Lake Atitlán by boat: which village, which lancha

The boat from San Marcos left the dock at 2:40pm on Friday 6 February with fourteen of us aboard and my pack on the floor by my feet. Ten minutes out, the wind came down the lake and the bow began to slap. The crossing to Panajachel took 45 minutes. The longer run from Panajachel to San Pedro had taken 35 on Wednesday morning, and my pack, which belonged on my knees, arrived wetter than I did.

I had four nights on Lake Atitlán in the middle of a 12-night trip through Guatemala and Belize, and one rule: public boats only. Readers ask me two things about the lake, which village to sleep in and how the boats work. This piece answers both from six crossings, three beds and one afternoon I would like back.

I reached the lake on Tuesday 3 February by shared shuttle from Antigua, which left my guesthouse at 7:30 and dropped me in Panajachel at 10:25. The ticket was about $15, so check the operator before you book. I had spent two nights in Antigua first, and the Antigua guide covers that part.

The rules I set myself were short. Public lanchas only, no private boats. Sleep in three different places to compare them. Carry one pack of about 9 kg, so I could not blame a suitcase for a staircase. Write down the dock time, departure time, ride time and fare of every crossing in a notebook, because the boats have no timetable to copy from.

Guatemala asks visitors for an online immigration declaration before entering and again before leaving, and I filled in mine the week before and kept the QR code on my phone. The rules are on our visas and entry page. Amounts below are in quetzales (Q), at about Q7.7 to the dollar in February. Fares and times are what I saw that week. The boats are informal and prices move, so ask at the dock.

Tuesday 3 February: Panajachel to Santa Cruz

I got to the public dock in Panajachel at 10:35 and sat on the sea wall until the boat filled. Lanchas leave when about a dozen seats are taken, and mine left at 11:00 with 13 aboard. A crew member came down the benches mid-lake and collected Q25 from each of us in cash. Twenty minutes later I was at Santa Cruz, where the dock is a platform, a café and the bottom of a staircase.

The staircase took me 20 minutes with the pack, stopping on the landings. My room at [Hotel name], a guesthouse above the lake in the $ band, had a view of two volcanoes and a shower that was lukewarm at best. Santa Cruz is quiet in a way that feels a little odd after Antigua. By 8pm the only sounds were insects and a dog two terraces down.

It was also where I made the first mistake. I had arrived with about Q300 and assumed that was enough. The guesthouse took cash only, so the room, dinner on the terrace and the boat fare took nearly all of it. I went to bed with about Q60 and no cash machine in the village that I could find. Signal dipped in and out of the volcano valleys, so I could not look anything up either.

Wednesday 4 February: Santa Cruz to San Pedro, by way of an ATM

I was at the dock at 8:05 and a boat coming from the western villages stopped for me at 8:20. I was in Panajachel at 8:40, at a cash machine soon after, and took out Q1,500. Between the machine's fee and my own bank's, I lost about $8. If your bank refunds those, ask before you leave. Our money guide covers the cards that do.

Then I went back to the dock and waited 30 minutes for the San Pedro boat, which left at 10:05 and arrived at 10:40. A direct boat from Santa Cruz at 8:20 would have put me in San Pedro around nine. The cash detour cost me about an hour and a half and a second fare, and I do not count either as time well spent.

San Pedro had a different sort of morning. Tuk-tuks wait at the dock and a steep road runs up the hill. I walked up to [Hotel name], a $ guesthouse five minutes from the water, paid two nights in cash, and got a private room with the first properly hot shower in three days. The room faced the main street, which turned out to be bar street. I wore earplugs until about 11pm.

Thursday 5 February: San Juan, and the boat I missed

The 9:00 boat from San Pedro to San Juan cost Q15 and took 12 minutes. I spent the morning at a weaving cooperative that explained how natural dyes are made. The demonstration ran about 40 minutes and had no entry fee, and it ended in a shop where nobody pressed. After that I walked the mural lanes and had lunch of rice, beans and grilled chicken for Q45.

I stayed until 5:15pm to watch the light on the lake, which was the second mistake. A dock hand told me the last boat to San Pedro had left at about a quarter to five. I took a tuk-tuk instead, Q15 over the ridge in the dusk, and the ride took 15 minutes. The same trip by private boat would have cost several times that.

I skipped Chichicastenango. Thursday is a market day there, but it is about 1.5 hours each way by road and I wanted to spend the day on boats.

Friday 6 February: San Marcos, and the wind

The 8:50 boat to San Marcos took 25 minutes and cost Q20. I paid about Q30 at the gate to the nature reserve on the point, so check the price when you go. I swam from the rocks and did not jump from the platforms, which people were doing from about 9:30. Lunch in the village was a vegetarian plate and a smoothie.

My plan was to catch a boat at noon. I did not. By 1:30 gusts were turning the dock into a drum and the water had gone from blue to gray. I told myself it would pass. At 2:30 I was on the dock, left at 2:40, and the ride from San Marcos to Panajachel that a crew member called half an hour on a good day took 45 minutes. Three of us moved to the stern. The crew handed out a blue tarp. My notebook, where I keep the fares, dried in curls.

I slept in Panajachel at [Hotel name], a $$ hotel two streets from the dock, in a quiet room at the back. On Saturday 7 February the 6:45 shuttle took 3 hours 35 minutes to reach the airport in Guatemala City at 10:20, in time for a 12:50 flight to Flores and Tikal.

Here are all six, in the order I took them. "Waited" is the time from reaching the dock to leaving it.

Six boats came to 110 minutes of waiting, 157 minutes of riding and Q140 in fares, about $18. The waits varied the most. The 30-minute wait at Panajachel was the longest, and I think a bigger boat takes longer to fill, but I did not ask the crew. The 10-minute waits were at the smaller docks, where boats arrive with passengers and turn around.

A few notes from the dock. Pay on board, in cash, and keep Q10 and Q20 notes: nobody could change a Q200 note. Ask the fare before you step in. Look for a life vest, which I did on Friday, and the crew passed me one without comment. Put your pack in your lap or under a seat where it cannot slide, not on the floor.

On the first morning I asked about a private boat from Panajachel to San Marcos and was quoted Q250, about ten times a public fare. I said no. It makes sense if you arrive late in the day or carry too much to climb, and I would still check the public boat's last departure first.

The public boats run in daylight and the wind comes up in the afternoon. In my week it started around 1pm, and the ride I took at 2:40 was 15 minutes longer than it should have been. Before noon, the lake was flat.

I slept in three places and spent a day in two more, so I can compare those and no others. I did not stay in San Marcos, Tzununá, Jaibalito or Santiago Atitlán, and I cannot say how their guesthouses compare.

San Pedro was the base I would pick for a first visit of three nights or more. Boats reach San Juan and San Marcos from the same dock, tuk-tuks cover the road to San Juan, and I never waited more than 30 minutes for anything. It is also loud until about 11pm on the main street, so ask for a room away from it. Rooms in the $ band are easy to find.

Santa Cruz suits you if you want quiet and can carry your own bag up about 20 minutes of steps. I would not choose it with a suitcase or after dark, and I would not choose it without cash. One night was enough for me. With cash in my pocket on arrival, I would have stayed two.

San Marcos was a half-day for me and I did not sleep there. The reserve at the point is a good morning and a short one.

Panajachel is where the roads and boats meet. I would use it for one night before an early shuttle, as I did, or when I arrive after 2pm and the wind makes a crossing look like a bad idea. The hub has the full list of lake villages if you want a view of the ones I missed.

I would withdraw at least Q1,500 in Panajachel before the first crossing, because every village I slept in took cash only for the room. I would make every crossing longer than 20 minutes a morning crossing and keep afternoons for the village I am already in. I would keep my pack on my knees. And I would be at the San Juan dock by 4:00, since a dock hand's quarter to five was an estimate and I had no other source.

I did not climb Indian Nose, visit Santiago Atitlán or ride a boat after dark, so these fares and waits say nothing about those. They also come from one week in February, in the dry season. If you go in the rainy months, the wind and the waits may differ, and the crew at the dock will know before I do.