Ciudad Vieja
Ciudad Vieja is a town and municipality in the Guatemalan department of Sacatepéquez.
Ciudad Vieja is a town and municipality in the Guatemalan department of Sacatepéquez. According to the 2018 census, the town has a population of 32,802 and the municipality a population of 33,405. Ciudad Vieja was the second site of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, the colonial capital of the country.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Ciudad Vieja
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Santa Catalina Arch
The Santa Catalina Arch is one of the distinguishable landmarks in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala, located on 5th Avenue North. Built in the 17th century, it originally connected the Santa Catalina convent to a school, allowing the cloistered nuns to pass from one building to the other without going out on the street.
5.3 km · bridge in Guatemala · Wikipedia - 02Antigua Guatemala Cathedral
Parish of San José, located in the city of Antigua Guatemala, is part of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala and is located in a section of the old Primate Cathedral of Antigua Guatemala, which was destroyed by the 1773 Guatemala earthquakes. The first construction of the cathedral began in 1545 with the rubble brought from the destroyed settlement in the Almolonga Valley, which had been a second attempt to found a town in the region.
5.2 km · Roman Catholic church in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala · Wikipedia - 03La Merced Church
The Church and Convent of La Merced is a Catholic church located in the city of Antigua Guatemala in Guatemala. The architect Juan de Dios Estrada was in charge of its construction from 1749.
5.5 km · church in Antigua Guatemala · Wikipedia - 04San Francisco Church
San Francisco el Grande is a church in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala and one of the sanctuaries most frequented by the local population because of the shrine of Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur.
5.3 km · church building in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala · Wikipedia - 05Estadio Pensativo
Pensativo Stadium is a football stadium in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. The venue is home to Liga Nacional club Antigua, and has a maximum capacity of 10,000 spectators.
5.8 km · football stadium in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. · Wikipedia - 06Church and Convent of Capuchins
The Iglesia y Convento de las Capuchinas is a notable convent and church in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. It is one of the finest examples of an 18th-century convent in Guatemala.
5.5 km · building in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala · Wikipedia - 07National Museum of Guatemalan Art
The National Museum of Guatemalan Art is an art museum located in Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez Department.
5.1 km · Art museum in Antigua Guatemala · Wikipedia - 08Church and Convent of Society of Jesus
The Church and convent of the Society of Jesus in Antigua Guatemala is a religious complex that was built between 1690 and 1698. It was built on a block that is only 325 yards away from the Cathedral of Saint James on a lot that once belonged to the family of famous chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo and had three monastery wings and a church.
5.1 km · building in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala · Wikipedia - 09Palace of the Captain Generals
The Captain General Palace, or Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, is a large building localed in the Central Square of Antigua Guatemala. It serves as the headquarters of the Guatemala Institute of Tourism, the Antigua Tourism Association, National Police and the Sacatepquez Department government.
5.1 km · building in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala · Wikipedia - 10La Recolección Architectural Complex
La Recolección Architectural Complex is a former church and monastery of the Order of the Recollects and its adjacent park in Antigua, Guatemala. It is in the western part of the old city.
5 km · building in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Getting to Ciudad Vieja
- Airports
- La Aurora (GUA), 27 km · El Salvador Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (SAL), 220 km
- San Salvador (San Luis Talpa) → Ciudad Vieja215 km · quickest by road, 5h 39m · $23–32
- San Pedro Sula → Ciudad Vieja314 km · quickest by air, 6h 6m · $250–370
- Palmerola → Ciudad Vieja1296 km · quickest by air, 11h 1m · €500–770
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Ciudad Vieja
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Ciudad Vieja. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inYou can also pre-arrange a charter tourist van to pick you up at the airport, which for first-time visitors might be the safest and most convenient option.
- Get inThe shuttle options are offered either as one way transportation or they can be as part of an independent day trip or guided tour with return on the same day.
- Get inThere are day trips to Tikal which are offered with an early shuttle to the airport and a flight to Flores and back the same day/evening.
- Get aroundTuk-tuks and taxis can take you to destinations within the city center for Q15 or more.
- Get aroundTuk-tuks usually do not go to Guatemala City, and they stop working at 22:00, so one will need a shuttle or taxi instead.
From Wikivoyage: Antigua Guatemala, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01284 km
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If you know how people move in Ciudad Vieja – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Ciudad Vieja
Ciudad Vieja is 20 km from Villa Nueva, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Antigua Guatemalacity in the central highlands of Guatemala5.2 km
- Alotenangomunicipality of Sacatepéquez Department, Guatemala5.8 km
- San Miguel Dueñasmunicipality of Sacatepequez Department, Guatemala3.7 km
- San Antonio Aguas Calientesmunicipality of Sacatepéquez Department, Guatemala1.1 km
- Santa Catarina Barahonamunicipality of Sacatepéquez Department, Guatemala3.5 km