Guatemala: Antigua: You’ll Be Greeted By Cobblestone Streets, Colorfully Clad Pedestrians, and Classical Architecture

You’ll know you’re not in staid Guatemala City anymore when you board the Antigua-bound bus, a Day Glo-colored affair bedecked with hand-painted designs and bustling with locals who strap their live produce, baskets of food, and furniture to the roof. The bus also provides a chance to hear various Mayan dialects in addition to Spanish.

Upon arriving in Antigua, you’ll be greeted by cobblestone streets, colorfully clad pedestrians, and classical architecture, all just as they were 100 years ago. As the jewel in the Spanish Empire’s crown, Antigua functioned as capital of its New World colonies in the 1500s and 1600s. When a 1773 earthquake destroyed much of the city, the Spaniards switched the capital to Guatemala City, and Antiguans set about rebuilding their homes. Despite the earthquake, Antigua is considered the most well preserved Spanish colonial city in North, South, or Central America. In 1979, UNESCO granted it World Heritage status, an honor that Antigua upholds by placing strict building codes on new architecture. This doesn’t mean that Antigua is behind the times; on the contrary, the city renews itself all the time, turning convents into hotels and ruined buildings into open-air nightspots.

A host of language schools will ensure that non-Spanish speakers enjoy their trip even more. Instructors take advantage of real-life situations to immerse students in the language, such as taking them to stores to learn the names of food and household products. Many schools will even arrange accommodations at local residences, and may included delicious home-cooked meals. And if you want to engage in some rigorous physical activity, Antigua has no shortage of adventure packages, such as windsurfing, spelunking, and scaling active volcanoes.