ESSENTIALS - Guatemala - page 655

speaking agents canprovidemapsandanswerbasic questions aboutgroundtransportation.
Taxis and shuttle buses also operate out of kiosks found in the arrival area. A taxi to Zona
10 or Zona 14 costs about $9; trips to Carretera a El Salvador or elsewhere beyond the city
limits cost more. Most of the Zona 10 hotels have courtesy shuttles to and from the airport.
A shuttle bus to Antigua costs between $12 and $15. Likewise, car rentals can be booked
from kiosks inside the airport terminal, located just after clearing customs. The actual car
rental lot is across the street fronting the airport terminal's three-level parking garage.
Flores/Tikal (FRS), officially known as Mundo Maya International Airport , serves
the northern department of Petén and the ruins of Tikal. It now has air conditioning and is
a much-improved facility. Flights arrive several times daily from Guatemala City, Cancún,
and Belize City. The flight to Flores from the Guatemalan capital takes about 30 minutes.
Most travelers arriving here head straight for the ruins of Tikal, about an hour away via
numerous minivans, or to the city of Flores, just five minutes away by taxi. A colectivo
van to Tikal costs about $4. A taxi to Flores costs about $2. Arrival procedures are fairly
straightforward thanks to the airport's smaller size.
Flights to Guatemala City
The majority of nonstop flights come from a handful of North American hub cities includ-
ing Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami,
and New York/Newark. San Salvador and Panama City are becoming increasingly import-
ant as connecting points for flights from South America on TACA and Copa Airlines, re-
spectively. Madrid holds the distinction of being the sole European city with direct service
to Guatemala City via a nonstop flight five times per week on Spanish flag-carrier Iberia.
Among U.S. carriers, American Airlines (tel. [phone] U.S., www.aa.com ) flies
nonstop three times daily to Guatemala City from Miami and daily nonstop from Dallas/
Ft. Worth. It code shares with British Airways on flights from the U.K. as well as offering
excellent European connections of its own.
United Airlines (tel. [phone] U.S., www.united.com ) has three nonstops daily to
Guatemala City from Houston Intercontinental (IAH) as well as a Saturday-only nonstop
flight from New York/Newark, which sometimes operates twice on Saturdays and/or a few
times per week.