Guatemala has no national tuk-tuk fare, the traffic law does not mention tuk-tuks, and in the sources we read only a handful of towns have a published price. This page collects every dated fare a named source prints, the one municipal tariff we found (San Pedro La Laguna: Q5 for residents, Q10 for tourists), and the legal facts behind the highway ban you may read about. Everything was read on 2 October 2026; each fare carries its own date.

Quick summary

  • Cheapest published fares: Q5 per person within Panajachel, within San Pedro La Laguna (residents) and from central Livingston to the Quehueche bridge.
  • The one official tariff we found: San Pedro La Laguna, Q5 residents / Q10 tourists, anywhere in the municipality (council act 63-2025, reported 4 February 2026).
  • Guatemala City: its 2014 regulation lets the driver and passenger agree the price by time and distance, with no fixed fare.
  • Highways: the Article 20 bis ban is the text of a 2020 bill (initiative 5779), not a law. The Interior Ministry’s December 2024 order based on it was left without effect within days.
  • Antigua: no published fare (checked 2 October 2026).

Published tuk-tuk fares, by town

Town / tripFareWho says soDate of the fare
San Pedro La Laguna, anywhere in the municipalityQ5 residents · Q10 national or foreign touristsMunicipal council, reported by Ojoconmipisto4 Feb 2026
Panajachel, within the municipalityQ5 per person (usual fare)Atitlán Rest y Café local guide11 Dec 2024
Panajachel to the Reserva Natural Atitlán visitor centre (5 minutes)Q10 per personThe reserve’s own contact pageRead 2 Oct 2026
Panajachel to Santa Catarina PalopóUp to Q30 by tuk-tuk (the pick-up truck charges Q5)Atitlán Rest y Café11 Dec 2024
San Juan La LagunaUp to Q25Atitlán Rest y Café11 Dec 2024
Flores, Santa Elena, San BenitoQ10-15 per ride; more with luggage or two passengers, and at nightWikivoyageJune 2024
Santa Elena bus terminal to Isla de FloresQ15 per personWikivoyage2026
Livingston, town centre to the Quehueche bridge (the walk to Siete Altares)Q5 per personGuatemala ExplorerUndated page
Antigua GuatemalaNot published—Checked 2 Oct 2026

The Panajachel guide’s practical point: between lake towns, the shared pick-up trucks are the cheaper option, at Q5 to Santa Catarina Palopó against up to Q30 by tuk-tuk. For the lake itself, the boats are on Lake Atitlán lancha routes.

The highway ban is a bill, not a law

You may read that tuk-tuks are prohibited on Guatemala’s national (RN) and Central American (CA) highways under Article 20 bis of a Ley de Protección al usuario del Tuc-Tuc. Here is what the primary documents show:

  1. The text is a bill. Congress’s file for initiative 5779 contains it: a proposed Article 20 bis for the Ley de Tránsito that would strictly prohibit tuk-tuks and mototaxis on CA and RN roads, with a fine of one to five minimum wages for the owner. Deputy Sandra Carolina Orellana Cruz filed it with a letter dated 24 April 2020; the cover sheet records that the plenary took cognisance on 16 February 2022 and sent it to the Communications, Transport and Public Works committee for study. We found no decree that enacted it.
  2. The real Article 20 bis says something else. The Ley de Tránsito as compiled by the PNC traffic department, including the Decreto 33-2024 reforms, has an Article 20 bis titled Identificación de vehículos del Estado — it requires government vehicles to carry the agency’s logo. The 208-page compilation of the law and its regulation does not contain the words mototaxi or tuc tuc; its definition of a motorcycle covers two- or three-wheeled vehicles steered by handlebars.
  3. The 2024 order was withdrawn. On 26 December 2024 the Interior Ministry sent PNC traffic chiefs a circular ordering strict enforcement of that Article 20 bis (La Hora, 27 December 2024). Prensa Libre reported on 29 December 2024 that PNC traffic left the order without effect, quoting spokesperson Brenda Santizo, and that the law it cited does not exist in Guatemalan legislation. Con Criterio (19 May 2025) also reports the ban lasted a day.

The same bill would have let each municipality license tuk-tuks, capping the total of taxis and tuk-tuks at fewer than one per 100 inhabitants, with numbered stickers and accident insurance. None of that is national law today; where rules exist, they are municipal.

Town rules that do exist

Guatemala City (2014 mototaxi regulation). The capital’s regulation, published 16 September 2014, puts mototaxis under Emetra:

  • Fare: owners may agree the price with the passenger, according to time and distance — no fixed tariff (La Hora).
  • Vehicles: factory 250 cc, no more than five years old, yellow body with the registration number on the hood (Prensa Libre).
  • Drivers: registered with Emetra, type M licence, clean criminal and police records (Prensa Libre).
  • Operation: rotating service only; units may not park on public streets and stop only to let passengers on and off; Q1,000 fine for unauthorised mototaxi service, Q500 for using unauthorised streets (La Hora).

San Pedro La Laguna. After residents complained of overcharging, the council voted on 21 August 2025 (act 63-2025) to buy its own fleet: 12 red tuk-tuks at Q42,999 each, bought in January 2026, driven by 12 drivers the municipality hired, at the Q5 / Q10 tariff above (Ojoconmipisto, 4 February 2026). Con Criterio reports the municipality first recognised tuk-tuks as collective transport in 2012, charging Q3,000 to authorise a line.

Antigua Guatemala. 176 mototaxis operate in the municipality, the mayor said in September 2024 (La Hora). In April 2025 their association protested that the Lent and Holy Week plan left them out and limited them to operating outside the town centre, the casco urbano (La Hora, 4 April 2025). For getting around the city, see Antigua transportation.

Amatitlán prohibits them, according to Con Criterio (19 May 2025); we did not find the municipal text.

Before you get in

  • Ask the price first. Outside San Pedro La Laguna there is no posted tariff in any source we read; the Panajachel guide’s advice is to ask every time before boarding.
  • Night and luggage cost more in Flores, per Wikivoyage.
  • In Guatemala City, a legal mototaxi is yellow and numbered under the 2014 regulation.
  • Cash. None of the sources mentions card payment for tuk-tuks.

Where an app is the alternative, compare Uber in Guatemala and inDrive in Guatemala; for town-to-town trips, the chicken bus guide and the rest of the transport hub.

What is not published

  • A national tuk-tuk fare or a national tuk-tuk law (none found; the Ley de Tránsito compilation does not mention them).
  • A tuk-tuk fare for Antigua Guatemala, Quetzaltenango or Guatemala City (checked 2 October 2026).
  • The text of Amatitlán’s prohibition.

Sources