What Not to Do in Guatemala: 14 Rules and Official Warnings, With the Fine or Source for Each

Two Guatemalan rules on this list carry a fine for the visitor personally: the 01:00-06:00 alcohol ban, with a Q5,000.00 fine for anyone found drinking in a bar, restaurant, hotel or shop in those hours, and the drink-driving rule, under which any alcohol in your system can mean a fine, a confiscated licence and possible prison (UK government). The rest of this list comes from Guatemalan law (the firearms decree), a Guatemalan DGAC drone form, and official advice from the UK, US and Canadian governments, each with its source.

In short: Legal rules: no alcohol in public establishments 01:00-06:00 except 24, 25, 31 December and 1 January; no drink-driving; no firearm without DIGECAM’s temporary licence; a DGAC drone authorisation is not permission to enter property. Government advice: do not hail taxis in the street, ride the repainted US school buses, resist a robbery, photograph children without permission, drive at night, swim in untreated fresh water or climb a volcano without checking the official alerts.

The list

All read 10 November 2026. The UK advice is from FCDO’s Guatemala safety and security page, the US advice from CDC’s Guatemala traveller page.

Alcohol: the 01:00-06:00 ban and who gets fined

Acuerdo Gubernativo 56-2022, signed on 1 March 2022 and published in the official gazette on 2 March 2022 according to AGN, rewrote Article 1 of the 2004 alcohol regulations. It bans the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages from 01:00 to 06:00, Monday to Sunday, in commercial establishments open to the public of any kind, naming discos, restaurants, comedores, night clubs, cantinas, bars, liquor stores, hotels, motels and pensiones, as well as supermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores.

The fine is not only for the venue. The establishment faces a fine of Q100,000.00 and the start of proceedings to cancel its licence, and its owners, managers and employees are jointly liable. Individuals who help break the rule through their work, or who are found drinking in those establishments during those hours, face a fine of Q5,000.00. Venues may stay open during their authorised hours as long as they do not break the rule. The hours do not apply on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January. The full rules, including the drinking age and the ban on drinking in the street, are on our alcohol laws page.

On the road and in taxis

FCDO says drink-driving is a serious offence: if you are tested and any alcohol is found in your system, you may be fined, have your licence confiscated and face possible imprisonment. CDC’s advice for drivers is to avoid driving at night because street lighting in parts of Guatemala may be poor, and to travel in daylight, especially in rural areas.

For getting around towns, FCDO calls radio-dispatched taxis (usually yellow), Uber where available, or hotel taxis the safest option, and says pre-paid taxi vouchers are sold at INGUAT’s office in the airport arrivals terminal. It links express kidnappings, short abductions to withdraw cash from the victim’s cards, to taxis, registered or not, hailed from the street. It also advises against travelling on the public buses that are repainted US school buses, citing gang attacks and extortion on drivers.

Photographs, Maximón and drones

FCDO’s wording: do not take photographs without permission, especially of children, particularly in remote areas such as Quiché, Petén, San Marcos and Chiquimula. It says there have been attacks linked to accusations and fears of child kidnapping for adoption or organ theft, that foreigners have been caught up in the violence, and that you may need to pay a small amount to photograph children and adults.

At the shrine of Maximón in Santiago Atitlán, Growing Up Bilingual, a secondary visitor guide published 20 February 2026, says to ask first, always, that there is typically a small fee around Q5, and not to photograph people without their permission. The cofradía’s rules and the current fee are on our Maximón visitor page.

A drone adds one more permission. DGAC’s tourist authorisation form, DVSO-OPS-805, states that the authorisation is issued only for operational safety, does not exempt the applicant from municipal rules, cultural-heritage provisions or private-property law, and gives no right of access to private property or to restricted public spaces; obtaining the other authorisations is the applicant’s responsibility. How to file the form is on our drone rules page.

Maya sites: use the access you are given

At Tikal, the Ministry of Culture and Sports says access to certain structures is by wooden stairways and observation platforms built to protect the original architecture, that these access points can change with conservation measures, and that visitors should follow posted signs and the instructions of authorised staff. A ticket covers the marked access, not every structure in the park.

Firearms: a US permit is not a Guatemalan licence

Article 36 of Decreto 15-2009, the arms and ammunition law, covers foreigners who want to bring civil or sporting firearms into the country temporarily: they must apply in advance through the Guatemalan consular mission, which sends the request to DIGECAM for authorisation; if it is approved, DIGECAM grants a special temporary licence to carry or transport the weapon and tells the Foreign Ministry to authorise the shipping documents. The full procedure is on our page on guns in Guatemala for Americans.

Water, animals and volcanoes

Canada’s general advice for travellers abroad, which is not specific to Guatemala: drink water only if it has been boiled or disinfected or is in a commercially sealed bottle, use ice made from purified or disinfected water, and brush your teeth with purified or bottled water. CDC’s Guatemala page adds that leptospirosis, a bacterial infection spread in fresh water, is found in Guatemala, and advises avoiding swimming in fresh, unchlorinated water such as lakes, ponds or rivers. It also says dogs infected with rabies are sometimes found in Guatemala, that rabies is present in bats, and not to touch or feed animals you do not know. For lake swimming, see can you swim in Lake Atitlán; for water at your accommodation, our water safety guide.

Before climbing a volcano, FCDO says to check the websites of the Guatemalan meteorological office and of CONRED, the disaster agency, for access, restrictions and recommendations. It warns that some volcanoes are at high altitude with freezing nights, that local tour organisers tend to underestimate the risks, that deaths have occurred, and that there is no mountain rescue service.

Sources

• Acuerdo Gubernativo 56-2022, Secretaría General de la Presidencia (PDF) — read 10 November 2026.
• AGN: publican nuevas disposiciones reglamentarias para la ley seca (2 March 2022) — read 10 November 2026.
• Congreso de la República: Decreto 15-2009, Ley de Armas y Municiones (PDF) — read 10 November 2026.
• DGAC: tourist drone authorisation form DVSO-OPS-805 (PDF) — read 10 November 2026.
• MCD: main structures and architectural complexes of Tikal — read 10 November 2026.
• GOV.UK: Guatemala safety and security — read 10 November 2026.
• CDC: Guatemala traveller information — read 10 November 2026.
• Government of Canada: eat and drink safely abroad — read 10 November 2026.
• Growing Up Bilingual: Maximón in Guatemala — secondary; read 10 November 2026.