3-Day Lake Atitlán Pedal & Paddle

What to Expect

Day 1: Country Road Bike Ride

Meet at Old Town Outfitters Shop at 8:00 am where you can purchase any riding, paddling and hiking gear you might need. After meeting your guide and checking your gear, we load bags and bodies into our vehicle and set out for a 2.5-hour road trip up into the highlands towards Lake Atitlán. We’ll stop on the road for a coffee and bathroom break at a quaint rest-stop outside the mountain town of Tecpán (breakfast not included).

Upon arrival to the lake highlands area, we unload bikes and cyclists and fit group members to their mountain bikes and gear. We give instructions on bicycle operation, safety tips, and a brief orientation of the surrounding terrain. Everyone has a chance to ask any questions they may have, apply sunscreen, and adjust clothing layers. We start out down a steep country road traversing the high tableland above Lake Atitlán. This mostly downhill ride takes you through several small villages and towns before rounding a final ridgeline and joining the road up from the Pacific coast bound for Panajachel.

At the first vista overlooking Lake Atitlán, your guide will stop and prepare a picnic lunch (included) and orientate you to the lakeside towns and geographic features of Lake Atitlán. After lunch, we’ll continue breezing down the quick and windy road to the lakeside town of Panajachel. From here, we will catch a boat to Jaibalito, and the beautiful cliffside hotel Casa del Mundo.

Casa del Mundo Hotel - perched on a cliff - affords lake-front access alongside wonderful vantage points to appreciate the lake’s volcanic backdrop. We’ll check in mid-afternoon – and you’ll be free to rest and relax in a hammock, enjoy the beautiful sunset, or go for a cool dip in the lake! A yummy family-style dinner (included) is served at the hotel restaurant around 6:30 pm.

Day 2: San Pedro Volcano

Breakfast and coffee (included) are served at 8:00 am, after which our group will depart in private boat taxi to the lakeside village of San Pedro Atitlán. We’ll recruit a local pickup to bring us up to the San Pedro Volcano trailhead, and begin our full-day hike to the peak of San Pedro Volcano 9,908 feet (3,020 meters). After our 3.5-hour ascent through lush cloud forest – we arrive at a rocky outcropping that is the summit of Volcán San Pedro. A fresh picnic lunch (included) is provided for the group, which you can enjoy with views of the entire Atitlán highlands – and neighboring peaks Toliman and Atitlán across the Bay of Santiago.

Our descent back down to the lakeside will take us through the afternoon, arriving back to our Hotel in Jaibalito in the late afternoon. After a cool dip in the lake to clean our tired bodies, we’ll have the evening to rest and enjoy the wonderful views and culinary delights (Dinner included).

Day 3: Kayak & Hike

Breakfast and coffee (included) are served at 8:00 am, after which you will gather what you need for our paddle and lakeside hike. Paddlers don their swimsuits, apply sunscreen and meet down at the dock to load into their kayaks. We leave our hiking daypacks with our private boat taxi and board our kayaks for the north-shore paddle.

We paddle westward 1½-2 hours past small towns and villages perched high on the steep sides of sheer ridges that rise right out of waters of Lake Atitlán. After passing the villages of Jaibalito and Tzununá we cruise into the bay of San Marcos la Laguna and trade our kayaks for our daypacks and hiking gear. Climbing out of town, we head back along the ridge that we paddled by earlier, with spectacular volcanic views offered up by the surrounding peaks of Volcanoes San Pedro, Tolimán, and Atitlán. After 1.5 hours of hiking, we roll back into Casa del Mundo where lunch is waiting (included), and head back by boat - and then vehicle - to Antigua where we arrive around 6:00 pm.

Elevation Map