Guatemala Guide
Antigua
Eating
1 Bagel Barn 5 C Poniente 2 Ideal for an early breakfast (it opens at 6am) or a tasty, if a little pricey, filled bagel. They also show movies.
2 Café Condesa west side of Parque Central – go through the Casa del Conde bookshop Classy place that's highly popular with both moneyed Guatemalans and tourists, where the cobbled patio and gurgling fountain add to the colonial charm. Excellent (if expensive) breakfasts and lunches, cakes and snacks.
3 Café La Escalonia 5 Av Sur 36 C About 800m south of the parque, this café (located inside a plant nursery) is a really peaceful retreat and much of the food is organic. Tuck into healthy breakfasts, pan de hierbas sandwiches, pies and salads.
4 Caffè Opera Opening time: Closed Wed6 Av Norte 17 Swanky, expensive café with lavish wall-to-wall operatic paraphernalia, comfortable seating and a tiled floor. Good for coffee and a panini (though the licuado prices are stratospheric); they also offer daily specials that sometimes include gnocchi.
5 Cookies Etc 3 Av Norte 7 Offers a near-endless list of yummy cookies, as well as breakfasts sandwiches, muffins and free coffee refills. Takeouts available.
6 Doña Luisa's 4 C Oriente 12 Ever-popular café-restaurant set in a historic colonial mansion. A straightforward menu of sandwiches, burgers and salads, but the in-house bakery really is the best in town. Bread and pastries can be purchased from an adjoining shop.
7 
Fernando's Kaffee 7 Av Norte 43 Arabica-bean aficionados should look no further, this place serves up unquestionably the finest coffee – roasted, ground and blended on the premises – in Antigua. Owner Fernando is a friendly, English-speaking Guatemalan and his partner Belinda bakes the absolutely delicious pastries and cakes. There's a nice courtyard at the back.
8 La Fuente 4 C Oriente 14 Attractive, moderately priced courtyard restaurant/café where you can eat a decent plate of pasta, a sandwich or soup and sip good coffee. On Sat indigenous women set up a huipil market around the central fountain.
9 Peroleto Alameda Santa Lucía Norte 36 One half of this place is a hole-in-the-wall juice bar that serves breakfasts, the other a comedor. Both are inexpensive and very Guatemalan.
10 Rainbow Reading Room 7 Av Sur 8 One of Antigua's most enjoyable places to while away an hour or two, this café-restaurant has tables grouped around a central patio and a menu of imaginative salads, vegetarian and international choices, shakes and Chilean wine by the glass (US$3). There are cultural lectures, live music (around a campfire when weather permits), wi-fi, and it's also home to one of Antigua's best secondhand bookstores and travel agents.
11 Y Tú Piña Tambien 1 Av Sur & 6 C Oriente The perfect place for a healthy kick-start to the day this hip little café has an amazing selection of juices (try "gamma" with mango, carrot, apple and ginger) as well as pancakes, omelettes, cakes and baguettes. Wi-fi and magazines to browse, too.