💰 My Guatemala Trip Cost: Budget Breakdown (2025)

💰 Trip Cost	Very Affordable
💵 Typical Budget	$35-$110/day
🍀 My Budget	$46/day
✈️ Trip Total	$676
🗓️ Trip Length	2 weeks

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Is Guatemala Affordable To Travel To?

Guatemala is a very affordable destination globally and is considered one of Central America’s cheapest destinations.

• Many of the top attractions are nature-based and budget-friendly.
• The cost of living is low, making food and accommodations cheap.
• The country offers cheap modes of transportation like chicken buses.

For comparison, here’s my daily budget for destinations in Central America:

Country	My Budget
🇨🇷 Costa Rica	$235
🇧🇿 Belize	$186
🇸🇻 El Salvador	$59
🇳🇮 Nicaragua	$59
🇬🇹 Guatemala	$46

💰 What I Spent Traveling to 21 Destinations (2025 Update)

About My Trip

To give context to the expenses below, here’s what you need to know about my trip:

• I spent 3.5 weeks in Guatemala, but I only include costs for the 14 days I traveled like a tourist (and not a nomad) for this cost breakdown. I visited Antigua, Acatenango, Lake Atitlán, and Xela.
• My trip was in November, during the start of the high season, when things are more expensive.
• I traveled with other people, which allowed us to split costs like housing.
• I’m a mid-range budget traveler. I don’t aim to travel on a budget, but I’m intentional about my spending.
• I finance my trips and don’t receive sponsorship.
• All expenses are per person and in US dollars, converted from Guatemala’s currency.

Total Cost

• $893
• $676
• $46

A mid-range budget traveler can expect to spend $50–$110 per day in Guatemala.

Budget Breakdown

Here’s a breakdown of my expenses by travel category:

Category	Cost	% of Total	Daily Budget
✈️ Flights	$249	28%	–
🏠 Accommodation	$217	24%	$16
🫔 Food	$270	30%	$19
🚌 Transportation	$75	8%	$5
⭐ Entertainment	$82	9%	$6
Total	$893	100%	$46

Flight Cost

• $249 (I usually fly from the US, but for this trip, I flew into Guatemala from Nicaragua)
• I took a bus to El Salvador afterward, but a flight back to the US would have been around $250–$350

A round-trip flight between the US and Guatemala costing under $200 is considered cheap, as international flights typically cost between $400 and $700.

Accommodation Cost

• $217
• $26

The accommodations I stayed at:

Accommodation	Total Cost	Cost per Night
Antigua Airbnb #1	$65	$16
Antigua Airbnb #2	$67	$22
Lake Atitlán Panajachel Airbnb	$26	$26
Lake Atitlán San Pedro Airbnb	$47	$16
Xela Airbnb	$12	$12

My accommodation budgeting tips:

• Stay outside central locations – I stayed near popular neighborhoods, but often 10-15 minutes outside the central areas. I found it helps reduce my accommodation costs significantly. For example:
  • Antigua – Instead of staying in the happening central historic area, I stayed a bit south and north of it. This usually required a 10-minute walk to a restaurant.
  • Xela – Quetzaltenango (aka Xela) also has a central park area. I stayed a 15-minute walk west of it.

I list popular neighborhoods for tourists to stay in within my Guatemala trip planner.

Food Cost

• $270
• $19

My most affordable meals:

Meal	Location	Cost
Typical rice & chicken platter	Street Food (Antigua)	$3
Japanese curry bowl	Yakitóri de Cava (Lake Atitlán)	$5
Typical rice & pork platter	El Portón Tipico (Antigua)	$6

My most expensive meals:

Meal	Location	Cost
4-course prix fixe meal	Uuuhmami (Antigua)	$34
Authentic Korean food	Masik (Antigua)	$23
Large soup dish	La Casa de Las Sopas (Antigua)	$12

My food budgeting tips:

• Eat street food – Street food can cost less than $5 for a meal and is excellent and safe if you go to popular stalls. I ate street food everywhere I went. They were often more delicious than the traditional food served at restaurants.
• Visit markets – Many places will have a central market area with multiple food stalls with cheap traditional food. I was able to get meals for less than $8 here.

I review 10+ places I ate at and share how much I spent at each one in my Guatemala trip planner.

Transportation Cost

• $75
• $5

The transportation I used:

Transportation	Total Cost	Cost per Ride
Shuttle	$42	$13
Chicken Bus	$15	$5
Uber	$10	$3
Boat	$8	$4
Tuk-tuk	$1	$1

My transportation budgeting tips:

• Take the chicken bus – If you want to save money and travel like a local, ride a “chicken bus”. Chicken buses are repurposed US buses that are popular public transportation options throughout Central America. They’re named so because locals sometimes carry livestock on them. Guatemala has some of the most chaotic and interesting buses I’ve ridden.
• Don’t ask for transport prices – For local buses and boats, figure out what the local price is for transportation and hand over that amount in cash without asking for the price. Once you ask for the price, you will be charged 2-3x the original amount. This saved me at least $10 in Lake Atitlán.
• Skip private boats on Lake Atitlán – The public boats are 2-4x cheaper. I took both public and private boats and didn’t feel like the private ones were significantly better.

Entertainment Cost 

• $82
• $6

The activities/attractions I did:

Attraction	Location	Cost
🌋 Acatenango Volcano Overnight Hike	Antigua	$58
🏛️ Explore Antigua City	Antigua	Free
🌄 Indian Nose Sunrise Hike	Lake Atitlán	$13
⛰️ Cerro de la Cruz Hike	Antigua	Free
🌿 San Marcos Village	Lake Atitlán	$3
🎨 San Juan Murals	Lake Atitlán	Free
💦 Fuentes Georginas Hot Spring	Xela	$8
🌱 Eco Farms GT Volunteer	Antigua	Free
📸 Santa Catalina Arch	Antigua	Free
🪁 Sumpango Giatn Kite Festival (November)	Antigua	Free
🌺 Flower Festival (November)	Antigua	Free

My entertainment budgeting tips:

• Look for festivals – Guatemala hosts and celebrates many festivals (I attended three of them in November) which are often open to the public and serve cheap local food.

• Opt for Spanish-speaking guides – Many of the beautiful hikes in Guatemala are best done with a hike. If you can take a tour in Spanish, those are usually cheaper than English-speaking ones.

🏆 My Ratings for Guatemala’s Attractions

Cost Breakdown by Destination

Below are my trip expense breakdowns for the places I visited during my trip.

Antigua

• 7 days
• $395
• $56

Antigua is the most expensive city in Guatemala since it’s a popular international place with colonial beauty. Upscale restaurants and hotels are easily found here, but you can also visit Antigua on a budget.

Lake Atitlán

• 5 days
• $207
• $41

Lake Atitlán is the second most expensive location in Guatemala. The lake is surrounded by upscale villages like San Marcos, but also has budget-friendly ones like San Pedro (which is where I stayed).

Do You Need Cash?

• Outside of Antigua, Guatemala’s economy heavily relies on cash transactions, so make sure to bring cash.

My tips on using cash:

• Guatemala quetzal is the official currency. USD is sometimes accepted in tourist areas, but newer, undamaged bills are preferred.
• Carry about $20–$30 USD per day. I spent $4 in cash during my 3-week trip. I spent $300 in cash during my 3.5-week trip. Of the 122 payments I made, 43% were done using cash.
• Tipping is customary in Guatemala. 10% is typical at restaurants, and it’s usually automatically added to the bill (you will have to decline or ask for the “propina” to be removed if you don’t want to pay it).