Guatemala Customer Reviews
We are very proud of the feedback that we get from our trips and are pleased to share reviews from past travellers. These are kept as up-to-date as possible. Please have a read-through to get a real sense of the kind of experience that you might have on a family trip to Guatemala.
Watson Family (with children aged 12, 15 & 17)
Travelled Summer 2024 – Guatemala & Belize
Hello Liddy and Jess. I have been meaning to write to say thank you! We had the best time. Loved both Guatemala and Belize – thought they went so well together as they had such a different feel. We loved all the activities – it was a really good blend of moving, relaxing and activity. And the hotels were all fabulous – we felt very spoilt. Joswe, our guide in Guatemala was awesome – he got on really well with us all, spent a bit of time talking to C as she’s about to do Spanish for her A levels so that was great too. He was very professional, always early and had everything organised for us.
We had a chat about feedback on the final night and their thoughts were:
Best hotel – both Atitlan and Placencia. We all loved the hotel in Antigua but would have really loved a hotel with a pool, we were quite jet lagged and it was quite full on being in a city (esp for H at 11). The hotel was great but there was nowhere to sit apart from your bed as all the tables outside were wooden – small thing but it was just so beautiful but hard to relax when jet lagged. A pool would have been good.
Activities – loved them all, funnily enough, esp the day at the markets in Atitlan. Kayaking was great but soo windy on the way back. We did jumping into the lake from a rock which was fab. Loved the hike along the shore of the lake. We enjoyed the volcano, but it was probably the one the kids said they would have missed as it was a long driving day. If we’d had enough time, that would have been good on its own day, come back to a pool in Antigua and then Atitlan the following day – but obvs we were pushed for time. Cave was great – a bit too much on the tour guide’s explanation of Mayan sacrifice etc
Guiding – in an ideal world it would be good to chose guides for either A – those who are interested in a lot of details B – those who have kids and want the speedy version! I think sometimes we felt all the guides told us too much and we could have done with option B!! Esp at Tikal. I did let him know we’d need the short version but I appreciate they want to share their knowledge!
Snorkelling was great – saw a turtle which was fab – did 3 snorkel zones so it was quite a lot – all great.
All transfers were punctual and air con and easy. Pick-up in Jade was not until 11.30am and we were keen to leave at 9am but they couldn’t do that. Instead, we went tubing down the river which was loved so it worked out well.
Had a hysterical night out dancing (more like grinding) in the town in Atitlan with the girls. Met lots of people and had a great night. Definitely worth it.
We were all ready to come home at the end of 2 weeks. I had been keen to go for 3 weeks, but I think it’s pretty full on for the kids. We were all pretty healthy.
Kids all loved it which was great – our eldest can be pretty hard to please and even she kept saying it was great!
A HUGE thank you again. We really did love it.
Dillon Family (with children aged 8 and 11)
Travelled Summer 2024 – Guatemala & Belize
Dear Sarah and Helene. I wanted to say a huge thank you for all your help with this holiday – it really was the trip of a lifetime for our family. Your support (and that of your local partners) was exceptional – and we really did appreciate it. We enjoyed each and every part of the trip you planned for us. Top of the list was definitely the lodge at Lamanai and the trips there looking for crocodiles and the dawn canoe trip on the lake. Our favourite place to stay was definitely in Placencia – with such excellent food and the accommodation was so lovely. We were sorry to leave. But everywhere we stayed had its own charm and wonderful experiences…
My feedback for other families is that this trip is a unique, fantastic experience for the whole family. From canoeing across lakes and snorkelling with turtles and manta rays to climbing ruins and making tamales – every activity was an adventure we all loved. Everyone in Belize was so friendly and the food was amazing!
My only advice: make sure to pack spray, long trousers and sleeves for the places that have mosquitos after the rain… we underestimated how many to bring… and make sure to book some time for relaxing – because though we loved all our activities, everywhere was so amazing, it was wonderful to just soak up the atmosphere in each place too (and have a few lie-ins!! ).
I was a little nervous about rainy season – but it never stopped us from our activities, and I think took some of the extreme heat out of the trip (not sure we could have taken much hotter on the jungle days!!).
Please feel free to include this feedback on your website. We look forward to future trips with you!!
Eyles Family (with teenager aged 16)
Travelled Easter 2024
Hi Liddy. All home safely and washing done! Here is our feedback…
WE LOVED
– Our accommodation
– Our first two guides – Andres and Jose who were both excellent, and our driver Eric
– Kayaking on Lake Atitlan and visiting the villages on the lake – really vibrant
– Pacaya volcano hike and the fabulous pizza
– Tubing
– Seeing the various Easter celebrations
– Swimming in the Caribbean – just the 3 of us
– The hot springs near Livingston
Thanks for your help in organising this for us and we’re already thinking about next year!
Latter Family (with children aged 10, 12 & 15)
Travelled Christmas 2023 – Guatemala and Belize
Hi Liddy. We had such a special holiday, it really was fantastic. Thank you so much for organising such a good trip. So many highlights on the trip – the number of times we got to the evening and the kids exclaimed ‘that was the best day ever!’ was a particular highlight. Our guide throughout Guatemala, Josue, really made that section of the trip – perfect English, deep knowledge, and just a lovely guy. He knew all the best coffee places too which was a bonus! The only thing that could have been improved in Guatemala was probably that on some days there was an awful lot to pack in before lunch which meant that lunch was sometimes very late – this was fine for the adults, but the kids were sometimes struggling a bit. Pizza up the volcano however, was worth waiting for!
Belize was quite the contrast to Guatemala, but also very lovely. Probably my highlight of the whole tour was a property tour where we swam in several pools in the jungle, it was very special. They also laid out a private lunch by one of the pools, so special.
I mentioned our first guide in particular, but actually, the guides across the whole trip were excellent as were all the drivers and connections etc – we didn’t have any trouble and I hadn’t appreciated in advance how much more relaxing it would be having everything arranged in advance and not worrying about the various logistics, it made it very relaxing for us.
So all in all a fantastic trip. It won’t be out last (it’s reignited our urge to travel and has sparked something in the kids too), so I suspect we’ll be in contact again for next time, though we might need to wait 2 years until after GCSEs.
Many thanks again.
Skinner Family (with children aged 13 & 16)
Travelled Summer 2023 – Guatemala and Belize
Hello Kelly and Molly. Sorry for the delay. We have had a busy bank holiday and return to normal life. We really did have a wonderful trip, it was the most adventurous and interesting family holiday we have ever had and we all had a great time. In terms of the itinerary, it suited us really well. Overall it really was fantastic, every transfer worked perfectly, and every hotel was wonderful. The guides and drivers were all great.
Mass Family (with children aged 10, 14 & 15)
Travelled Summer 2023 – Guatemala and Belize
Dear Liddy & Jess. Thank you so much for organising such a fantastic holiday for us! We all had a truly wonderful time. Particular favourites included Tikal, the ATM cave tour, the snorkeling trip, and zip lining (we did at Lake Atitlan). The guides were great and it was such a pleasure knowing that everything was organised for us at each location. Looking forward to planning our next adventure soon!
Frost-Robbin Family (with children aged 10, 12 & 14)
Travelled Summer 2022 – Guatemala and Belize
Dear Kelly. Firstly, thank you for arranging such a varied and memorable trip for us. We had a wonderful time! I loved every part of the trip, but the first week in Guatemala was the highlight for me – it is a stunning country with a fascinating range of things to see. If you can put us in touch with your local partner, we’d love to leave feedback for them. Our local guides were fantastic. Karen and Luisa (in the highlands) were really welcoming and thoughtful (and very forgiving of the occasionally monstrous behaviour of our children). I think both are studying for postgraduate degrees in sustainable tourism, and it was obvious that both cared deeply about what they do and were really engaging with us and the children.
Our driver, Juan Carlos, was ace too – especially arriving at night in a strange city, he made us feel immediately at home, with his fluent English and very well-appointed van (with a snack box, which the children appreciated greatly!) They set the pretty high for Carlos (our guide in Flores), but he too was excellent. He was excellent both on the archaeology and the wildlife of the Mayan sites (he could spot and tell us about animals we wouldn’t have even known were there, were it not for his keen eyes and helpful laser pen!)
I don’t think there was anything we would have changed – it was all fantastic!
Becker-Smith Family (with children aged 5 & 10)
Travelled Sumer 2022 – Guatemala and Belize
Hi Liddy. Our trip was simply sensational, we are still buzzing from it through the jetlag and will be boring our family and friends for quite some time with all our adventures! Honestly, I don’t know where to start on this one. I tried asking M and the girls what were the top things about the holiday… I gave up when I had a list of about 20 different experiences. Some real highlights in Guatemala included the surprise of making pizza on top of a volcano (knew about the marshmallows but the pizza was a fab surprise) and Luisa (our Guatemala guide) is truly superb – incredibly interesting, knowledgeable, and inspiring and never have my kids fallen in love with a guide as much as we did with her.
So this is our third trip (or four if you count the Covid cancellation) with you and on every trip we have been blown away with our experiences – hence coming back – and we will be back again! The itineraries look amazing and the trips are way more exciting than the itineraries.
Read more on our Belize Customer Reviews page.
Nicholson Family (with children aged 14 & 16)
Travelled Easter 2022 – Guatemala and Belize
A massive thank you to Kelly and Stubborn Mule for arranging the most incredible family holiday to Guatemala and Belize. It was a busy trip with plenty of mini-adventures and everything worked brilliantly. Kelly worked so hard to help with a few location/hotel changes and was super helpful with Covid testing! There were so many highlights including cooking pizza over hot lava rocks on Pacaya volcano, visiting the spectacular Mayan temples at Tikal and Yaxha, the jungle setting at Black Rock Lodge and the swimming pool at the resort in Belize. We recommend them to all our friends and family. Thanks again Kelly and the Stubborn Mule team.
Call us and we will be happy to provide you with a free-of-charge no obligation itinerary and quotation designed for you.
01728 752751
Guatemala in pictures
