HOTELS IN GUATEMALA

I had the opportunity to live in Guatemala for ten years. The following information on hotels is based on experiences of this decade. During these years I was director of the Yaxha Archaeological Project (for 5 years) and then wrote travel books on Maya sites and organized archaeological tours for the subsequent five years. As a result I got to know the hotels of Guatemala first hand.

GUATEMALA CITY has more new hotels than you can believe, but I still prefer to stay at the Hotel Cortijo Reforma for one key reason--it is the only first class hotel with rooms large enough to hold all my photography equipment and computers (not to mention girlfriend and all her luggage). Because the Cortijo Reforma is an all-suite hotel, this means I can use the large living room for all my baggage and still leave the equally large bedroom relatively free for my partner to have some space separated from all the equipment.  The living room of the Cortijo Reforma is larger than most entire rooms in German hotels that charge $180 a night. Actually the bedroom of the Cortijo Reforma is more spacious than most European hotels that charge $130. The Cortijo Reforma has a reasonable rate ($77 for a single) that gives you about 80% more space than every other luxury hotel in Central America. Of course the Cortijo Reforma is nicely located so you can travel downtown to Zone 1 in one direction, or you can go to Zone 10 in the other direction. Actually I usually walk from the Cortijo Reforma to most of my appointments in Zones 9 and 10. I especially like the TV system in the Cortijo Reforma, since I can get German and/or French channels, in addition to CNN and lots of movie channels. The managing director of this hotel is Karl Herrmannsdorfer; he has been in this position for over 20 years, so the hotel has stability. If you want to set up a Web Site in Central America, his son operates one of the leading Web service providers.

Avenida Reforma 2-18, Zona 9, tel 011 502 332 0712, fax 011 502 368 2971 or 331 8876 (or through either KLM or Golden Tulip Hotel reservation system internationally). When you check in ask for a room with a view of the volcanoes. Other phone numbers I have for the Hotel Cortijo Reforma are: reservations 334 1963, fax 331 8876. telex 5203 hotesa-GU. Kitchenettes are also available as well as a penthouse apartment.

In 1980 the Organization of American States awarded me a fellowship to study the problems of grave robbing of Maya archaeological sites. Simultaneously Yale University awarded me a fellowship at their Department of History of Art (working under Professor George Kubler) to analyze the iconography of unprovenanced Maya ceramic art which I had photographed in museums throughout the world. As a result I moved to New Haven. Subsequently I moved to Graz, Austria to finish my Ph.D. dissertation, but I still enjoy visiting Guatemala.The hotel information on this Web page is based on my most recent visit which was just a few months ago. My travel companion is Andrea David. In many respects she is a co-author for this section.

Maya home page | Hotel Santo Tomas, Chichicastenango | hotels at Tikal | Maya Art & Archaeology Book Service

general travel information for the Maya area (Honduras, Belize, etc.)

back to top

updated March 3, 1999