Santo Tomas de Castilla Puerto Barrios, Guatemala
57
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Crystal Cruises (22 Cruises)
Crystal Serenity
9 Cruises
| 12 October | 71 days | One-way from New York to Fort Lauderdale | |
| 12 October | 72 days | One-way from New York to Fort Lauderdale |
Crystal Symphony
13 Cruises
Explora Journeys (9 Cruises)
Oceania Cruises (15 Cruises)
Oceania Marina
10 Cruises
Frequently Asked Questions
Alongside, at the head of Amatique Bay next to Puerto Barrios. It is a working port, modest and functional, and best accepted as such: the value of the call lies elsewhere.
Not much. Coming down the gangway, passengers usually meet a colourful welcome: craft stalls, woven highland textiles, coffee from nearby plantations, sometimes a few notes of marimba. It is the right place to change dollars into quetzales and compare tours.
The Río Dulce by lancha, through a striking gorge: limestone walls draped in vines and ceiba trees, herons, egrets and pelicans, hot springs welling up at the water's edge and fishermen in cayucos, boats carved from a single trunk.
A small 17th-century Spanish fort built to block the entrance to Lake Izabal against pirates who came upriver to raid the colonial warehouses. Some Río Dulce tours include it.
Yes, by boat only — Livingston is reachable no other way. An hour or two there is enough to feel how much this Garifuna coast looks toward the Antilles rather than the highland volcanoes.
A UNESCO World Heritage Maya site in the Motagua valley, holding the tallest carved stelae in the Maya world: sandstone monoliths raised over a thousand years ago, the largest exceeding ten metres.
Yes, the Las Escobas springs, closer to the terminal: rainforest trails, clear pools and waterfalls to cool off in. It is the option for anyone unwilling to spend the day on a coach.
Livingston's tapado if your tour goes there: a seafood soup in coconut milk with plantain, eaten facing the sea to the sound of Garifuna drums.
The quetzal. Change some dollars right at the quay — that is where it is easiest — and keep small notes for craft work.
The distances force you to pick one main direction: the river and Livingston, or Quiriguá, or the Las Escobas springs. Trying to do everything in one call is the surest way to enjoy none of it.
