What's on in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala through the year

Peak crowds — Dry season, Christmas and New Year

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Dry season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Christmas and New Year (16 Dec – 1 Jan)

Peak crowds — Lenten processions, Dry season

• Festival

  Lenten processions

  15 Feb – 27 Mar · usuallyEaster & Holy WeekCrowded

  Each Sunday of Lent one of the churches walks its own procession, with a velacion in the days before it. Slower and far less crowded than Holy Week, and the town is still yours in the evening. Source ↗

Still on: Dry season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Lenten processions, Semana Santa

• Festival

  Semana Santa

  29 Mar – 5 AprEaster & Holy WeekCrowdedBook early

  Carpets of dyed sawdust are laid through the night and destroyed within minutes by the men carrying the andas over them. The centre closes to traffic, hotels are booked a year out, and Good Friday is when everything converges. Source ↗

Still on: Lenten processions (15 Feb – 27 Mar (usually)), Dry season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Semana Santa, Dry season

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Semana Santa (29 Mar – 5 Apr), Dry season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in May.

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in June.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in July.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in August.

Busy — Independence Day, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Independence Day

  14–15 SepNational holidayCrowded

  Torch relays run down the highway from the capital on the night of the 14th and school bands parade the next morning. Firecrackers from dawn, and most of the country is off work. Source ↗

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Peak crowds — Dry season, Giant kites for All Saints

• Season

  Dry season

  1 Nov – 30 Apr · usuallyCrowded

  Mornings clear enough to watch Fuego smoke from the plaza, and cobbles dry enough to walk in anything. It is also the busiest half of the year, and the dust off the streets gets into everything.

• Festival

  Giant kites for All Saints

  1 NovNational holidayCrowded

  On 1 November the villages half an hour up the road, Sumpango and Santiago Sacatepequez, raise barriletes the height of a house over the cemetery while families eat fiambre among the graves. The buses out go early and full. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Dry season, Christmas and New Year

• Festival

  Quema del Diablo

  7 DecMajor festival

  At six in the evening on 7 December households burn their rubbish and a paper devil in the street to clear the year out. The smoke settles into the valley and stays there most of the night. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Christmas and New Year

  16 Dec – 1 JanChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  Posadas move house to house from 16 December, and Christmas Eve ends in a wall of firecrackers at midnight rather than a quiet mass. Families come up from the capital and fill the hotels. Source ↗

Still on: Dry season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))