Del Lago Atitlan

Can’t thank Hostel del Lago enough for honestly the BEST stay! We kept extending longer and longer – so sad to leave! All the volunteers are absolutely wonderful gems, truly kind, welcoming and friendly. Big shout out to Nico (legend), Jess, Megs, Kiara, Danny and anyone else who we got to meet (they are a wonderful bunch of humans!) The hostel itself is situated right on the lake, with a platform, clear safe water to swim and sunbathe. The café and bar serve absolutely incredible food (everything from the huge bolognaise portions, to the veggie burger), craft beers for decent prices and the included breakfast is huge and perfect (you get to choose from 4 x dishes each morning!) The yoga studio is a gorgeous platform overlooking the lake, 3 x classes daily for an affordable 50Q (cheapest in the area by far!) My boyfriend and I got to take wonderful classes with Charlie, Sarah and Dani – thank you all! It's really the perfect place to relax, eat good food, meet lovely people and chill!

Big MEH I’ve been and worked in many hostels that pride themselves on being “inclusive” and “friendly” however many of our interactions with the people working at the property (besides the locals working on the grounds) were quite hostile and we felt as if our questions were an inconvenience to them. You must also buy water from the hostel or buy plastic bottled water from nearby stores. We like to do what we can to limit our plastic intake when travelling so we were filling up our water bottles for 5Q in the main area. However no one mentioned that the main area closes at 10pm locking the only source of water for the whole hostel inside of it!! & every tienda in town was closed, we checked everyone, seriously. Which in the end resulted in me having the worst 2 day hangover of my existence. Why not just be kind to fellow backpackers and leave the water jug with an honesty jar outside the locked area instead of trying to make an extra buck/not trusting the guests staying at your hostel. I personally always believe charging for water in a hostel is a really sleazy move, especially when you can support local in Guatemala and buy clay filtration systems that will filter unlimited water for free and cut down on plastic waste. You would think that in a place like San Marcos you would find a hostel that was less focused on making money