If you’re planning a trip to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala and have spent any amount of time on Instagram or TikTok, you’ve almost certainly seen the viral videos of La Casa del Mundo. This jaw-droppingly beautiful property has been built into a cliffside, overlooking the lake, with lush landscaping that looks straight out of a Disney cartoon. Known for its unique architecture, private swimming spots, and stunning views of the surrounding volcanoes, La Casa del Mundo is undeniably gorgeous—but is it worth the hype?
My husband, Justin, and I recently stayed here (and paid for it out of our own pockets!), so here’s an honest and unbiased review of La Casa del Mundo, including whether or not the most viral hotel in Guatemala is actually worth it.
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Overview of Staying at La Casa del Mundo
If you’re looking for the TLDR on our Casa del Mundo review, here goes.
Casa del Mundo is one of the most beautiful properties in Guatemala, with its funky architecture built into the cliffsides, local Mayan artwork meticulously integrated into the rooms, and immaculate landscaping. There’s seemingly endless places in the hotel to relax with a good book or dive into the lake for a swim, each with unparalleled views of the surrounding volcanoes.
Plus, the room rate for the hotel can be surprisingly affordable, especially given how famous it’s gotten on social media—with private rooms (with shared bathrooms) costing as little as $63 USD a night.
The hotel is not without some significant drawbacks, though.
Casa del Mundo is located on Lake Atitlan, one of the largest bodies of water in Guatemala. The lake is renowned for its natural beauty and for the 11 Mayan towns that sit on its shores.
To get to pretty much any of the towns in Lake Atitlan (other than its largest town, Panajachel), you’ll need to take a lancha (a boat used for public transport around the lake), which typically operate from around 6:30 AM to 7 PM.
However, Casa del Mundo is even more secluded than most of the towns on the lake.
The only thing that’s within walking distance of the hotel is the tiny town of Jaibilito, which offers just a handful of shops and restaurants. However, out of the many towns around Lake Atitlan that Justin and I have visited, Jaibilito felt a bit sketchy, with several incredibly drunk locals aggressively approaching us for money in our short time there.
Accordingly, you’ll likely spend most of your time at the property itself. And while Casa del Mundo has everything you’d need for a lovely stay in Guatemala, from on-site massages to a full service restaurant, you definitely have to pay to enjoy almost all of its amenities.
The food and services here are definitely on the pricier side for Lake Atitlan—for example, you can expect to pay at least $12 USD for a dinner entree and $10 USD per hour per person for kayak rentals.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for a unique and absolutely gorgeous place to stay and unwind for a few days in Lake Atitlan, I couldn’t think of a better place than Casa del Mundo. However, if you’re on a tight budget or are primarily interested in exploring the surrounding Mayan villages, I’d probably suggest staying elsewhere, like in the much livelier town of San Pedro.
The Location of La Casa del Mundo
Casa del Mundo is located here, on the northern shore of Lake Atitlan in southern Guatemala. From the hotel, you have jaw-dropping views of the San Pedro and Atitlan Volcanoes and the surrounding mountains on the lake’s southern shore.
It’s located about a 25 minute walk east of the tiny town of Jaibilito, which is one of the least developed and touristy towns in Lake Atitlan. Other than Jaibilito, there aren’t any towns that are walkable from Casa del Mundo.
Instead, you’d need to take one of the many lanchas, which usually operate from the early morning to the early evening, depending on where you’re headed around the lake. The lanchas typically come every 15 minutes or so and generally cost between 15Q and 30Q ($2-$4 USD) one-way.
Accordingly, Casa del Mundo can be the perfect homebase if you’re looking to mix relaxing by the lake with a few short day trips to the surrounding towns around Lake Atitlan. However, if your main goal is to have adventures around Atitlan, like climbing Indian Nose, or exploring more off-the-beaten-path towns, its secluded location is not the most convenient.
How to Get to La Casa del Mundo
Getting to Casa del Mundo—and pretty much, anywhere in Lake Atitlan—is a tiny bit logistically challenging. Luckily, though, Guatemala has long been a popular stop on backpackers’ itineraries, so it’s incredibly easy for visitors to get around.
The easiest cities to get to Lake Atitlan from is either the popular tourist hub of Antigua or Guatemala City, which is home to the largest airport in the country. Accordingly, if you’re making you way to Casa del Mundo from some other area of Guatemala, like Flores or Semuc Champey, you’ll likely need to first make your way to either Antigua or Guatemala City.
Regardless of whether you’re coming from Antigua or Guatemala City, the easiest way to get to Casa del Mundo is taking a tourist shuttle to the town of Panajachel (like this option we just took from Antigua or this option we purchased from Guatemala City during a separate visit earlier this year). After arriving, you’ll walk to the town’s public dock and then grab a lancha to Casa del Mundo. It should cost around 20Q per person to get to the hotel from Panajachel.
It’s worth noting there are public and private boats that provide transport services at the dock, with the private boats charging tourists 5-10Q more for the exact same ride. To be honest, after spending over three weeks in Lake Atitlan this year, I still haven’t quite been able to figure out how to tell them apart.
Accordingly, it’s best to ask the driver ahead of time how much the ride will cost to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
The Grounds at La Casa del Mundo
Casa del Mundo is surprisingly large, sprawling across (and up!) one of the cliff sides surrounding Lake Atitlan.
There’s a total of 22 rooms in the hotel, which are spread across several Spanish-style buildings that have been built into the cliffside over the last 20 years.
These buildings are connected by a maze of stairs and seemingly endless terraces and alcoves of varying sizes, all of which have been adorned with hammocks or chairs. If you’re looking for a quiet place to just read a book or stare at beautiful volcanoes all day, you seriously can’t ask for a better spot.
In between the patchwork of buildings and pathways, the property is absolutely teeming with immaculately manicured lush plants, tropical flowers, and trees that have been perfectly trimmed to look like they’re straight out of Avatar. Plus, there’s so many thoughtful details, included in the jungle-like landscaping, like Mayan face carvings on the banisters or colorful statues of local birds.
The only negative thing I have to say about the grounds at Casa del Mundo is its accessibility—or rather, lack thereof.
Regardless of where you’re staying on the property, you’ll need to walk up quite a few stairs. For example, the main building, which houses the reception desk, the restaurant, and a handful of rooms, is about 80 steep steps up from the boat dock. And depending on which room you’re put in, you may have to walk up several more flights.
Accordingly, if you have challenges with mobility, you may have difficulties getting around the property. When we visited, we saw some elderly visitors that had just arrived. The staff helped them carry their bags up to their rooms, but they still looked like they were having a really hard time walking up and down the stairs to their room, which was located near the highest area of the property.
The Rooms at La Casa del Mundo
The rooms at Casa del Mundo are on the smaller and simpler side, with a bed (or beds, depending on which room you book), usually some kind of armoire or dresser, and a desk. Despite their simplicity, they’re each thoughtfully decorated with colorful weavings, carvings, or other types of artwork from local artists.
Each of the rooms also comes with its own private balcony, with chairs or hammocks, that are anywhere from 100 to 250 feet above Lake Atitlan, and some of the suites have really cozy touches, like fireplaces.
There are no televisions or comfy seating options in the rooms—it actually kind of feels like the rooms are designed to encourage you to spend most of your time outside of them, enjoying the property and the surrounding views.
Most of the rooms, but for the five “economy” options, come with a private bathroom, with a toilet, shower, and sink. There are a handful of shared toilets and showers spread throughout the property for the “economy” guests, which seemed well-maintained and clean.
Casa del Mundo has made an effort to operate as sustainably as possible, including using solar water heaters, with back-up propane and electric water heaters for periods of prolonged cloudiness.
We happened to be visiting during an unfortunate and unusually cloudy and rainy period in November and the hot water in our room didn’t work. After alerting the front desk to the issue, they sent someone to fix our heater and gave us free breakfast in the restaurant, due to the inconvenience.
It actually never wound up getting fixed during our two day stay. In full transparency, we didn’t complain about it again and just wound up taking (perfectly hot!) showers in the shared bathrooms for the economy rooms. So, just be aware that some of the more eco-friendly aspects of Casa del Mundo may have a few kinks from time to time.
Similarly, the property has wifi, but, depending on where you’re staying in the property, you may not consistently be able to access it in your room. When we were in our rooms, we could only get usable wifi on out laptops if we hung out outside on our very small terrace, with very uncomfortable chairs (although the wifi seemed to be a little more reliable on our phones inside our room).
Accordingly, Casa del Mundo is definitely a place that’s meant for disconnecting and unwinding—not for working remotely or binging Netflix on a comfy couch.
The Service at La Casa del Mundo
We had a pretty mixed experience with service at Casa del Mundo.
Some aspects of the service were attentive and fast. For example, there was always a warm and friendly person at the front desk, who spoke solid English, and they sent maintenance men to fix our water heater immediately after we told them our hot water wasn’t working.
Other aspects were less impressive.
For example, when we checked in, we asked whether we could get a room with a great view. The attendant at the front desk offered us one of the economy options (i.e., with a shared bathroom) with an EPIC terrace and cheerily told us it would be considerably cheaper than the room with a private bathroom we had previously booked.
Between the cost savings and the much better view as compared to the room we had originally booked, we happily accepted his offer to “downgrade” rooms to the economy option.
However, a few hours later, that same attendant came up to us in the hotel restaurant while we were waiting to eat dinner to tell us that his manager said we could not get the rate for the more affordable room and would, instead, either need to stay in the room we had already unpacked and settled into, but pay the more expensive nightly rate, or move into the room we had originally reserved.
Everything about this issue was executed kind of poorly—the attendant shouldn’t have offered us an alternative room or rate if he didn’t have that kind of authority, they should not have interrupted our dinner to tell us to decide whether we wanted to move rooms, and they should have been a bit more apologetic about putting us in a position that made us pack up our bags and move into another room fairly late at night.
In the big scheme of things, this isn’t a HUGE deal, but it did feel a bit, for lack of a better phrase, money grabby and not like particularly good service.
And there were actually some other issues that were kind of in the same vein.
For example, when we were initially in line to check in, the woman in front of us was panicking, because the attendant told her she could only pay for her stay in cash, which is kind of challenging to get around Lake Atitlan.
From previously reading the property’s website, I was aware that you can also pay with Venmo or Paypal, so I politely asked the attendant if she could settle up that way. He kind of grumbled and said yes, that he had forgotten that was a possibility for payment.
Another example is the fact that you’re automatically charged an additional 10% of your total bill at the end of your stay as a gratuity, which isn’t conspicuously communicated to guests ahead of time.
This is especially a little irksome, given that the property felt massively understaffed by food service folks—the service at the restaurant was glacially slow. Plus, the property does not provide drink or food service by any of the swimming or lounge areas, making it generally a bit inconvenient if you want a cerveza or snack while you’re lounging.
All in all, I would not say that service was Casa del Mundo’s strong suit.
Dining at La Casa del Mundo
Casa del Mundo does not allow you to bring your own food and drink onsite and, accordingly, does not provide any kind of mini-fridge, kitchenette, or coffee maker in the rooms.
Instead, you are encouraged to eat and drink at the onsite restaurant (did I mention that some aspects of the hotel feel kind of money grabby?).
The interior of its restaurant is beautifully and colorfully decorated, with Mayan artwork, carvings, and textiles. Plus, there’s the perfect mix of inside and outside dining space, offering a wide variety of areas to choose from—all of which, of course, offer beautiful views of Lake Atitlan and the surrounding mountains.
Justin and I both follow a vegan diet and, after reading some lackluster reviews online about the food at the hotel, were pretty nervous about what our experience would be like here.
We were generally impressed by the restaurant’s menu and thought the food was actually pretty decent—the portion sizes were fair and, while not the best food we’d ever had, it certainly was MUCH tastier than the bland offerings that some of the online reviews had painted it out to be.
The worst part of the dining experience is the service, which, as mentioned above, is painfully slow. For example, we waited an hour to get our first cup of coffee after sitting down for breakfast and our “bottomless coffee” was refilled only once after getting up, finding our server, and asking for a refill. In fairness, though, the coffee was SO good!
I would not recommend eating at the hotel’s restaurant if you’re on any kind of timeline—instead, just imagine you’re on *island time* and soak up the relaxed vibes and surrounding views.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the food and drinks here are definitely more expensive than most other places you’ll find around Lake Atitlan—usually, at least $12 USD per dinner entree.
Due to the more remote location, I sort of understand the price point, but, given how guests are essentially forced to eat at the restaurant for some of their meals, it’s definitely not accommodating for all budgets.
The Amenities at La Casa del Mundo
The biggest amenity at Casa del Mundo is the beautiful property itself, with seemingly countless terraces and balconies, with loungers, chairs, and hammocks to chill in.
Additionally, there’s a nice swimming area at the base of the cliffside, with steps and sunken balconies that you can use to get or jump into the water.
Otherwise, most of the amenities at Casa del Mundo are only available on a paid basis, including:
- In-room massages
- Sauna
- Wood-fired hot tub
- Kayak and paddleboard rentals
We booked a session for the wood-fired hot tub, which cost $45 USD for a private three hour time slot. It’s definitely pretty steep for Guatemala, but we really enjoyed it—-the tub is built into the edge of a cliffside, so it has a fantastic view over the lake and there was an attendant, who kept checking on us and putting more wood into the burner to keep the tub nice and toasty.
All in all, Casa del Mundo has some really unique and cool amenities to enhance your experience here—just be prepared to pay extra to enjoy them!
The Crowd at La Casa del Mundo
When we stayed at Casa del Mundo, there was a huge range of other guests, from college-aged TikTokers and couples on their honeymoon to travelers in their golden years and bird enthusiasts (yes, really—we met some birders at the hotel!). So, regardless of what kind of traveler you are, you should feel totally at home here!
The only type of traveler that I’d recommend steering clear of this place is a “partier”. The hotel doesn’t have much of a social vibe and there isn’t anyplace other than the pricey onsite restaurant to drink at night.
Otherwise, all are welcome!
La Casa del Mundo Review
So would we recommend staying at Casa del Mundo?
And the very annoying answer is… it depends!
If you’re looking for a beautiful, lush property to just relax and soak in the beauty of Lake Atitlan AND don’t mind spending a bit of money on the onsite restaurant and amenities, Casa del Mundo is an EXCELLENT choice—I seriously can’t imagine a more beautiful property to chill out at for a couple of days!
On the other hand, if you have a pretty restrictive budget or primarily are looking for a homebase to more deeply explore the surrounding areas of Lake Atitlan, I’d probably suggest staying elsewhere, like in San Pedro or San Marcos.
Do you have any questions about our experience at La Casa del Mundo? Let us know in the comments below!
