Practical information Guatemala

42042  sq.mi

17 hrs, Guatemala City being 5,457 mi from London. There are no direct flights from the United Kingdom so you will need to travel via Miami, with British Airways, or via Germany.

13677815 hab.

La Aurora international airport is located in the city of Guatemala Ciudad. It takes about 10 minutes to get to the centre of the capital and you have the choice between taking the bus (very inexpensive), with tickets that cost less than one euro, or taking a taxi costing around 40 to 60Q. The city of Flores in the Peten region also has an airport located at the nearby Tikal site.

Travel alert (FCO - last updated 20 January 2012): on 11 January 2012, the State of Alarm in the region of Peten in the north of Guatemala was extended for a further 30 days. This measure includes an ongoing police and military presence, continued restrictions on movement and increased police search permissions. Security around major tourist destinations such as Tikal has been increased.

To protect yourself against the risks of theft and assault, The French embassy in Guatemala advises you to be very careful when travelling around the country, especially on buses and these security precautions should particularly be borne in mind during the end of year holidays.
Abductions for ransoms are frequent here, but, today, they do not tend to target tourists (source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website).
Guatemala is one of the countries with the highest crime rates in Latin America. There are many thefts, especially in the capital's historical centre, so careful measures must be taken: drive with your car doors and windows closed, avoid travelling in the evening after 6:00 pm, do not walk around with jewellery or large amounts of money, avoid blind alleys and deserted streets and, to make sure that the originals of your important documents are not stolen, leave them in the hotel safe.
Outside of Guatemala Ciudad, you are advised to remain extremely vigilant. Cars and tourist buses, as well as public transportation, are frequently attacked by armed gangs (attackers usually pretend to be stopping the vehicle for a police check). Avoid going alone to the Tikal area, in particular, where attacks on tourists are on the increase and the road connecting Guatemala to Solola city on the Atitlan lake and the one connecting Flores to the border with Belize in the Peten (north) are considered dangerous. Also avoid low cost hotels and do not go camping.
After the lynching of a Japanese tourist in 2000, it is recommended to neither get close to, photograph or film children without the authorisation of the parents and the people accompanying them.

Spanish is the official language but 23 Indian dialects of Mayan origin are also spoken.

For European citizens, a valid passport and a round-trip ticket are required (even if the return flight is leaving from a country other than Guatemala).
No visa is required for stays that do not exceed three months.
Plan to have about 150 quetzals with you on your way out, in order to pay the airport taxes. Two taxes have to be paid at the airport: a departure tax for international flights (US$30, (£20), at present, or the same amount in quetzals), and another tax for the meeting (20 quetzals at present).
If you arrive from Mexico by road, you will have to fill in a tourist form at the frontier posts (the same form as the one handed out on the plane) and pay a tax on your way into the country as well as on your way out.

75 % Catholics, and 25 % Protestants and Evangelical sects.

The official currency is the Quetzal (GTQ), though it is impossible to obtain Quetzals in the UK. Because this money is indexed to the US Dollar, cash and travellers cheques in Dollars are by far the best bet. Pounds are not generally accepted in the country. Most shops take Dollars and banks have no problems exchanging them. International credit cards (especially American Express and Visa) are pretty widely used in the capital and larger cities, where you'll also find a good number of ATM machines. Avoid being ripped off by foreign exchange dealers on the black market, especially in the capital. Banks are open from Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm and on Saturday mornings.

There are flights to the big cities, particularly Flores, Peten's capital. However, the bus, which is ideal for getting a sense of the place and the people, is the means of transportation that is most used by the Guatemalese people to travel all around the country. Be aware that, depending on the price, which is always very affordable, some buses are more comfortable than others. If you want to be more independent though, you can rent a car in the big towns and cities and a British driving license is sufficient (if you are at least 25 years of age), as long as you do not want to rent the car for longer than a month, when you will need an international license. The Pan-American road links the capital to the villages of the High-Plateaux and Antigua. Be careful: apart from the main roads, roads are generally in bad condition, and this slows down the speed at which you can drive which is already fixed at an average of 70 km/hr. You are strongly advised against driving at night. As for taxis, they are less costly outside of the capital, expect to pay about 20 to 30Q for a short ride.

No particular vaccine is required but you are strongly recommended to be vaccinated against typhoid and hepatitises A and B, and to be up to date with the usual vaccinations (tetanus, polio, diphtheria). Another precaution: in the low altitude and humid areas, cover yourself at night with clothes which don't reveal any skin and spray yourself with a powerful mosquito repellent as mosquitos are carriers of dengue fever and malaria. They don't cause any real harm in Guatemala, but it is preferable to take preventive treatment.
Avoid drinking tap water, but take water purification pills with you just in case and it would be a good idea to bring a histamine antagonist, an antidiarrhoeal drug, an intestinal disinfectant, and an antiseptic with you for small wounds that get quickly infected under the Tropics.

Voltage is 110 V. Bring an adaptor for the electrical outlets.

1.3 million tourists visited Guatemala in 2006.

Goods and services include a tax of 10 % and in restaurants, a 10 % tip is expected.

From September 18, 2004, the system of making telephone calls is different. There are now 8 numbers (compared to 7 previously). To contact someone in the country, you must instead add a number according to the place you want to call: dial 2 to reach the capital city Ciudad Guatemala, 6 for the towns in Guatemala's administrative region, and 7 for the rest of the country. For mobile phones, add the single number of 5. For more information: http://www.adatsa.com/SIT%20-%208%20Digitos.htm
The country code remains the same.
To call Guatemala from the UK, dial: 00 + 502 (country code) + the phone number with 8 digits.
To call the UK from Guatemala, dial: 00 + 44 + personal number without the initial 0.