What's on in Lake Atitlán (Atitlán), Guatemala through the year

Peak crowds — Dry season, Christmas and New Year

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Xocomil on the lake (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Dry season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Christmas and New Year (18 Dec – 2 Jan)

Busy — Dry season

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Xocomil on the lake (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Dry season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Semana Santa at Santiago Atitlan, Dry season

• Festival

  Semana Santa at Santiago Atitlan

  29 Mar – 5 AprEaster & Holy WeekCrowdedBook early

  Santiago Atitlan brings Maximon out of the cofradia house and carries him through the town in Holy Week, alongside the Catholic processions. The lanchas across the lake run late and the villages fill before Panajachel does. Source ↗

Still on: Xocomil on the lake (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Dry season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Semana Santa at Santiago Atitlan, Dry season

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Semana Santa at Santiago Atitlan (29 Mar – 5 Apr), Xocomil on the lake (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), 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

• Hazard

  Landslide season

  1 Jun – 31 Oct · usually

  Heavy rainy-season downpours bring mudslides off the volcanoes around the lake, and the steep road down from Solola to Panajachel has been cut for weeks at a time. Leave slack in travel days. Source ↗

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

• Festival

  Santiago Atitlan town fiesta

  19–27 Jul · usuallyReligious feast

  Santiago Atitlan celebrates its patron saint in the week around 25 July with processions, dances and a market, and fireworks each night that carry across the lake. Source ↗

Still on: Landslide season (1 Jun – 31 Oct (usually))

Busy — Feast of the Assumption at Solola, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Feast of the Assumption at Solola

  7–16 Aug · usuallyReligious feastCrowded

  The department capital on the ridge above Panajachel holds its fair for the Virgin of the Assumption in mid-August, ending with a dawn of fireworks and a procession on the 15th. Source ↗

Still on: Landslide season (1 Jun – 31 Oct (usually))

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

• Festival

  Independence Day

  14–15 SepNational holidayCrowded

  Torch relays come round the lake road through the night of the 14th and every school in Solola parades the next morning. Firecrackers from before dawn and the boats keep their own hours. Source ↗

Still on: Landslide season (1 Jun – 31 Oct (usually))

Busy — San Francisco fiesta, Panajachel

• Festival

  San Francisco fiesta, Panajachel

  1–7 Oct · usuallyReligious feastCrowded

  Panajachel's patron saint fair in the first days of October brings school parades, the Dance of the Conquest, a funfair and fireworks, with 4 October as the main day. Rooms fill with visitors from nearby towns. Source ↗

Still on: Landslide season (1 Jun – 31 Oct (usually))

Busy — Dry season

• Festival

  Todos Santos

  1 NovReligious feast

  Families spend 1 November in the cemeteries above the lake villages, repainting the graves and eating fiambre among them. The Solola market beforehand is at its busiest of the year. Source ↗

• Season

  Xocomil on the lake

  1 Nov – 30 Apr · usuallyWind seasonRisk

  The xocomil gets up over the water around midday and turns the crossings into a soaking. Boatmen do the long runs in the morning, and the last lanchas back leave earlier than visitors expect.

• Season

  Dry season

  1 Nov – 30 Apr · usuallyCrowded

  Clear mornings with all three volcanoes out, and dust on every road down to the water. The villages are busiest around Christmas and Holy Week; February is the quiet middle of it.

Peak crowds — Dry season, Santo Tomas at Chichicastenango

• Festival

  Santo Tomas at Chichicastenango

  13–21 DecReligious feastCrowded

  An hour and a half up from the lake, Chichicastenango spends the week to the 21st in masked dances, copal smoke on the church steps and the palo volador in the square. Day trips leave Panajachel early. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Christmas and New Year

  18 Dec – 2 JanChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  The year-end fortnight is a peak for Guatemalan and foreign visitors alike: hotels fill and raise rates, shuttles book up, and fireworks go off at midnight on 24 and 31 December. Source ↗

Still on: Xocomil on the lake (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Dry season (1 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))