Place Archive

San Marcos

Paths near San Marcos lead to community points like La Paz and traverse the Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve, marked by signs such as “No Perros” to protect local ecology. Lake Atitlán’s shore is accessed via stone steps, where dugout canoes and kayaks navigate waters framed by Volcano San Pedro and other volcanic peaks.

4 photos

Photos from San Marcos

Lakeside footpath with wooden railing winds along a steep forested shore above Lake Atitlán near San Marcos, Guatemala.
Lake Atitlán fills a volcanic caldera in Guatemala's western highlands, formed by an eruption roughly 84,000 years ago. At more than 320 meters deep in places, it ranks among the deepest lakes in Central America. Three volcanoes — Atitlán, Tolimán, and San Pedro — rise along its southern shore. San Marcos La Laguna, one of several small Kaqchikel and Tz'utujil villages ringing the lake, is reachable mainly by boat or by footpaths like this one that follow the shoreline between towns.
Volcán San Pedro rises above Lake Atitlán in Guatemala's western highlands with clouds gathering around its cone.
Volcán San Pedro rises 3,020 meters above Lake Atitlán on the lake's southwestern shore, near the town of San Pedro La Laguna. The volcano is dormant and draws hikers who climb a marked trail to its summit for views across the caldera. Lake Atitlán itself formed roughly 84,000 years ago after a massive volcanic eruption collapsed the magma chamber beneath it, leaving a basin that in places reaches depths of more than 300 meters. Small motorized boats remain the primary way to travel between the lake's dozen or so Maya villages, since few roads connect them directly.
Stone steps and wooden handrails wind upward through tropical vegetation on the Cerro Tzankujil trail in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala.
Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve sits on a forested hillside above San Marcos La Laguna on Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. The reserve is run by the local community, and admission fees go toward conservation work and village projects. Stone steps and dirt paths cut through the trees, connecting the entrance to a lakeside platform used for swimming and cliff jumping. Signs posted along the route mark side trails and reserve rules, including a ban on dogs.
Narrow pedestrian footpath in San Marcos, Guatemala, bordered by green fencing, stone edging, and dense vegetation along a hillside.
San Marcos La Laguna sits on the northern shore of Lake Atitlán, a town that shifted from a farming and fishing economy toward wellness tourism and yoga retreats starting in the early 2000s. A hand-painted sign reading "La Paz" points visitors toward one of the small guesthouses and meditation centers that now line the village's footpaths. Many of these routes were never built for vehicles; they follow old field boundaries and water channels, which is why narrow stone-edged walkways like this remain the main way to move through the community.

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