Travel Guide Puerto Barrios

Capital of the department of Izabal, Puerto Barrios is located about 300 kilometers from Guatemala City and is at the end of the CA9. Bathed by the waters of the Bahía de Amatique, it has known, thanks to the export of bananas, a boom of which it still preserves some vestiges, like its beautiful colonial wooden houses that one crosses along the streets and on the sea front. For a long time the first port on the coast, the municipality still lives almost exclusively from its port activity, which has been largely relocated to Santo Tomás de Castilla, a little further west.Nevertheless, the charm of the old town has disappeared. Trucks now crisscross the town, damaging the muddy streets in winter and raising clouds of dust every time they pass in summer. Buildings, once so beautiful, are falling into ruin. Unsafe and without tourist interest, Puerto Barrios is only a place of passage where most visitors will get off a lancha from Livingston to take a bus to the capital.