Panajachel, otherwise known as 'Gringotenango', or place of the gringos, is a gateway for exploring one of Guatemala's most popular tourist destinations: Lago de Atitlán. Most people will arrive here in order to travel across the lake to Santiago Atitlán or San Pedro La Laguna.

Lago de Atitlán is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. Upon witnessing this beauty, Aldous Huxley famously remarked: "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing."

The lake was once a volcano itself, and is famous for the colourful Mayan villages that scatter its shoreline. Many travellers who come here for a few days end up staying for months, particulary in San Pedro which has a reputation for being a party town.