McKinley C
November 22, 2023
Beautiful hotel, grounds and very kind + helpful staff. Included breakfast was very good! The dinner menu lacks meatless and/or gluten free options, but the food they do have is very good. We took out the hotels kayaks which was a lot of fun and spent some time at the pool. Additionally, while the hotel grounds were beautiful, the rooms could have been nicer. We have some notes about the location, however. We did not realize this but San Lucas Toliman is a very gentrified village on Lake Atitlan. The hotel and grounds are so beautiful but it is immediately adjacent to some deeply impoverished neighborhoods. The stark contrast was eye opening, not in a necessarily bad way. There are very few food options except for the hotel. We ate at “El Bodegon” which is just around the corner of the same block. Additionally, if you want to “village hop” you have to take a “lancha”(water taxi, public) all the way back to Panajachel and then take a different lancha to visit the rest of the lake (I.e., Santa Cruz La Laguna, San Marcos, San Pedro). It took us over 1.5 hours to get from Taliman to San Pedro. If you are looking to stay in one place, lay by the pool, and explore the beautiful gardens, this tucked-away gem is for you.