My nine-year-old son and I stayed at Vulcano Lodge in late 2011. Terje, the owner, looked after us splendidly, taking great care over the delicious food he made for us. The rooms were clean and comfortable, with enough space. The gardens, which have taken 18 years to plant and perfect, are a delight. It's wonderful to come to this quiet corner of Atitlan after the tourist buzz of larger places. Good to hear, too, of the involvement of Terje in community projects based in teh local village. Easily one of our favourite places in Guatemala.

This was easily the favourite accommodation in Guatemala for my husband and I. It was a little more expensive than other places we stayed, but was also the relax part of our holiday. We lounged around on the couch and hammock on our porch at some stage every day.
Terje, the owner, made us feel very welcome, and the two ladies who run the place were very efficient and helpful, even with our limited Spanish.

It was a joy to stay at Vulcano lodge. We basically had the lodge to ourselves (my family and I) before some expected sold out days. There was another couple there as well. It is true that the owners are out of town and the person in charge was also out of town when we got there but the ladies in charge were very accommodating and very friendly. They did not speak english however, since we know spanish, it wasn't an issue for us. The only downsize about not having the owners around was the nifty extras that I read in the reviews, for example I wanted to hike around jaibalito and to the neighboring towns but the ladies in charge did not know how. I ended up finding the trails by myself.

We stayed in the family room on the second floor of the main building. It had two bedrooms, a shared bathroom and a living room. It also had a private balcony with chairs and hammocks. The rooms were clean, cozy and nice. The bathroom was clean and had ample space for the 5 of us who stayed there. The views of the lake from the balcony were amazing. we had volcano views and lake views. I had read other reviews about not having lake views and they are quite right. The only place where you can see the lake is from the second floor balcony where we stayed. We enjoyed our views and the stay. Beds were comfortable. The only complain I would have about the room were the flowers hanging from the balcony, it attracted huge bees. None of us were stung but they we were a bit afraid of the stings.

Dinner was wonderful and very tasty. It was a family dinner, we shared the table with the other couple. It was a four course meal and it was simply amazing. The freshness of the foods were great and the taste was to die for. It's not like you have a choice to dine somewhere else since there aren't any other places around but I highly recommend you stay for dinner nonetheless.

There arent any pools in the lodge, so we were told to walk down to a restaurant next to the lake that has a pool and a jacuzzi tub (I have written another review for that).

Jaibalito is a very small town where locals live and then go to work in the surrounding towns. It's about a 20 min ride from Pana and from the port you will walk about 5-10 minutes to the entrance of the lodge.

I would go back to Vulcano Lodge in a heartbeat. Wonderful and very affordable.

The gardens are beautiful, the rooms are fine and the food is ok.