Best Places To Eat In Antigua, Guatemala: Food You Cannot Miss

Guatemala’s prettiest city is not only easy on the eye, with colourful buildings along cobbled streets and volcanoes looming in the distance, but it’s also got one of the best food scenes in Central America.

With fantastic coffee culture, rooftop bars for sunset views of Fuego volcano erupting and so many great restaurants you couldn’t possibly fit them all in to one trip, this blog will help you narrow down your options.

I spent a month travelling solo in Guatemala as part of my career break travels, the last country on my whole trip. I had high hopes as I had heard so many good things, and I’m happy to say the high expectations were met – especially in Antigua which ended up being one of my favourite stops on my whole Latin American trip. A huge part of this was due to the food on offer in the city – without good food and coffee my enjoyment of a place is definitely affected!

Read on for my tried and tested best places to eat in Antigua, Guatemala – this is everywhere I would recommend to my own friends.

Local Food In Guatemala

I found the food in Guatemala to be the best in Central America, and Antigua is the jewel in that crown. Now I will say the competition is pretty weak – the region is not known for its cuisine or food scene.

Local dishes in the vast majority of Central America are based around the humble bean, rice and plantain combination, and whilst those foods still feature in Guatemalan cuisine, there is also a lot of influence from neighbouring Mexico. I think Mexico has some of the best food in the world, so it was a delight to see this influence filter down to Guatemala, with lots of tacos and tostadas in both restaurants and street food.

Traditional Guatemalan dishes include pepian and jocon – two varieties of thick, flavourful stew; shuchos, which is a Guatemalan twist on the hot dog; and chuchitos, which is a type of tamale (Mexican influence coming through again!)

Aside from traditional Guatemalan food, there are fantastic international restaurants in abundance, too.

Best Restaurants In Antigua, Guatemala

Hector’s 

Hector’s is without a doubt one of the best places to eat in Antigua – and easily my favourite. Hector’s sits in and around a sunny courtyard, and has a deli attached which is perfect from which to grab a sandwich or pastry to go – ideal for a long journey onwards from Antigua.

In terms of the restaurant offering, I had an excellent chicken caesar salad with fries (ultimate girl dinner) and the pizzas are something else too – huge, sourdough base and you can do a half and half mix of toppings if you can’t choose. You can grab a takeaway if you fancy a cozy night in, which is what I did with my pizza. 

Important: you absolutely cannot miss the cookies from Hector’s Deli. I had several and even bought one for my flight back to the UK.

Franca

I ate an absolutely filthy (in the best way possible) breakfast burger bun with fries at Franca. They also serve pizzas and pasta dishes on their dinner menu, so don’t fret if you can’t make it there for brunch. Very generous portions and great quality food. 

Cafe Cafe Mas Sano

Small cafe with a rooftop terrace serving healthy salad bowls and wraps. Good place to eat to ensure getting your 5 a day in – the healthy bowls are really good and a great portion size.

La Taquiza Antigua

Local taco spot serving up super cheap and delicious tacos. Head up to the rooftop terrace to enjoy a beer with your tacos on a sunny day, alongside beautiful views of Antigua’s surrounding volcanos. 

Ta’Cool Taco Shop

I had multiple recommendations for Ta’Cool from fellow backpackers and the expectation lived up to it. I had some fantastic birria tacos and a really great mezcal margarita here. Best to go with others so you can try more tacos flavours!

Best Cafes & Coffee Shops In Antigua, Guatemala

The coffee in Antigua is exemplary, which is no surprise given Guatemala is one of the world’s top 10 countries for coffee production.

Consequently, the coffee shop culture in Antigua is fantastic. There are lots of boujie cafes serving excellent speciality coffee, many of them serving a banging brunch alongside it. I could spend a fortnight just making my way around Antigua’s coffee shops, reading and writing.

The following were my favourite coffee shops in Antigua, Guatemala:

12 Onzas

Fantastic speciality coffee spot serving excellent brunch options in a relaxing courtyard. The avocado toast may be the prettiest I’ve ever had – served with the prettiest edible flowers on it! They also did a gorgeous chocolate granola bowl, which is a great way to feel like you’re being healthy even when you’re actually not. I loved the coffee here so much I bought some beans to take home with me. 

Artista de Cafe Speciality Coffee

Famous speciality coffee spot that served me perhaps the best cinnamon roll of my life – perhaps tied with the amazing homemade number I had at Sweets Cafe on Big Corn Island in Nicaragua.

Truly wish I’d had more time to explore the menu here more as everything sounded so good! An excellent place to get some work done if needed, and a must try if you’re a coffee lover.

La Panaderia Francesa

Croissants and pain au raisin that if you squint, could be from Paris themselves. Lovely French cafe: great spot for breakfast, brunch or lunch. 

El Gran Cafe

Really good speciality coffee but more of a to-go place as only has a few benches to sit on. 

Best Bars in Antigua, Guatemala

Rooftop Bars

Antigua Brewing Company

Antigua Brewing Company, or ABC, is a famous rooftop bar serving flights of craft beer brewed in Antigua, as well as wine and cocktails – including a good Aperol spritz if you’re so inclined.

Open all day but particularly popular at sunset when people arrive early to grab a a table on the roof in hopes of a cracking sunset and being able to see Fuego volcano erupting in the distance. Friends of mine ate here and they approved heartily of the food, too – it did look very good!

Cafe Sky

A lovely rooftop spot on a street full of great restaurants and bars. Stop here for views of the sun going down over Antigua and the volcanos surrounding the city before heading to one of the nearby restaurants for dinner.

Wine Bars

Delicatessen El Cazador Italiano

Tiny hole in the wall Italian deli selling freshly made focaccia sandwiches, fresh bread, meats and cannoli, Delicatessen El Cazador Italiano also has a couple of tables from which you can enjoy wine by the glass with a small plate of Italian ham and cheese.

I got caught up at here for a few glasses of wine one afternoon: a tiny taste of my beloved Italy in the middle of Guatemala.

Tabacos y Vinos La Antigua

Wine shop and bar where the prices get cheaper the more you drink! A novel (and dangerous) way to get stuck into trying a few wines over a charcuterie board.

Tabascos y Vinos is right by the famous Antigua arch, so it serves as the perfect pit stop in the afternoon for a break from sightseeing. Very friendly staff, great cheeseboards and delicious wine. 

Suelo

Stylish wine bar with courtyard out the back, Suelo specialises in natural wines and serves excellent sourdough pizzas to soak all the drink up with.

Casa Alcazarén

Wine shop and bar where you can buy a bottle to go or enjoy a drink in the courtyard, alongside a delicious charcuterie board. The evening I stopped by there was brilliant live music in the courtyard too – a vibe!

Cocktail Bars

Ulew Cocktail Bar

Hidden in a red British phone box on the ground floor of the same building you’ll find Antigua Brewing Company, Ulew is a speakeasy style bar serving creative cocktails.

There is no menu at Ulew, the servers will ask you what kind of flavours or cocktail you usually go for and create something for you individually. Very cool concept!

Practical Tips For Eating Out In Antigua

Cash vs Card

I didn’t need cash for any restaurants or bars in Antigua. If you head to the market for some street food, you’ll need some, but otherwise Antigua is a very card-friendly place. The only ATM that does cash withdrawals for free in Antigua is BAC, which you can find on the main square (Parque Central de Antigua).

Tipping Culture

As with a lot of places in Central America, you can often expect a 10% service on top of restaurant bills. Not necessarily everywhere, but it is fairly standard.

Street Food Tour: Antigua, Guatemala

The best way to explore the local street food of a place is on a street food tour run by a local with the knowledge and nuance Chat GPT could never deliver.

I did this walking tour around Antigua that focused on the different street foods common in Antigua as a city and Guatemala as a whole. It was so informative and such a good way to get your bearings in a new place too! It’s a bit more on the expensive side so better suited to those on holiday versus a backpacker budget, but I definitely recommend it.

A Chef’s Tour have always been my street food tour of choice when I visit somewhere: I’ve done their food tours in Bangkok, Delhi and Mumbai and have always been super impressed with the local tour guide, general vibe and the amount of tastings – I can never finish everything!

Whilst I can’t vouch for this tour specifically as it wasn’t running during my visit (they have newly started running in Central America!), I massively rate A Chef’s Tour as a company and would recommend them to anyone. Their tour is a bit cheaper than the one I did, too.

Cooking Classes In Antigua, Guatemala

Go one step further in your education on Guatemalan food with a cooking class, culminating in enjoying the food you’ve learnt to cook with new friends.

There are three different cooking classes to pick from with this company (if you fancy enjoying a drink during the class pick the Fuego one, it includes wine!), and a local chef will take you through the process for cooking various different traditional dishes whilst sharing stories and teaching you about Guatemalan culture.

If you prefer to combine your cooking class with a market tour before heading to a family home to learn how to cook with all the fresh vegetables you’ve picked up that morning in the local market, this tour is the one for you.

You’ll learn to cook three courses including the traditional local dish, pepian, which is a lovely thick stew, and you’ll get some wine to wash it all down with too.

Chocolate Making: Antigua, Guatemala

I did this chocolate making class in Peru and highly recommend it. They have an Antigua outpost with the same class set up: you’ll learn all about the history of how chocolate came to be and how the cacao pod goes through the process to make chocolate as we know and love it. And then you also get to make a chocolate bar to take away with you!

The class is genuinely interesting and informative as well as being fun – and the results are delicious.

Antigua, Guatemala: Coffee Tour

Guatemala is one of the biggest producers of coffee in the world, famously exporting their Arabica coffee beans all over the world. Don’t miss learning about the coffee making process from bean to cup, alongside tastings of the good stuff with this coffee tour.

To add to the uniqueness of this tour, you’ll drive ATV buggies in the beautiful mountains around Antigua between tastings at the coffee plantation.

The Best Thing I Ate In Antigua

I loved learning about the traditional dishes that make up Guatemalan cuisine on the street food tour I did, and especially loved trying the dishes influenced by neighbouring Mexico.

When it comes to coffee shops in Antigua, Artista de Cafe was excellent and served me one of the best cinnamon rolls of my life. 12 onzas did my favourite coffee, enough so that I bought some beans to take home.

When it came to restaurants, everything I ate at Hector’s or bought from the deli was excellent. If you do nothing else, make sure you get one of the incredible chunky cookies from Hector’s Deli!

Best Places To Eat In Antigua, Guatemala: Final Thoughts

Antigua was my favourite place to eat in Central America: I felt totally spoilt for choice and after months of being fairly disappointed with a lot of food in the region, was in my element having so many great restaurants and amazing coffee shops to try.

The international food offering is great in Antigua, with some excellent places to get a great pizza, top brunch spots and of course plenty of tacos due to the strong Mexican influence on Guatemalan food.

Don’t miss a street food tour to get to know both the city and Guatemalan cuisine better, and allow extra time for soaking up all of the fantastic coffee shop culture Antigua does so well.

If you’re planning a trip to Antigua as part of a bigger backpacking trip around the country, I’ve broken down everything I spent in Guatemala to help you realistically plan your budget. I also have a blog detailing my wider budget for the whole of my Latin America backpacking trip.

If your Guatemala plans include El Paredon, be sure to check out all my favourite places to eat in this cool surf town here.

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