Traveling to Guatemala:
Safety in Antigua Guatemala
When it comes to crime and violence, Guatemala is certainly getting its share of bad press and we understand that travelers who consider at trip to Antigua are concerned about their safety.
However, what the media — and government-issued travel advisories — often neglect to mention is that the majority of the problems occur in parts of the large cities, particularly Guatemala City, and some rural areas where police stations are few and far between. Those are areas, however, where tourists rarely go in the first place.
A significant part of the violence that is currently making headlines is between rivaling drug gangs and it is very rare that bystanders get caught in the crossfire.
Gang-related violence occurs mostly in some areas of Guatemala City, the department of Zacapa in eastern Guatemala and in northern Guatemala along the Mexican border. The major tourist destinations are heavily patrolled by the police and see very few incidents of violent crime.
Antigua Guatemala in particular is very quiet and much safer than larger towns and cities in Central America and North America. As any place with a large number of tourists, we do of course have our share of petty criminals, mostly pickpockets and bag snatchers, but violent crime is extremely rare in Antigua. If you take the usual precautions you would take anywhere in the world, even in your home town, it is very unlikely that you will become the target of a criminal act.
The safety and wellbeing of our students is of course very important to us and we don't want anyone to come to harm while they are visiting our beautiful country. Therefore we monitor the situation carefully and advise our students immediately if potential problems arise.
At this time, however, we see no reason to be concerned about a visit to Antigua or other tourist destinations in Guatemala.