A Garden Lodge in Santa Cruz La Laguna

Santa Cruz La Laguna sits on the northern shore of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala's Sololá Department, reachable mainly by boat rather than road. The village's steep volcanic terrain has pushed small lodges and guesthouses up the hillsides, tucked among dense tropical growth above the water. Many of these properties were built by outside developers starting in the 1990s and 2000s, drawn by the setting's isolation and the lake views from higher elevations. The surrounding Kaqchikel Maya community remains largely agricultural, with tourism concentrated in a handful of lakeside and hillside accommodations like this one.