Tickets, Costs & Scams
There are no advanced tickets, reservations, card payments, or ways to buy online.
Instead, it’s a cash-only system, and you usually pay the guy working on the boat as you’re disembarking on the dock, or he’ll collect it as your approach. You’re charged based on where you get on and where you get off, and it’s supposed to be a fixed-price system.
This is where the sense of feeling scammed, or actually being (a little) scammed comes in, and you’ll hear or see quite a few people mention this.
The reality is that locals in Lake Atitlan pay less than foreigners (and some visiting Guatemalans) for the exact same journey. This is why it’s common to see fellow passengers hand over a smaller note than you, and it’s understandable that you would want to question it. However, this isn’t a scam: it’s just how the transport system works here.
That doesn’t however mean that some of the boat guys won’t try to charge you more than the actual fare for foreigners though!
Some, but not all, of the docks have signs with the official prices, and we’ve shared the specific prices for the most common journeys in our individual town guides. As of 2024 though, no one-way journey on the shared public Lake Atitlan boats should cost more than 25Q per person (£2.50, $3.25). For shorter journeys, the price should be 10-20Q.
Beyond having an idea of the prices before you board though, the best advice is to try and always carry small banknotes and coins so you can just hand over the correct fare. If you hand over a 50 or 100Q note for a 15Q fare, then don’t be surprised if he bumps up the price, delays, or doesn’t hand back all the right change.
Lastly, all tickets are one-way, and you shouldn’t buy any return ticket if offered.
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