I don’t have enough awesome things to say about Semuc Champey! If you only have a couple days in Guatemala this HAS to be on your list! Also Antigua, add that to your list as well.
Semuc Champey is a group of tiered mini waterfalls that you can swim in, with a beautiful hike up to a mirador (or viewpoint) to see the whole collection of falls. You can get there easily from Lanquin, which we did, or from Coban.
We love to DIY when it comes to attractions like this, but after a lot of research we found it was much more worth it to just book through the hostel we were staying at. El Retiro hostel is a super neat little jungle hostel right outside of Lanquin, it’s a 15-ish minute walk to town down a mostly gravel road but super worth it. When we were looking into hostels we came across it on Booking.com and it was 40Q with a second night free. It was under 8CAD with a second night free!! Even without the Booking deal it was 55Q a night (9.75CAD/7.40USD) which is still a killer deal for what you got out of the place.
El Retiro (above) has everything you would need. All your meals, your tour, and your ongoing transportation were offered to their guests for a pretty decent price. They had an all you can eat buffet style dinner for 8US, and it changed every night. ALL YOU CAN EAT! Most people would stay the two nights and move on, but with a killer deal like that we stayed an extra 2. They offered a river float for $5 US including a beer, so we did that on one of our other days there.
When it came to do Semuc Champey, they came around with a truck, and you all piled into the back of it! We had about 10 people in the back of this pickup driving for almost an hour, but so worth it. The views from the truck were so awesome, and its a unique way to meet the people you will be spending the rest of the day with.
About a week before we arrived at Semuc Champey I had to say goodbye to my GoPro (RIP) as it drowned in the hot springs in Xela, so the pictures I have of it are very limited, unfortunately. But, Semuc was still one of the highlights of the whole trip, and the cave tour is absolutely amazing and that alone I found to be worth the tour fee.
Make sure you bring your GoPro and have it fully charged, wear sneakers or sandals with a back, and bring lots of water.
Every tour is different as it depends on what other guides are doing, as they all work around each other so there isn’t an area that is too crowded. We did the cave tour first, which is pretty spooky but so exhilarating. You swim through this dark cave with nothing but a candle, and mine blew out/went for a swim about 7 times. There are ropes to guide you through the cave or hold onto if you aren’t a strong swimmer. I got lost twice, once by following a different group and once by going way to far ahead and heading in the wrong direction. Don’t do what I did haha, my guide was yelling in Spanish and I couldn’t follow what he was saying.
After we went to the mirador, which is a pretty extensive hike. It only took about half an hour but it is SO humid and the stairs go almost straight up, still so worth it. There are people selling water bottles and cold coconuts half way to cool you down. You can see the whole valley from up top, with an amazing breeze after a pretty hard hike up. Just being able to see the pools makes you want to run down the stairs and hop in, and it’s exactly what we got to do next!
The guide took us to each of the different sections, and you can cliff jump and swim or just hang out in the refreshing water. He started us off on a 5 metre cliff, eventually you end up at a 12 metre one (depending on the season)! He even led us to a secret underwater cave that only the guides know about. It’s not an actual cave as it’s not fully enclosed, but still cool to experience.
But seriously, my trip consisted of 5 countries, this is one of my all time favorite things we did! You should do it too! Let me know if you have wandered over to Semuc and what you thought of it
Where Will I Wander 