Playa El Rosario
Wide black volcanic sand and warm Pacific water. Beginner surf in the morning, long empty beach in the evening.
Mayan World · Family Adventures
Your family.
Your pace.
Your Guatemala.
Volcano, Pacific & Lake — 7 or 8 nights, built around your people.
Scroll the journey ↓Private logistics. Flexible shared experiences.
Your own vehicle, your own guides, your own pace — with the option to share only the experiences that are better together.
The Route
Four worlds, one continuous private journey.
Highlands to ocean and back to the lake. Every move is yours alone — a change of scenery, not a travel day.
- 1
2 nightsAntigua Guatemala
Cobblestones, courtyards and a soft landing.
Explore destination - 2
Day journeyVolcán Pacaya
Warm black gravel and the first real adventure.
Explore destination - 33–4 nights
Pacific Coast
Surf, mangroves, black sand — the heart of the trip.
Explore destination - 4
2 nightsLake Atitlán
Deep water, volcanoes and a gentle finale.
Explore destination
A Different Guatemala
You may know Guatemala. You probably haven't experienced this Guatemala.
Antigua, Pacaya and Lake Atitlán are the Guatemala most families arrive for. This route adds the Pacific side — and that combination is what makes the week feel new, even if you've travelled here before.
A Guatemala waiting to be discovered — not because it's hidden, but because it rarely makes the standard itinerary.
Black volcanic beaches
Dark, warm sand on the open Pacific — a completely different coastline to the one most itineraries show.
Mangrove channels
Quiet water, birds and early light in the Reserva Natural Hawaii, minutes from the surf.
Pacific fishing & surf mornings
Boats and rods for some of the family, first waves and surfskate for the rest.
Turtle conservation
Seasonal, community-run and never guaranteed — but unforgettable when it happens.
Playa El Rosario
A working stretch of coast rather than a resort strip, with Hotel Maya Jade as the home base.
And the Guatemala you know
Antigua's courtyards, Pacaya's volcanic gravel and Atitlán's deep water — in one continuous route.
What Your Journey Carries
One journey. A lot already handled.
Instead of booking hotels, drivers, guides and activities one by one, your family gets one privately coordinated journey. Starting rates are published below; the exact inclusion wording is still being finalized and is confirmed in your personal proposal.
Private doesn’t have to mean expensive.
One private journey carries accommodation, daily breakfast, private transportation, guides where applicable, selected experiences, planning and local support — instead of a dozen separate bookings. Lunches, dinners and tips are not included.
Mayan World Classic
per person, per day & night
Introductory Travel Rate · based on 4 travelers
The full journey, in comfortable, carefully selected stays.
- 7 days
US$6,860from US$5,572 - 8 days
US$7,840from US$6,368 - Totals for 4 travelers.
Mayan World Signature
from US$295
from · per person, per day & night
The same private journey, with an upgraded boutique stay style.
- 7 daysfrom US$8,260
- 8 daysfrom US$9,440
- Totals for 4 travelers.
Both tiers travel the same route with the same private logistics, the same core experiences and the same Pacific home base. Classic is not a lesser Guatemala — Signature simply upgrades the stay style.
Four travelers is our reference party. Private transportation, guiding and coordination are shared inside your own party, so smaller private parties may cost more per person and larger parties may cost less per person.
Your final proposal depends on your exact travel dates, party composition and lodging tier. Nothing is charged at proposal stage.
Lodging rates and availability can be different or tighter over Semana Santa, Christmas / New Year and selected high-demand dates. Your final price is always confirmed before any reservation is made.
Available through October 31, 2026 · selected departures.
7 or 8 nights accommodation
Rooms at every stop on the route, for your party alone.
Daily breakfast
Every morning of the journey included.
Private transportation throughout
All route transfers in your own vehicle with your own driver.
Private guides where applicable
Assigned to your family for the guided moments of the week.
Selected experiences
A defined set of experiences along the route — not unlimited activities.
Trip planning & local support
Mayan World planning before departure and support while you travel.
Four destinations, one week, one coordinated plan — and one point of contact for all of it.
Final pricing follows date and party-size confirmation. Requesting a proposal involves no payment and no commitment.
Chapter One · 2 nights
Antigua — a soft landing.
You arrive, sleep, and wake up to cobblestones, courtyards and volcanoes on three horizons. One full day belongs to Antigua: colour, chocolate or textiles, markets, and the kind of long lunch that resets a family after a flight.
- Arrival night — private transfer from Guatemala City
- One full guided day: architecture, culture and food
- Unhurried afternoons; the day is yours to shorten
Chapter Two · Day journey
The adventure begins.
Volcán Pacaya is where the trip stops being a holiday and becomes a story. Warm ground underfoot and a horizon of cones — guided, paced to your party, with a lighter option for anyone who prefers the view to the climb.
Route and duration confirmed in your personal proposal.
Chapter Three · The heart of the journey
Guatemala's Pacific Coast
Blue water, black sand, green mangroves — and three or four nights where the family finally moves at its own speed.
SurfSurfskateMangrovesFishingTurtlesSunsets
The Territory
A coast you settle into.
Ocean on one side, wetland on the other, and a home base in between. This is a stretch of real Guatemalan coast — not a resort compound.
Reserva Natural Hawaii
Protected coastal wetland — mangrove channels, birdlife and turtle conservation work at first light.
Hotel Maya Jade — home base
Your base on the coast, selected by Mayan World. One home inside a much bigger Guatemala journey, not the trip itself.
One Day, Four Versions
Nobody has to do the same thing to have the same trip.
The Pacific days are built so generations can split up without splitting the holiday — and reunite whenever it matters.
Kids & teens
Surf lessons, surfskate, boogie boards and water time — an outlet that isn't a family activity.
Parents
Fishing, boat outings through the mangrove channels, or an afternoon with nothing in it.
Grandparents
Shade, calm boat rides, fishing from the pier and the best seat at dinner.
Everyone
Long lunches, turtle experiences at dusk, bonfires and the last of the light.
A Day on the Coast
Morning ocean. Midday mangrove. Sunset together.
Morning
Blue water
Beginner surf at Playa El Rosario with instructors who teach kids all season. Swimming and board games in the shallows for the smallest ones.
Midday
Mangrove green
A slow boat through the channels of the reserve — birds, still water, and shade for anyone who has had enough sun.
Late afternoon
Back together
A long table, cold drinks, and everyone telling a different version of the same day.
Dusk
Sun orange
Turtle season experiences, bonfire on black sand, and a Pacific sunset that ends the conversation.
Illustrative day. Not every activity happens every day, and not all are included.
Possible on the coast
Choose day by day, with your guide.
Surf lessonsSurfskateWakeboardSwimmingFishing from the pierBoat outingsMangrove channelsTurtle conservationBlack sand beach walksSlow foodBonfire evenings
Draft list. Not all activities are included or unlimited — a selection is confirmed in your proposal, based on ages, season and conditions.
Chapter Four · 2 nights
Lake Atitlán — the finale.
Deep water ringed by volcanoes, and villages that each keep their own character. A boat crossing, textiles and markets, and long evenings above the water. The pace here is deliberately gentle — you fly home rested, not recovering.
- Private boat crossing to one or two lakeside villages
- Culture and craft with a local guide
- Unstructured lake time before departure
The Promise
Private means private.
Private logistics, flexible shared experiences. Your travel party has its own booking, pricing, rooms, vehicle and pace — start to finish.
We personalize activities, pace and details around your family. The four destinations stay fixed: Antigua Guatemala → Volcán Pacaya → Pacific Coast → Lake Atitlán.
Private transfers
Your vehicle and driver only. No shared shuttles, no pick-up rounds.
Private guides
Guides assigned to your party where applicable, at your pace.
Your own booking
Independent booking, pricing, rooms and daily rhythm.
Sharing only by choice
If another family overlaps at the coast, selected experiences — turtles, bonfire, nature — can be shared when it adds value. Optional, never automatic.
Accompaniment by design
Adventure, with people looking out for you.
Your journey may feel spontaneous. The logistics behind it aren’t. Everything is coordinated in advance by a Guatemala-based team, along a route we run ourselves.
You may be discovering Playa El Rosario for the first time. We aren’t.
Step 1
You land. We meet you.
A private pickup and a coordinated arrival, so nobody is negotiating transport after a long flight.
Step 2
You move. We coordinate it.
A known route and private transfers between Antigua, Pacaya, the Pacific Coast and Lake Atitlán.
Step 3
You explore. Local people are with you.
Guides, hosts and operators who know these places, and who adjust the day to your family.
Step 4
You reach the Pacific. You’re in our home.
Playa El Rosario and Hotel Maya Jade are our home base — not a location picked off the internet.
No Homework Required
You choose your Saturday. We handle the moving parts.
Planning a week across highlands, coast and lake usually means a dozen open tabs, unclear transfers and someone in the family doing all the research. Here, that work is already done.
Step 1
Airport pickup
Met on arrival in Guatemala City and driven straight to Antigua.
Step 2
Hotels along the route
Rooms held at each stop for your party — no separate bookings to chase.
Step 3
Private drivers
One vehicle, your family only, for every transfer of the week.
Step 4
Guides where applicable
Assigned to your party for the moments where a guide genuinely matters.
Step 5
Transfers between stops
Highlands to coast to lake, timed around your family's mornings.
Step 6
Activity coordination
Surf, boats, fishing, mangroves and turtle visits arranged in advance.
Step 7
Local support
A Guatemala-based team reachable while you're on the ground.
The journey is designed. Your experience within it is personal.
Departures
Your family. Your Saturday.
No group to join. No departure to fill.
Your journey doesn’t wait for strangers to book the same dates. There is no minimum party size to reach, and your trip is never cancelled because other travelers didn’t book. You pick the Saturday; the week is yours.
Every journey begins on a Saturday
All departures start Saturday evening, heading to Antigua. Choosing “flexible” means choosing a preferred month or season — flexible trips still begin on a Saturday.
Your own private party
Your booking, rooms, vehicle and pace belong to your family alone. Selected experiences can be shared with another party only when you choose to.
High-demand dates
Lodging rates and availability can be different or tighter over Semana Santa, Christmas / New Year and selected high-demand dates. Your final price is always confirmed before any reservation is made.
What's Included
Clear from the start.
Provisional wording. Supplier terms are not finalized, so inclusions below are indicative and confirmed in your personal proposal.
Included
- Accommodation throughout the route
- Daily breakfast
- Private transfers between all destinations
- Private guides where applicable
- Selected experiences along the journey
- Mayan World trip planning and support
Not included
- International flights
- Lunches and dinners
- Alcoholic beverages
- Personal expenses
- Premium add-ons and optional extras
- Tips / gratuities
Placeholder Social Proof
What we expect families to say.
Demo testimonials — replace with verified guest reviews before launch. None of the quotes below come from real guests.
- Placeholder quoteDemo
Demo placeholder: everyone found something they loved on the same day — the kids in the water, the grandparents on the pier, and all of us back together at dinner.
Multigenerational family · United States
- Placeholder quoteDemo
Demo placeholder: the private driver and the guides meant we never had to negotiate logistics. We just showed up and the teens stayed genuinely interested.
Family with teens · Canada
- Placeholder quoteDemo
Demo placeholder: we had been to Antigua and the lake before. The Pacific side — black sand, mangrove channels, the turtles — was a Guatemala we hadn't experienced.
Returning Guatemala visitor · United States
- Placeholder quoteDemo
Demo placeholder: a good balance of adventure and slow afternoons. Nobody was pushed, and nobody was bored.
Family with younger children · United States
Choose Your Pace
Seven nights, or eight.
The difference is one more day on the Pacific — usually the day families wish they had added.
7 nights
The Classic Route
Volcano, ocean and lake with a comfortable rhythm.
- Antigua Guatemala2 nights
- Pacific Coast3 nights
- Lake Atitlán2 nights
7 night Classicfrom US$5,572
Total for 4 travelers. Classic and Signature rates are compared in the pricing section above.
8 nights
The Slow Pacific
One more day on the coast — more ocean, more nature, less packing.
- Antigua Guatemala2 nights
- Pacific Coast4 nights
- Lake Atitlán2 nights
8 night Classicfrom US$6,368
Total for 4 travelers. Classic and Signature rates are compared in the pricing section above.
Still comparing countries?
Costa Rica perfected the nature vacation.Guatemala gives your family nature — and a civilization to discover.
Costa Rica is genuinely excellent at what it does: mature eco-tourism infrastructure, visible conservation, world-class nature branding. Guatemala offers a different shape of week — living Maya culture, archaeology and colonial Antigua alongside volcanoes, lakes, a black-sand Pacific coast and mangroves.
Thinking about Costa Rica? Give Guatemala ten minutes before you decide.
Read the honest comparisonThe comparison page covers what each country does best, how a private designed journey differs from a generic group tour, and where value actually comes from.
- Why families choose Costa Rica
- What Guatemala adds: culture, history, diversity
- Private journey vs group departure
- How to decide, honestly
Know Before You Go
The practical questions, answered in one place.
Flights and arrival, seasons, money, health orientation, local support, packing and tipping — kept in a travel guide instead of buried in this page. Official guidance is connected before launch, so nothing here is invented.
Getting to Guatemala
Arriving at GUA, how the Saturday start works, and planning your flights.
ReadWeather & When to Visit
Dry and green season framework, regional differences, and high-demand dates.
ReadMoney & Exchange
Currency basics, cards versus cash, and how much spending money to plan.
ReadHealth & Vaccinations
Where to get official guidance, and what topics to discuss with your doctor.
ReadSafety & Local Support
How accompaniment, private logistics and local knowledge actually work.
ReadEmbassies & Emergencies
Where official contacts will live, organised by your nationality.
ReadTips & Gratuities
Tips are not included — here is how to think about them.
ReadWhat to Pack
Packing built around four very different destinations in one week.
Read
Questions Families Ask
Before you plan.
Your journey is designed around private transport, vetted stays and guides who know each area. We travel a defined route with local support at every step, and we brief every family before arrival. (Draft copy — final safety guidance to be reviewed.)
One week in Guatemala. A story your family keeps.
Tell us who's travelling and when. The journey is designed — we personalize the experience within it, privately, around your family. No payment at proposal stage.