knew this menu well, so deciding on what to order was simple. I knew I wanted a pineapple drink I saw photos of, bone marrow as my starter, my main to be a nice seafood soup and finally, tres leches as my dessert.
When I went to order the bone marrow the waiter literally said to me ‘you know the bone marrow is only an appetizer, yes?‘ and I was like yeah yeah, that’s what I intended it to be.
Why did the waiter bring out some pre-historic-pterodactyl-sized-bone-marrow?????? What in the Flintstones fuck was going on here? These things were huge. This appetizer would be appropriate for three people, not me, just one. They even torch them and then scoop out the meat onto tortillas so you can eat it like a taco. It was delicious, but so much food.
Then my seafood soup came, that was really hearty and good. Then the tres leches, which had the most beautiful presentation but it was just OK to eat. I wish it was like the one I had the day before in Antigua.
After dinner I took an Uber back to the hotel because an early day was coming to get back to Toronto.
On Monday morning, at 3am, I was back at Guatemala City airport. This is why the hotel being close to the airport was so clutch. I didn’t have to travel far when I arrived late and didn’t have to travel far when I was departing early.
Only good thing about flying this early was catching the most beautiful sunrise as we flew into El Salvador.
Used that Avianca VIP lounge again at San Salvador for the layover, which was serving breakfast at my arrival time. This hit the spot.
And then I flew home. No issues.
I want to say now, this might be the sixth or seventh time I have flown roundtrip with Avianca and have yet to have a single issue. I do only fly Avianca with a personal item, I’ve never flown with checked luggage with them, so I can’t speak to that. But I have never been delayed, the flight attendants are nice and the plane has USB charging ports.
Don’t expect food or entertainment, but for a budget airline? They are perfect with me.
I hope me writing this doesn’t jinx me for any upcoming trips, but I needed to share that. They have never let me down and I am very impressed by that.
Also, Guatemala. I will definitely try to come back. The natural beauty of the Antigua area is something I need to experience again. I would also like to come back and see Lake Atitlan. I didn’t have time to go explore there during my short trip, but I’d like to come back and do so.
I know this will be a big question, so I want to say I felt totally safe traveling around Guatemala City alone. I wasn’t out particularly late and took Ubers everywhere. No issues at all.
I did have one man call me a giraffe, but when I asked him what’s up with that he told me it was because I am ‘elegant and tall‘. Not the worst compliment, I guess.
There was no need to write a full budget breakdown for this trip, as there wasn’t much to list. But just in case, here is my Excel sheet for the visual learners.
Final note, this flight deal was excellent because when I checked closer to the date it had shot up to over $1400.00!! Insane price hike.
- Mirna
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