Lake Atitlan Travel Guide for Digital Nomads

When I was researching the best digital nomad destinations in Central America, I realised that the pickings were gonna be slim. There didn’t seem to be any bonafide digital nomad hotspot anywhere between Playa del Carmen and Medellin but there was one place that stood out to me: Lake Atitlan… Every blogger’s Lake Atitlan travel guide sung its praises and it seemed like it had everything.

A springlike temperature

Some cool water to dip into

Yoga studios

Volcanoes to climb

And, naturally, being in Guatemala, amazing coffee, too!

I was so in awe of all the amazing things to do in Lake Atitlan that I thought it’d be impossible not to love it.

But, did it love up to my high expectations?

We ended up spending a full month living in Lake Atitlan as digital nomads and, although I didn’t think it was a great base, I thought it was an amazing travel destination. If you’re going to be visiting Guatemala, make sure that Lake Atitlan is on your itinerary and give yourself enough time to really enjoy it!

Here’s everything you need to know about being a digital nomad on Lake Atitlan.

Where to Stay on Lake Atitlan

If there’s one thing to know about Lake Atitlan, it’s that it’s a pretty huge place! When I was researching Lake Atitlan travel guides online, I had no idea just how big it would be, how distinct each village would be or how long it’d take to travel from place to place. It’s also quite difficult to travel between the different villages at night since the public boat service (more about that later) ends around 6pm.

Because of this, it’s pretty important then that you choose a village that fits your vibe!

Sound overwhelming? I’ll be honest, it is a bit.. but, to make things easier for you, I’ve put together this handy guide to the villages of Lake Atitlan!

Panajachel

If you’re crossing into Guatemala from Mexico, you’re probably going to start your journey in Lake Atitlan at Panajachel. This is the main city around lake and it’s where you’ll find supermarkets, a wide range of restaurants and some local veg markets. The main street, Calle Santander is predominantly aimed at tourists but still has some decent places to eat. This definitely isn’t the prettiest part of the lake and I personally wouldn’t stay here. But, if you’re looking to live the digital nomad life on Lake Atitlan for a while, you’l definitely come here at least once a week to pick up all the essentials…. like beans, avocados and wine haha!

Santa Cruz La Laguna

Santa Cruz La Laguna is where we decided to stay and it’s a village with two parts. At the bottom, you’ll find the lakeside hostels and hotels – aka the only part that the tourists see. After climbing to the top, though, (and, trust me, it’s a climb) you’ll get to the heart of the village which is a traditional Mayan town with one of the best views of Lake Atitlan.

We got a great deal on an Air BnB which was halfway between gringo-ville and the local part of town. Our Air BnB had an amazing view and we loved being surrounded by nature…. for a few days. But, since Santa Cruz doesn’t really have restaurants, shops or… pretty much anything, I wouldn’t really recommend it to other digital nomads. We spent a lot of time travelling to Panajachel and San Pedro to get the basic things we needed.

Jaibalito

Not far from Santa Cruz, you’ll find Jaibalito. The two towns are pretty similar: they both have a more local vibe, are great for relaxing and have gorgeous views of the lake. I found Jaibalito to be a lot more liveable, though since there were a few places to eat, drink and pick up groceries. Don’t get me wrong, there weren’t loads of places but, it still makes a bit of difference to have something! I also found that the community was a lot more mixed here than in Santa Cruz since locals and expats live side by side . This is probably why most of the lake’s long term expats decide to live around Jaibalito.

San Marcos

If you need a bit of crystal healing, past life regression or a big fat helping of kombucha, San Marcos is the place to go. This is the spiritual part of the lake that’s home to more dreadlocks than you can shake an incense stick at. But, despite all that, I actually quite liked it! The town was cute, there were great places to eat and, of course, where hippies go, good yoga follows.

San Pedro

San Pedro is the gringo capital of the lake. As soon as you step off the boat at the docks, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to another country. There are bars, Israeli restaurants, health food shops, English speaking tuk-tuk drivers…. It’s a bit of a culture shock if you’ve been surrounded by Spanish for a while.

Because of this, a lot of people have a bit of hate for San Pedro… but I don’t think it’s a bad place for digital nomads. Actually, this is probably where I’d stay if I was going to return to the lake for a long period of time.

You see, since San Pedro is the backpackers hub, you’ll find a lot of the things that digital nomads need. There are some coffee shops where you can chill with your laptop and get work done, there are supermarkets to, ya know, buy things, restaurants, health food shops and yoga studios, too.

Plus, it’s not all gringo-focussed. Much like on Santa Cruz, just a 5-minute walk up the hill, you’ll find a more traditional Mayan part of town.

Santiago

Santiago is the biggest city on the lake but most tourists just pass through on day trips. This is a very local part of the lake but it has a lot of important churches and markets that draw people in. We never made it this way because it was just a little bit too far to go by lancha and we weren’t blessed with great weather while we were there.

Where Would I Stay on Lake Atitlan

Every town on Lake Atitlan offers something completely different. There’s honestly no one place that’s the best and there’s really a village for every taste and type of trip.

If I was going to Lake Atitlan solely for to relax, I’d probably spend a week based between Santa Cruz and San Marcos.

But, if I was going as a digital nomad I wouldn’t choose either of those places.

I’d most likely choose San Pedro, just because it has everything that I like to have around me while trying to function as an online worker. Does that mean it’s my favourite place? Not at all. But, it’d be the best place for me in that situation. If I really wanted to get away from everything and focus on work, or stay longer than a month, I’d probably choose Jaibalito since it’s chilled out but still has some conveniences.

Things to do on Lake Atitlan

Being such a huge lake, there are no shortage of things to do on Lake Atitlan. These were some of my favourite activities..

SUP on Lake Atitlan is by far the funnest way to explore the lake! Since the water is so calm, it’s great for beginners, too! It was my first time SUPing and I only actually fell in a handful of times- each dip was a welcome cool off!

Doing a Cooking Class in Santa Cruz was one of the highlights of my trip- I even learned how to make my favourite Latin American treat, tamales!

For everything else, check out my post about amazing things to do in Guatemala– you’ll find a huge section on things to do in Lake Atitlan in there, too!

Where to Eat and Drink on Lake Atitlan

What’s my favourite thing to do when I’m travelling? Sample all the best eating and drinking dens, of course! These were my favourite places!

Isla Verde

Situated on the banks of Santa Cruz, Isla Verde is a gorgeous boutique hotel with a great lunch menu!! I was a huge fan of the chicken caesar wrap, washed down with a cold glass of white wine!

Cafe Loco

This Korean run coffee shop serves up some amazing flat whites – this was actually the best coffee that I had in Guatemala!

Club Ven Aca

Come here on a lazy Sunday to enjoy the infinity pool and sip on hibiscus mojitos!

Fe

Western food on San Marcos- I was a huge fan of their curries and nan bread served up with avocado. Weird, but it worked!

Is Lake Atitlan a Good Place for Digital Nomads

As much as I loved Lake Atitlan and would love to return again on holiday, I’m not going to mince my words here: Lake Atitlan isn’t an ideal place for digital nomads. I know that this little jewel in Guatemala’s volcanic crown has its fair share of fans and I’m going to be unpopular for saying this. But, I would hate for my digital nomad readers to head there themselves and be disappointed. While we were staying there, we went through several power outages- so, not only did we have no WiFi, we didn’t even have enough electricity to type basic word documents for prolonged periods of time.

This is living hell for digital nomads.

Now, I should mention that this was largely down to the fact that we were there during an Earthquake. We had no power for 5 days at one point because a tree had fallen down in our village and nothing had been done about it.

If we had been staying in a more lively village like San Pedro or San Marcos, this wouldn’t have been so bad since we could have worked from a nearby coffee shop. But, on Santa Cruz, choices are limited, meaning we needed to take our electronics on a public boat with us and try to be home before the heavy rains and choppy waters that came in every day (without fail) at 3 pm!

Not ideal at all!

Pickings are pretty slim for digital nomads in Central America but we were well catered to almost everywhere we went in Mexico. I’d advise spending long periods of time in parts of Mexico and stick to good old fashioned travelling, rather than DNing, in Central America.

If you really do need a base to stop off at and do work, though,  I’ve also heard that San Juan del Sur (Nicaragua) and parts of Costa Rica are great for digital nomads- although they’re considerably more expensive.

Important Things to Note When Travelling to Lake Atitlan

• Lanchas: The easiest (and sometimes only way) to get between the villages on the lake is by lancha. These motorised boats have a set price- ask the owner of your accommodation what the rates should be at that time. Generally, there’s no haggling over the price, unless you’re quoted above the usual rate. You should also bare in mind that there’s no set schedule for these boats and that they just leave whenever they’re full. The last lancha leaves at 6pm
• ATMs: Not every village on the lake has an ATM so make sure you have plenty of cash. We withdrew money at San Marcos, San Pedro and Panajachel.
• Hiking: The perimeter of Lake Atitlan is covered in moutains making it (seemingly) the perfect place to go hiking… However, there are stories of travellers being mugged at certain parts. We hiked between Santa Cruz and Jabalaito which is a relatively safe part of the lake. We’ve heard that the route between San Pedro and San Marcos is a lot more risky since locals there know they can take advantage of tourists. If you do decide to hike, go in a large group, don’t bring valuables and bring some small notes that you can use to pay off men with machetes!

So, there you have it! I hope this Lake Atitlan Travel Guide can help some of you digital nomads make an informed decision about where to base yourself in Latin America! Got any more questions? Leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can!

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Disclaimer:  I was a guest of SUP Atitlan and the CECAP cooking class but, as always, all opinions are my own! This post also contains affiliate links- any sale made through these links comes at no cost to you but brings me a little bit of commission that helps me run this blog. I appreciate your support 🙂