Quetzaltenango

Quetzaltenango, universally called Xela, sits at around 2,300 metres in the western highlands, and it has a different character from Antigua: bigger, colder, greyer, less pretty and far less touristed, with a centre of heavy neoclassical stone around Parque Centro América built during a coffee boom. It has become the country's main centre for Spanish language schools, which gives it a steady population of long-stay students and a good café and bar scene. Around it are the things people actually base here for: the Santa María and Santiaguito volcanoes, the Fuentes Georginas hot springs in a forested ravine, the market town of San Francisco El Alto and the weaving centres of the highlands.

History

In pre-Columbian times Quetzaltenango was a city of the Mam Maya, said to be more than 300 years old when the Spanish came, though by the conquest of 1524 it belonged to the K'iche' kingdom of Q'umarkaj; here Pedro de Alvarado and his allies defeated and killed the Maya ruler Tecún Umán. Its official name, from the Nahuatl for "the walled place of the quetzal bird", dates from colonial times, while its K'iche' name, Xelajú, means "under ten mountains" (Wikipedia, Quetzaltenango).

What to look for

• Parque Centro América - the neoclassical square at the city's heart.
• Fuentes Georginas - hot spring pools in a forested ravine outside town.
• Santa María and Santiaguito - the volcano climb and the viewpoint over an active vent.
• San Francisco El Alto market - one of the largest highland markets, on Fridays.

When to go

November to April is the dry season. It is genuinely cold at night year-round at this altitude and few buildings are heated, which catches out visitors arriving from the coast. The Friday market at San Francisco El Alto is worth planning around.

Practical notes

Xela is not a pretty colonial town in the Antigua sense; it is a working highland city and first impressions are often grey and traffic-heavy. The appeal builds with time, which is why it suits language students more than short-stay visitors. The Santa María climb is long and starts very early, and the Santiaguito viewpoint requires care given the vent's activity.

Nearby

Lake Atitlán is a few hours east; the highland weaving villages surround the city.

Key facts