• Climb a volcano. At 4,200m (13,776ft), Tajumulco is Central America's highest volcano but a technically easy climb. More challenging is Tolimán, with a twin peak summit. Alternatively, ascend Agua (or Hunapu) and you can sleep in a refuge inside the crater.

• Get wet. Río Dulce and Lakes Izabal and Atitlán are good for windsurfing, with Lake Atitlán also popular for diving. Guatemala's fast-moving rivers, including El Cahabón, El Chiquibul, El Motagua, La Pasión and El Usamacinta are ideal for boating and shooting rapids.

• Catch a whopper. Lakes and rivers good for fishing include El Lago de Izabal, El Petén, Río Dulce and the rivers of Alta Verepaz. The Pacific Coast is a world-class location for sports fishing. Sea fishing is rated highly off San José.

• Take a boat trip from Livingston along the Río Dulce, which winds its way through steep cliffs, dense vegetation and lakes to Amatique Bay. Its waterways pass through mangroves and lagoons of the Chocón Machacas Biosphere, home to manatees (sea cows).

• In towns like Antigua Guatemala, Easter is when locals and visitors flock to see spectacular processions; huge litters bearing religious icons are carried over carpets of flowers and coloured sawdust.

• Drink coffee in either Cobán, capital of the Alta Verapaz Department, or Antigua - both vying for title of the most delicious coffee in Guatemala.

• Embark on the adventurous Spanish Rural Tourism Plan; visitors can travel on horseback, by bicycle, on foot or by 4-wheel drive from Quetzaltepeque through San Luis Jiltepeque to the attractive departmental capital of Jalapa, staying in family homes en route.

• Take a beautiful drive into the mountains around Huehuetenango. Visit the isolated village of Todos Santos Cuchumatán to see traditionally dressed men wearing high-necked red shirts, red and white-striped trousers, black capes and red fabric tied under straw hats.

• Enjoy ghoulish festivities for the Day of the Dead (All Souls' Day) on 1 November, in which Guatemalans celebrate the lives of dead loved ones. Graveyards overflow with flowers and colour, sugar skulls, skeletal fancy dress and gifts.

• Visit Totonicapan during the week celebrating the feast days of San Miguel Arcangel (24-30 September) when traditional dances (morerías) are held, with descriptive titles such as Mexicans and The Deer and the Monkey.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information