Alta Verapaz Department · Guatemala
Cobán travel guide
Cobán is a city in Alta Verapaz Department, Guatemala, home to about 229,000 people.
- Best months
- February and March
- Nearest airport
- GUA102 km · La Aurora International Airport
- Currency
- GTQquetzal
- Time zone
- America/Guatemala
- Language
- Spanish
About
About Cobán
Cobán (Kekchí: Kob'an), fully Santo Domingo de Cobán, is the capital of the department of Alta Verapaz in central Guatemala. It also serves as the administrative center for the surrounding Cobán municipality.
Cobán is located at an altitude of 1,320 m on the Caavon River coast in the Sierra de Caasanmac. It was built in 1543 by Dominic religious priests near the Mayan site, and its name comes from the name of Indian Chief Kobau. The city has developed as a central city of northern Guatemala and is the center of the production of verapas coffee and cardamom (tropical crop with ginger). Other major products include coffee, bananas, cacao, vanilla, spices, grains, livestock, and economic goods. It is connected by rail and highway to Guatemala City, about 210 km south.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Cobán
See
By walking on the street from the Parque Center to the terminal market you will feel the spirit of the Mayan. Workers from the village that surround Coban come to the city in the morning to work and leave afternoon. The Main Cathedral at the town center. Semuc Champey about two hours from Coban. There are private tours you can hire to get there that contains also visiting the Caves in lanquin. On 1 Avenida there are several tours guide. You don't have to book tours or walk around with your nose buried in your LP guidebook to figure all this out.
Do
- Las Victorias National Park
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Which part of Cobán to stay in
Tourists tend to spend only a night or two in Coban. The most popular place to stay is Casa d'Acuna, which is a relatively inexpensive and reliable hostel. There are a number of other small hotels around the main plaza, though, most of which are comparable in price.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Hotels in Cobán
2 hotels within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel Casa Gaia | 0.7 km | |
| Hotel Don Juan Matalbatz | 1.5 km |
When to go
The best time to visit Cobán
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Cobán are February and March. April is the warmest month, with average highs of 28 °C; June is the wettest, with about 335 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Cobán: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is La Aurora International Airport (GUA), about 102 km from the city centre in a straight line.
Getting in
The most common way to get to Coban from Guatemala City, near Plaza Barrios, is using the Monja Blanca bus service from the capital, approximately four hours. There are also competitors, and more expensive shuttles. A ticket to Coban on the Monja Blanca costs about Q75 per person (Feb 2023). The real magic is all the villages the spread all over, during the way all the mountains are covered with unbelievable village of the Mayan. From the Western Highlands, regular microbuses run from Quiche to Sacapulas to Uspantin to Coban (you will probably have to change buses in each town).
Getting around
Coban is a relatively walkable city in terms of size (sidewalk conditions are horrible, however, and you should always assume that cars will take the right of way). For local destinations around Coban, there are buses that leave in front of Plaza Magdalena. You can take a taxi almost anywhere around town for Q20 for something like 5 kilometers. Always get in the taxis that are marked with a taxi number on the door, the unmarked ones are not licensed to work as a taxi.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
GUA · La Aurora International Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Cobán
Eat
"De La Abuela" Hotel and restaurant serves traditional dishes and fresh seafood, but their specialty is the meatiest barbecue ribs in Guatemala. They have outdoor eating areas upstairs and downstairs surrounded by nature, the atmosphere and service are very friendly. "Al Carbon d'Fiora" serves really good burgers as a local alternative to MacDonalds. It costs about Q25-Q30 for a burger and about Q60 for Churrasco (grilled steak). The food is really good and the place is hygienic although the atmosphere is nothing fancy. Fiora is on Calle Minerva a few blocks inward (toward downtown) from Plaza Magdalena.
Drink
Cobán has many cantinas where locals go to drink and get drunk for cheap. They can be found all over town, are usually associated with trouble, and are not usually very nice or clean. Most restaurants serve wine and beer and a few locally known cocktails but for a slightly higher price than the cantinas. Visitors should still be wary of activities at the discos even if they look nicer than the cantinas. In 2010 some women were reportedly raped in one of the nightclubs and there are many reports of women leaving having been drugged. That said, there are some nicer places to go out for a drink in town.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Questions
Cobán: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Cobán?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Cobán are February and March. April is the warmest month, with average highs of 28 °C; June is the wettest, with about 335 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Cobán?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is La Aurora International Airport (GUA), about 102 km from the city centre in a straight line.
What currency is used in Cobán?
quetzal (GTQ).
Nearby
Destinations near Cobán
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.