5 Reviews of Property 327745 in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

We spent 11 days at Casa Paxanax in January 2013. The things we loved about this place were the fantastic lake and volcano views, the garden area, the patio, the roomy kitchen/dining/living room space, the upstairs master bedroom with private balcony and a helpful caretaker. However, there are several things on this listing and in the owner’s information sheet that did not line up with what we found when we arrived. 1) The wireless internet is not "wireless" in the true sense of the word. You must have a USB port on your electronic device to access it. A tablet device without a port will not work. 2) There was no barbeque grill 3) There is an extra charge if you use the house power boat. This was mentioned, but it was in quetzales, which wouldn’t mean much to most people. We found it much cheaper to travel by the public lancha. 4) Because the level of lake has risen so much, much of the gardens are under water. Do not expect to supply your table with fresh fruit from the garden. 5) There seems to be some debate about the quality of the lake water and contamination. We did not swim or get in the water, not wanting to become sick at this point in our travels. Thus swimming, snorkeling, and the rest of the water sport activities became null and void. 6) Many of the activities listed are not available at the house or in the bay, but at other locations around the lake. The VRBO site makes it sound like it's a resort area with all these things available right there.

Other items of note: 1) The onsite caretaker doesn't speak any English, only Spanish. Problem resolution through the property manager by phone didn't work out very well for us, so through our broken Spanish, his broken English and sign language we managed to figure out most of the issues, but it was frustrating. 2) The living room area could use a couch. The photos show bean bags and that’s all there is besides a twin bed and a table with 1 chair. For younger people this may not be a problem. 3) Due to the high lake level there are no beaches and instead of the pleasant beach walk to the Santa Cruz dock area we were expecting, we were met with rocky, steep trails that the person who planned the trip could not walk on. Getting to the local restaurants on foot was not possible.

In spite of the above, we still enjoyed our time at Casa Paxanax visiting the villages and riding the lanchas into Pana to shop for groceries, etc. The whole package was quite a cultural experience.

We stayed here in April and absolutely loved this charming home and garden as well as the fantastic views! It is truly a paradise and offered us the tranquil setting we were looking for at the end of our Guatemalan adventure. The staff at this home - especially the caretaker- were so helpful and accommodating and made us feel very welcome. My only word of caution to future guests would be that the speed boat had a bit of trouble with the weight of the six people in our party and broke down a few times. However, we still managed to get back forth as necessary so it was no big deal. I would recommend this house to anyone!

What a wonderful stay! The place was absolutely ideal. We loved being right on the lake front and having our own dock too. The house is not large but the huge out door patio doubles the size of the house and with such beautiful weather, we were mostly outdoors, or sunbathing on the round dock. Thank you, thank you for such a wonderful stay. We will be back!