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Browse more guides: Guatemala travel | North America destinations Best Traditional Guatemalan Lake Atitlán 18 km 130 m San Pedro 3,020 m Atitlán 3,537 m Tolimán 3,158 m Quiriguá UNESCO 1981 Stela E 10.6 m Yaxhá 426 47 m Pacaya 2,552 m Iximché 1470 and Guatemalan Highlands Heritage Tour Destinations TL;DR Guatemalan Highlands - central Guatemala + ~7 million highland population - preserves the most-significant Atitlán, Quiriguá, Yaxhá, Pacaya, and Iximché heritage and the renowned Mayan-volcanic landscape. Major destinations: Lake Atitlán 18 km long + 130 m deep + 5,000-year volcanic caldera and San Pedro 3,020 m and Atitlán 3,537 m and Tolimán 3,158 m three volcanoes encircle + 12 Maya villages and Aldous Huxley "the most beautiful lake in the world" , Quiriguá UNESCO 1981 + Mayan 200-850 AD and Stela E 10.6 m tallest Maya monument 65 tonnes + 22 stelae and zoomorphs and K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat 725-785 , Yaxhá Mayan + 426 buildings, Yaxhá-Nakum-Naranjo National ...

Browse more guides: Guatemala travel | North America destinations Best Traditional Guatemalan Antigua and Tikal Heritage Tour Destinations TL;DR Guatemala - the cultural heartland of the Maya - anchors its tourism on the colonial Spanish capital of Antigua (UNESCO), the Classic-period Maya city of Tikal (UNESCO mixed Cultural and Natural site), the highland lake of Atitlán with its Maya villages, and the lively indigenous market of Chichicastenango . Plan a 7-10 day Guatemala trip combining Antigua-Atitlán with Tikal. This is the most living-Maya destination on Earth and one of Central America's richest cultural-tourism countries. Background The Maya civilization centred on present-day Guatemala from 2000 BC, peaking in the Classic Period (250-900 AD). Tikal was one of the largest Maya cities, with up to 100,000 inhabitants at its peak around 800 AD before its abrupt 9th-century collapse. Spanish colonisation began 1524 under Pedro de Alvarado; Antigua Guatemala was th...