Crater lake · Guatemala
Lago de Atitlán
Crater lake in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
- Area
- 123km²
- Max depth
- 340m
- Average depth
- 72m
- Elevation
- 1,556m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 82km
- Volume
- 8.9km³
Lago de Atitlán is a crater lake in Guatemala. It covers 123 km². On average it is 72 m deep, and 340 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 1,556 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lago de Atitlán?
The water is warmest in July, around 24 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 21 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from January to December: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 30 °C on average in April and 26 °C in October. The driest month is January (4 mm of rain), the wettest September (346 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (111 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21 | 21 | 27 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 8.6 | 8 |
| February | 21 | 22 | 28 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 8.3 | 8 |
| March | 22 | 22 | 30 | 17 | 18 | 4 | 7.8 | 8 |
| April | 23 | 23 | 30 | 18 | 64 | 10 | 7.0 | 7 |
| May | 23 | 23 | 28 | 19 | 231 | 23 | 5.7 | 7 |
| June | 24 | 24 | 27 | 19 | 316 | 27 | 5.7 | 7 |
| July | 24 | 24 | 27 | 19 | 234 | 26 | 7.2 | 6 |
| August | 23 | 23 | 27 | 19 | 292 | 27 | 6.7 | 6 |
| September | 23 | 23 | 26 | 19 | 346 | 28 | 5.7 | 6 |
| October | 23 | 23 | 26 | 18 | 302 | 24 | 6.0 | 6 |
| November | 22 | 23 | 26 | 17 | 61 | 11 | 7.7 | 7 |
| December | 22 | 22 | 26 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 8.5 | 8 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 10 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 552 km² of land.
- About 28 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lago de Atitlán
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 5beaches and swimming spots
Swimming, Playa Pública La Libertad, Playa Punta de Oro
- 2campsites
Pierre’s place, Jardín Firefly
- 4boat hire and water-sport clubs
Crucero - Boat Launch, Capitan Eduardo - Boat Launch, Pier 2 Pier Bitcoin Boat Taxi, Bitcoin Boat
- 5marinas and slipways
Las Conchitas
- 27ferry piers
Muelle Tzanjuyu de Panajachel, Muelle Santa Catarina Palopó, Muelle, Muelle San Pedro (a Santiago Atitlán), Muelle Jaibalito and 22 more
- 59viewpoints
Mirador del Lago Atitlán, Mirador Mario Mendez Montenegro, Las Rocas, Mirador la catarata, Mirador and 54 more
- 235hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hotel Regis, La Isla Verde, Posada de Tres Volcanes, Villas de Guatemala Santa Catarina, Hotel Paradise Inn and 230 more
- —fishing spots
- 325restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Sololá45,373 people
- Santiago Atitlán33,309 people
- Panajachel11,142 people
- San Pedro La Laguna9,681 people
- San Pablo La Laguna6,186 people
- Santa Clara La Laguna5,306 people
- San Juan La Laguna4,608 people
- San Antonio Palopó3,588 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Retalhuleu Airport (RER), 57 km in a straight line.
Car hire at GUA airport (Guatemala City)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 26.8 | 28.4 | 29.9 | 30.4 | 28.3 | 26.7 | 27.3 | 27.0 | 26.1 | 25.9 | 26.3 | 26.3 |
| 2020 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.7 | +0.4 | −0.6 | −0.4 | −0.5 | −0.6 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | −0.2 | −0.1 |
| 2021 | −0.4 | −1.2 | −0.8 | −1.2 | −0.6 | −0.4 | +0.3 | −0.6 | +0.1 | +0.9 | +0.2 | +0.1 |
| 2022 | −0.2 | −0.2 | −0.4 | −0.9 | −0.6 | −0.9 | +0.3 | ±0.0 | −0.2 | +0.5 | ±0.0 | −0.2 |
| 2023 | −0.3 | −0.3 | −1.1 | +0.1 | +2.5 | +2.3 | +1.8 | +1.6 | +2.3 | +0.8 | +1.0 | +0.5 |
| 2024 | +0.9 | +0.2 | +1.2 | +1.4 | +1.9 | −0.3 | +1.0 | +1.6 | +0.8 | +0.9 | −0.1 | +0.4 |
| 2025 | +0.6 | −0.1 | −0.2 | −0.3 | +0.5 | ±0.0 | +1.4 | +1.0 | +0.4 | +0.1 | +0.5 | +0.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
Guatemala15.2 km² · 76 km away25°maxLake Güija
El Salvador36.3 km² · 186 km away29°maxCoatepeque CalderaEl Salvador23.5 km² · 201 km away27°maxLake IzabalGuatemala670 km² · 233 km away30°maxLake IlopangoEl Salvador69.3 km² · 259 km away29°maxLake Petén ItzáGuatemala105 km² · 294 km away29°maxAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q273276) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
