Guatemala: Lake Atitlan > Antigua > El Salvador border

Oct 2025 |

Here's details on the 2-part ride from Lake Atitlan to Antigua to La Hachadura.

Ride 1: Lake Atitlan to Antigua

After 3 days in Panajachel, the time came to move on to Antigua. I worked out a route riding south along the lake, past San Antonio. The road starts out as a scenic paved road, with stunning views. But about 30 mins in, the road turns to a dirt road, then a washed-out track with steep inclines and declines, sharp switchbacks, high above the lake. This was a bit more technical than I feel comfortable with on my overweight T7, but I made it. Along the way, I met a Ukrainian cyclist pushing his bike up a steep hill. In general, I think cyclists are a bit crazy, and he fit that bill, with a plan to ditch his bike in Ecuador, for a horse (we later crossed paths again at the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border).

Once at the top of the crater, I took a back road towards Antigua, a really nice scenic road with no traffic. I came to a fork in the road, with a sign with 2 routes: "No progresso rio" and "Progresso rio". At first I didn't understand, but then realised "rio" is river, and I had read about a river crossing (a blog post of someone on a Honda 150). What the heck, I thought, I would take the river crossing - dumb idea. I have done a few river crossings, and I know you need a bit of strategy to make it across. Unfortunately my strategy fell apart as I stopped too close the river, in the deep section of water, with 2 large trucks right behind me - I had no choice but to attempt to ride from my position. The river is dirty water, I couldn't see the river bed. After about 10 meters of unseen potholes and large rocks, I almost dropped the T7, and was struggling to hold it up at an angle. A local who hangs out at the crossing, helped my lift my bike back up. I managed to get the kickstand up and remove my bags from the bike. A few people came to my help, waded in and steadied my ride across. Totally embarrassing, and quite dumb - if I had dropped the bike, most of my electronics would have been fried. Someone recorded the scene, so it's probably on TikTok, tagged as something like"silly gringo crosses the river".

The rest of the ride after the river was nothing special, the road got more busy. It was clouded over, so I didn't see any of the scenery on the way in (I did on the way out of town, fortunately). I stayed 2 nights in Antigua. Nice place, a colonial town n a stunning setting overlooked by an ominous volcano (with 2 more nearby), it's attracts more higher end tourists, kind of like San Miquel de Allende in Mexico. I didn't do any activities, like climbing the volcano. One highlight was a a meal at a Cevicheria - excellent fresh seafood, miles from the coast.

Ride: 75 km / 2.5 hr

Stay: Cristales de Antigua Hotel Cristal / $30 / **

Ride 2: Antigua to La Hatchadura, El Salvador border

Some of the best sights in Antigua were right outside of town. There you find 2 other volcanoes that are not visible from the town, one of which is the one hikers climb. Fortunately, it was not overcast as I rode by and I got a perfect view of the twin peaks, one of which erupts about every 10 minutes. Three volcanoes in such close proximity are really impressive.

After the road followed the peaks, my route took me south of Guatemala City, towards the La Hachadura border crossing, mostly flat land. Near the border I stopped at a convenience store, where a guy came in with a pistol informally tucked into his jeans, with a spare cartirage in his pocket - I stepped outside. From there is was on to the border crossing (seperate post has details), entered El Salvador and continued my ride to Santa Ana.

Ride: 145 km / 4 hrs