Guatemala City Museums 2026: Popol Vuh, Ixchel and the National Museums — Hours and Entry Fees

Guatemala City’s museums charge between nothing and Q100, and the price depends on your passport. At the state museums run by the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, a Guatemalan pays Q0 to Q25 and a foreigner Q40 to Q100. The private Popol Vuh museum on the Universidad Francisco Marroquín campus charges Q45 to every adult. Every figure below comes from the ministry’s own pages or a museum’s own website, read on 3 October 2026, with the source in each row.

The Popol Vuh museum (Maya art) and the Ixchel museum (indigenous dress) share the Universidad Francisco Marroquín campus in zona 10. The large state collections sit in zona 13 at Finca La Aurora, and the National Palace and the national history museum are in zona 1. Kaminaljuyú, the Maya city that the capital’s growth largely destroyed, is in zona 7.

Quick summary

Payment: the Ministerio de Cultura’s pages for the National Palace and Kaminaljuyú state that the fee is collected only in quetzales.

The university pair: Popol Vuh and Ixchel

Both museums sit on the Universidad Francisco Marroquín campus at the end of 6a calle in zona 10; TGW’s directions put both buildings straight ahead once you pass the campus gate.

Museo Popol Vuh. Per its SIC listing, Jorge and Ella Castillo founded it in 1977 from their private collection, donated the collection to the university in 1978, and the museum moved onto the campus in 1997, into a cultural complex that also holds the Ixchel museum and the Juan Bautista Gutiérrez auditorium. The listing singles out its painted Classic-period ceramics from Petén and Alta Verapaz. Guatemala’s state radio, TGW, adds funerary urns from the northwest, Preclassic and Classic sculpture from Kaminaljuyú and the south coast, censers recovered from Lake Amatitlán, ceramic whistles, and colonial silver, sculpture and painting.

Prices and hours from the SIC listing, read 3 October 2026. The museum’s own pages at popolvuh.ufm.edu returned an access error (HTTP 403) to every request we made that day, so we could not check them against the museum’s site. An undated TGW article lists lower prices (Q35 adults); we print the SIC figures instead and do not use the TGW prices.

Museo Ixchel del Traje Indígena. Its SIC listing describes a non-profit founded in 1973 that collects, documents, conserves and exhibits Guatemalan indigenous dress. The listing gives no hours or fee, and the museum’s own website showed only a request-verification screen on 3 October 2026. Before you go, call the number on the listing, 2331-3739.

The national museums in zona 13

Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología (MUNAE). The SIC listing puts it at 6a calle y 7a avenida, Salón No. 5, Finca La Aurora, with about 20,000 archaeological and 5,000 ethnological pieces, open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 19:00. A SIC news post records that it reopened officially on 15 November 2023, now named the Museo Nacional de Arte Maya, Arqueología y Etnología, after almost two years closed because the 2021 rains damaged the roof. The renovation freed 23 stelae that had been set in concrete. The same post announced the fee: Q25 for Guatemalans and Q100 for international visitors. That is the latest fee we found published, so treat it as the 2023 figure.

Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno Carlos Mérida (MUNAM). Per its SIC listing: Tuesday to Friday 9:00-16:00, Saturday and Sunday 9:00-12:00 and 13:30-16:00, closed Monday; Q5 nationals, Q50 foreigners, Q0 students. The listing gives phones 2471-1422 and 2472-0467.

Zona 1: the National Palace and the history museum

Palacio Nacional de la Cultura. The ministry’s page lists guided tours Monday to Friday at 9:30, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00, and warns that tours can change because of official functions. Visitors enter by the main door on 6a calle. Guatemalans enter free with their DPI; foreigners pay Q40, in quetzales only. The ministry dates the building to 1939-1943. Our zona 1 guide covers the rest of the historic centre.

Museo Nacional de Historia (MUNAH). The SIC listing puts it at 9a calle 9-70, zona 1, in a building built for the property registry and inaugurated on 15 September 1896, where the museum moved on 2 January 1984. The listing shows hours only for Thursday to Sunday (Thursday and Friday 9:00-16:00; Saturday and Sunday 9:00-12:00 and 13:00-16:00) and no fee.

Kaminaljuyú and the Miraflores museum

The Maya city that spread over the southwest of the capital has its own visitor guide: Kaminaljuyú, open daily 8:00-16:00, Q5 for Guatemalans and Q50 for foreigners. Museo Miraflores, a private museum in zona 11 (7a calle 21-55, Paseo Miraflores), tells the Kaminaljuyú story; its website lists Tuesday to Sunday 9:00-19:00. Its ticket list shows children 2-12 Q25, students Q25, seniors Q15 and a family ticket for four at Q80, and guided visits for groups of 4 to 15. The adult walk-in price did not display on the page we read, and the same page still carries an old temporary-closure notice in its code, so confirm by phone (2208-0550) before you go.

A foreign visitor’s day, priced

Using only the fees above:

Check the day first: Popol Vuh closes on Sunday, MUNAE and MUNAM close on Monday, the National Palace tours run Monday to Friday, and the history museum’s listing shows Thursday to Sunday only.

Where to stay

The UFM campus is in zona 10. Our zona 10 guide covers the neighbourhood; zona 1 puts you next to the National Palace.

More in and around Guatemala City

• Kaminaljuyú archaeological park · Mixco Viejo ruins · Iximché ruins.
• Guatemala’s archaeological sites compared · Free things to do · Guatemala City overview.
• The Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes runs the state museums and sites · all activities.