Build your trip and see the price.
Planning a trip to Guatemala
Frequent questions
How much does a trip to Guatemala cost?
On our own grid, one region for two travellers runs from $855 to $4,095 in total, with everything on the ground included: private transport, accommodation, a private guide, the activities of the route, breakfast and lunch, and tax. That comes to roughly $170 to $525 per person per day, depending on the region and on the comfort level chosen. A trip usually strings two to four regions together, and the calculator above adds them up.
Is the price per person or for the whole group?
Every figure here is the total for the group, not a price per person. A private trip costs almost the same to run for one traveller as for two, so the cost per person falls as the group grows. The calculator holds a separate price for each group, up to four travellers, with children priced by age band (0 to 5, and 6 to 12). Beyond four, write to us and we price it by hand.
What is included in the price?
Private transport for your group alone, hand-picked accommodation, private guiding, the activities of the route, breakfast and lunch every day, and tax. The three comfort levels differ in how much guiding you get, the character of the accommodation, and how much room the itinerary leaves for detours. Dinners are not included. Neither are international flights, which we do not book: you arrange your own, and the trip begins when you land.
Is there a single supplement if I travel alone?
Nothing is added on top. The calculator holds a price of its own for one traveller, and that price is what you pay. A solo trip does work out dearer per person than the same route for two, because a private vehicle and a private guide cost the same whether one person or two are using them. That difference is already inside the figure you see, not a line added afterwards.
Where does the trip start and end?
At La Aurora airport in Guatemala City, both ways. The estimate covers the whole trip from the moment you land to the moment you fly out, so you never need to arrange a transfer or an internal journey yourself.
Are the trips private?
Always. Your vehicle, your guide, your schedule, with no shared shuttles and nobody else added to your group. The calculator prices groups of one to four travellers; for a larger group, write to us and we build the price by hand.
What language is the guiding in?
English, Spanish or French. You choose when you build your estimate, and the choice travels with your request, so the guide is arranged around the language you picked rather than the other way round.
When is the best time to visit Guatemala?
The dry season runs from November to April, and northern migrants are in the country from October to March. November to March is the stretch where the two overlap. Outside those months the price does not change: our grid has no high or low season, so the same route costs the same whenever you travel.
How far in advance should I book?
About a month is comfortable: it gives us the time to hold the places we want rather than the ones still free. Later is not a problem either. We take last-minute requests and build the route around what is genuinely available, so tell us your dates whenever you have them and we will tell you plainly what can still be done.
Is the estimate the final price, and do I pay anything now?
Nothing is paid here, and no account is needed to use the calculator. The figure you get is the real price of the route you built, on our current grid. Send it to us and we come back to you with the dates checked, what is available, and anything you would like changed. Payment comes later, once the plan of the trip is settled between us.
How and when do I pay?
Nothing while you are building an estimate, and nothing when you book. Thirty days before departure, we send you the payment details for a deposit of 30%, to pay within seven days: it lets us hold the accommodation, the transport and the guides. The balance is paid on the first day of the trip, in cash or by card. The deposit can be paid by card, by international bank transfer, or through Wise or Revolut, whichever costs you least from where you are. Trips are priced in US dollars.
What happens if I have to cancel?
For a tailor-made trip: nothing is paid before the deposit, which we only ask for thirty days before departure, so until you have paid it you can cancel at no charge. Once paid, the deposit is not refundable, and nothing further is owed: the balance is only paid on the first day of the trip. Half-day birdwatching tours are different: nothing is paid up front and you can cancel them at no charge, whenever you need to. Group outings have their own notice period. Both are set out in our Terms of Sale. Travel insurance, which we ask every traveller to hold, is what covers the cases nobody plans for.
Are tips included?
No. Nothing on this page includes a gratuity and nothing is added to your bill afterwards. Whether you leave anything, and how much, is entirely yours to decide.
Do I need travel insurance?
Yes, and it is yours to arrange, in your own country, before you leave. We carry civil liability insurance for our own operations, but the two are not the same thing: ours covers our responsibility, not your medical costs, your cancellation or your repatriation. That is what a personal travel policy is for, and we ask every traveller to hold one.
Do I need a visa for Guatemala?
Most European, British, North American and Australian passport holders do not, for a tourist stay: entry is granted on arrival for up to 90 days, and your passport should be valid for at least six months. One detail worth knowing: Guatemala shares that 90-day allowance with El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua under the CA-4 agreement, so days spent in those countries count towards the same total. Rules change and they depend on your nationality rather than on us, so check with the Guatemalan consulate in your country before you book flights.
Is Guatemala safe to travel in?
We will not answer that with a slogan, in either direction. What we can tell you is how the trip runs: private transport for your group alone rather than public buses or shared shuttles, a guide with you, and a route built from places we know first-hand rather than places we have read about. For the country-level picture, read your own government's current travel advice, which is updated far more often than any page on a travel company's site, ours included. If something in it affects where you were going, tell us and we will look at the route again with you.
How demanding are the trips physically?
They are built around you rather than the other way round, so there is no single difficulty rating to give. Walking can be the heart of a day or barely part of it. Tell us what you can and cannot do comfortably, including anything to do with pace, mobility or altitude, and the route is written from there. Nobody is asked to keep up with an itinerary decided before we knew who was travelling.
Can we travel with young children?
Yes, and there is no minimum age. A route can be built around a baby of a few months as readily as around a teenager: shorter drives, slower mornings, accommodation chosen for the nap rather than the view. The calculator prices children in two age bands, 0 to 5 and 6 to 12, each at its own rate rather than at the adult price. Give us their ages when you send your estimate.
These answers summarise how we work. The detail of payment, changes and cancellation is in our Terms of Sale.
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