As the oldest guesthouse in the city, Hotel Antigua is a faithful representative of everything this city has to offer you when traveling on our Guatemala tours.For more than 75 years, travelers thirsty for history, adventure, and camaraderie have called this hotel home because of the feelings it invokes. The hotel has a very friendly, family-style atmosphere and is furnished with pieces that are typical to the area and era. There are large pieces of wooden furniture, peaceful breezeways and lush gardens, which all work together to make guests feel cozy and comfortable during their stay.
Antigua is truly a city with a history. When you walk its streets, you can feel long gone and new adventures behind and ahead of you. This city has a story to tell -- it's a journey you need to take, just you and Antigua together. The streets are filled with visual reminders of the ancient indigenous people, the Spanish colony, times gone by and glimpses of times to come. Nothing has been able to detract from its strength, beauty, and feeling, not even volcanic eruptions, ash storms, earthquakes and the other natural disasters that the city has undergone and survived.
History
Architecture in Antigua, Guatemala, is beautiful – the legacy lives on. The Ayuntamiento (the Town Hall); the Real Palacio (Royal Palace) or Palacio de los Capitanes Generales (the Palace of the Captains General); the Universidad de San Carlos; the cathedral; the San Francisco, La Merced and Santa Clara churches; the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de El Carmen (Our Lady of Carmen Convent); and the monumental convent complex, school, and church of the Compañía de Jesús, are all places that you should not miss on your trip.
They are all part of our heritage and are infused with a sense of peace, allure, and culture. Antigua is a city beyond compare that has been named part of the cultural Heritage of Humanity and is part of the history of all of Latin America.
In 1554, the first capital of Guatemala was founded: “Santiago de los Caballeros.” It was colonized by the Spanish and the region began to develop as the center of activity in the “New World.”
In 1557, the capital was moved to the slopes of the “Volcán de Agua” volcano and was named Santiago de Guatemala, as part of the developing history of the country. By 1594, it was the head of the whole Central American region and part of North America: The Capitanía General de Guatemala was one of the seats of the Spanish crown in the Americas. Located in Santiago de Guatemala, the Capitanía caused the city to grow and it became the most important commercial, political, cultural and religious center in Latin America for more than two centuries.
Several earthquakes threatened the structure that the Spanish had created, so finally in 1774, the capital was moved to what is now known as Guatemala City. Antigua is what was left behind and is now a Heritage of Humanity cultural site as declared by UNESCO in 1965.
This is a place that is suspended in time, a beautiful place to discover, a place for you.
Rooms
The hotel has 17 single, double and triple rooms. The rooms are perfect for a family vacation or a business trip. Each room has its own history that will become an integral part of what you remember about Antigua after your trip has ended.
There are large pieces of wooden furniture, private baths and decorations invoking an old-time working Spanish homestead.
Breakfast is included with your room. Enjoy the colorful patios and the wonderful care the staff will provide you while on our Guatemalan tours.
Get to know Antigua from the inside out, become part of its history, live a bit of the past and let Hotel Aurora lull you to sleep at the end of the day.
