Flores is a small city built on an island in the middle of Lago Peten Itza. It's the place where most people stay who are visiting the Mayan ruins of Tikal. The city is a local tourist hotspot and is popular with backpackers.
The water levels in the lake have been quite high and parts of the town were flooded. It's okay though, we like being close to the water. We spent a couple days here enjoying the patios and restaurants which make this place so amazing.
Gallo beer is the national beer of Guatemala, it's incredibly hot and humid in Flores, most days are over 30 so nothing beats a cool beverage by the lake. One of the reasons why Guatemala is so popular is because of the prices - you can stay in a nice hotel for just over $100 per night, going up to $200 gets you something incredible, so we took full advantage. Backpackers can find places for just over $10 to give this place context.
On Flores there aren't that many great hotel options as this place is a 12 hour bus ride or a 1 hour flight to the Nation's capital. Roads in Guatemala are notoriously bad and Flores is a bit of a backwater town. We stayed at the Hotel Isla de Flores for less than $100 a night and it was the highest rated place on the island.
The hotel (website) had this nice rooftop bar and a pool on one of the terraces. We came up here to enjoy the sunset over the lake, it's a must do activity when on Flores.
The town has spilled out onto the shores where the airport is and most of the city now. It was originally used as a base to avoid the Spanish Conquistadors and the tribe here lasted 150 years longer than the surrounding states. Flores is now in the center of Guatemala's largest region, Peten, it's naturally the local administrative capital.
The skies are beautiful here and the stargazing is excellent. We went to bed early because we had a big day planned at Tikal the next morning. The town church was the only notable historic colonial style building although there were so many cool bars and restaurants in the place, I could write another post.
The money in Guatemala is called the Quetzal, or Quetzales, it's named after the colorful bird with a long tail. I don't think any other country named it's national currency after a bird. Guatemala is unique.
Above is a picture of the island, source and it's now joined to the mainland by a causeway. One would never expect to find such a place in the Guatemalan jungle but if you are ever interested in visiting Tikal or just chilling, this is a great spot for that.
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