Gucumatz Lakeside Inn — Hotel in Petén

We visited Gucumatz Lakeside Inn during our road trip from Rio Dulce to Tikal, and it was a perfect stop along our journey. Moya was a wonderful host - friendly, welcoming, and full of helpful recommendations. She showed us around when we arrived, accommodated an early check-in, and even let us park our moto in the secure garage.

The property has everything you could need, including a communal kitchen and a spacious dining area overlooking the lake. There’s a fun game room with a pool and ping pong table, as well as plenty of outdoor seating to relax by the water. Our room was spacious, secure, and decorated with authentic Guatemalan decor that added a charming touch to our stay.

Nature surrounds you in the most vibrant ways. Early mornings and evenings, you can often hear the deep calls of howler monkeys echoing through the area, and if you’re lucky, you might spot them in the large tree by the lake, adding to the serene atmosphere. Hummingbirds also add a lively touch, flitting around constantly with their iridescent colors, bringing energy to the lush greenery. It’s a wonderful place to connect with local wildlife while enjoying the tranquility of the lake.

We planned a visit to Tikal for 150Q each (paid in cash) and followed Moya’s advice to arrive by 6 a.m. It made all the difference - it was much cooler early in the morning, and we were able to enjoy breakfast there before exploring the ruins. By the time the crowds arrived, we were wrapping up our visit. We also checked out the museum for 30Q each, which we didn’t find particularly worth it. Hiring a colectivo guide named Henry for 100Q each was well worth it, though, and we’d recommend skipping on purchasing the map (25Q) or the guidebook (150Q), which we paid when we entered the park.

We had an excellent time and would recommend Gucumatz Lakeside Inn for anyone looking for a welcoming, convenient, and well-equipped place to stay while...

This is an amazing place to stay if you are looking for somewhere quiet and not so touristy, clean lake water, host is excellent, nice swimming and kayaks at your use anytime. Hotel is magical in terms of space and looks, nice decking, hammocks and chill areas. Host also fills fridge with beers and coke at 15Q each. Shared kitchen is very poor, really old pans, pots, plates (not the most clean), no basic things such as salt, pepper, oil as you'd expect at other hostels. Really hard to get ingredients if you haven't already bought any in Flores, we didn't try the restaurant food, guests said it was good but the portions are small, 100Q each. Would highly recommend stocking up on groceries before you arrive. You can kayak (20 mins) over to the next town San Pedro and get some very basic groceries (junk food). Buses to Flores are good, very easy to catch early morning 8.30 AM, but you need to catch the last bus back at 5.30 PM to ensure you can get back to Gucumatz! We went to Tikal which a lift was organised by the host's friend at 8.30 AM and we shared with 2 others (4 total) cost us £70 GBP each with the lift, entrance and tour guide, was amazing to see. Rooms have everything you'd need, big fan to cool you down, decent bathroom (I'm being picky but there's no where to put your toiletries), shower is ok but you have to bang the shower head to get hot water as it's an electric shower, a bit hit or miss. I would complain that you do not get fresh bedding or towels if you are staying for 4 nights, we had our room serviced but it looked like they just swept the floor and made the bed, can cause your skin to be irritated especially if you'd been sweating whilst sleeping with bug bites...

Gucumatz was paradise for my girlfriend and me. We spent four nights at Christina’s place (the owner), who thought of everything: The room and bathroom was big, nice and clean and with quite some storage room also. The whole area is maintained really well, everywhere are cute hummingbirds whirling around and Christina and the staff were always really kind and welcoming. There’s a beautiful private access to the lake with a mystical cave to swim in to, free kayaks to paddle up and down the lake, there’s a lot of different places to have privacy, relax in hammocks or play pool and pingpong. There’s also strong WiFi and enough electric sockets at the lunch/dining hall to also work on your laptops and have a cold beer or soda from an easily accessible fridge for small change as well as free drinking water. There’s a common, well equipped kitchen with a big fridge, a working oven and a stove. It’s also possible to have breakfast or dinner served, just ask for it one day ahead. Overall we really enjoyed our time, it was a relaxing and productive week and we’re more than happy we made our way to Gucumatz. At the end Christina even helped us to arrange a shuttle to our next destination, which made traveling there and back super comfortable. Thanks a lot for everything and we’re planning to come back...