Eli was very helpful and showed us to many interesting and beautiful places that we would have never found on our own. We never had to wait for the launcha which was nice and over all had a great day for our first time at the Lake!

"Exceptional presentation and craftsmanship! The manner in which these women preserve their culture through clothing and textiles is truly beautiful. It's not only a delightful way to make purchases but also supports a place where women are fairly compensated for their labor. While I may not be in the importing business, I wholeheartedly recommend visiting and purchasing some of these exquisite items. Truly gorgeous work!"

In this beautiful and artists community, don't miss the local women weavers association Kemo ( see FB or Instagram for more information) You can have a demonstration of all the organic, natural colours dyes used in their beautiful weaving cotton textiles. The shop is amazing in choice: mainly shawls and scarves of the highest quality. 85% goes directly to each weaver, each item is signed and the price is very reasonable. You will have problems to choose!! And you are supporting gifted artists and traditional weavers in the San Juan la laguna community

We booked a coffee and culture tour of San Juan during our honeymoon at Lake Atitlan. We really enjoyed this experience getting a closer look at the Guatemalan culture and way of life of the local people. We toured San Juan and got to see the process behind chocolate, textiles, coffee, bees, and herbal medicine. The trip was entertaining and educational! Our guide was excellent and patient with us as the trip went a little longer than planned. We would definitely recommend this tour!

This is an amazing place. The ride is long but beautiful. The little towns around are unique and deserve some time to visit. That is why I would not recommend the one day tour. I would recommend that you stay at Atitlan for at least two days. I made the mistake of getting a one day tour and it was a little bit of a disaster. It rained and the roof of the boat almost fell on us. We got all wet on the way to their towns. Once there, the rain kept pouring in and we didn't have any umbrellas. Yet I am still giving it high marks because it's a great place to visit though not just for a day. Anything could happen and then you could just end up wasting part of your time.

I highly recommend taking a tour with Thomas. He is an excellent source of information about the local Mayan comunity and history. We toured several of the villages and I saw many things I would have missed on my own. Including a Mayan prayer ritual. Normally I travel around places like this alone but the boat schedule was confusing so I decided to go with Thomas. I am very glad I did. It was an amazing day!

The boat tour of the Lake also includes visits to three small villages, where we were taken to the studio of the women weavers of San Juan La Laguna. There they gave a demonstration of weaving and dying yarns. There was also a visit to a village herbal garden, where they make medicines for the community. The next village I just had a local beer at a lakeside cafe.

The safety and patience of the guides made me feel very safe, my first time zip. we took the long route lines, along the cliff face. a long hard hike up with a few rope style bridges. well worth the experience. Watch out for the wind turning you around. I recommend you be in pretty good shape.

If you travel to Panajache, you must try boat tours to other villages around the lake, with 20 dollars you can visit almost four villages. It is important to arrive before 8:00 am. to catch 4 villages tour, otherwise you can join about 9:00 am and catch 3 villages boat tour for the same price. At your return, you would like to take some photos of Panajachel sunset, a colorful sky show between 5:00 pm. and 6:00 pm. sunset. You can enjoy sunrise too, but you have to get up before 5:30 am. to do so.

I came across this company, also called Kukulkan Travel I believe, while at home doing research for a bike tour around Lake Atitlan. The owner e-mailed me back promptly, with good English. I wasn't sure of my plans, so I didn't confirm a tour. He e-mailed again while I was in Guatemala, in a non-annoying way. When my partner and I arrived in Panajachel, we went into the office to check it out. The brother was there, who spoke very little English, but we easily arranged to take the tour. We were running half an hour late the following day, but they didn't mind when I called. The tour was lovely. We met at the office, and walked to the public ferry terminal. He lifted the bikes onboard, and we took the boat along with about 15 locals, stopping at a number of beautiful tiny lakeside villages before alighting at Jaibalito. We then started cycling up and down (don't do it if you hate hills - they're small but numerous!), with ridiculously scenic views, through San Marcos, San Pablo, San Juan (where we stopped to visit a women's weaving cooperative), and then to San Pedro where we took a boat back to Pana with the bikes. The mountain bikes were good, and we had good helmets too. It was one of my favorite days in Guatemala. You could do it alone in theory, but there are safety concerns on that route, and I felt we got good value, and had a lovely time with the tour. What's also notable is that the day we booked the cycle ride, we asked what they recommended we do that afternoon. I thought they'd try to sell us a tour, but they sent us on a lovely free 10k stroll to San Antonio, via Santa Catarina Palopo instead. And on the day after the tour, they recommended a walk/hike in Atitlan Nature Reserve, which they didn't benefit from but which was also lovely. I was glad I went with this pleasant brother duo's company.