"Guatemala City." a Guatemala City Travel Page by euzkadi

Guatemala.s Capital is actually ignored by the tourist, due to itīs bad reputation of traffic, insecurity and dirtiness. Most of the visitors just leave the airport to Antigua, i think itīs quite unfair. Well is not a beautiful city, but it has some interesting places in the Old City, great Churches, some good museums and markets, and itīs a good place to see the real Guatemala with itīs mixtures of Ladino and Indian culture. And if you take the basic precautions is not so dangerous as itīs said. A couple of days in the city would be enough to see the cityīs main attractions.

The city was built around 1775, when the capital was moved from Antigua, after an eruption and a flood from the nearby Water Volcano. In this days is the main governemental, cultural and economic center in the country.

The city itīs divided in zones, with avenues and streets, so is very easy to find addresses. The two main attractions of the city are the Old City (Zone 1) and the new city (zone 9, 10 and 13) the rest of the zones are mainly residential areas. In the Old city are located the most interesting monuments, the Cathedral, the National Palace, the Central Market (great for souvenirs), the National Theater, some interesting churches like La Merced, the Cerrito del Carmen church and some old and degraded colonial buildings. The New City houses the embassies, luxury hotels and restaurants and some good museums like The Museo de Antropologia, the Popol Vuh museum and the Ixchel Museum. Outside this areas zone 11 is important because is the zone where the old city of Kaminal Juyu itīs located.