Hotel Regis Panajachel

At the Hotel Regis you can almost see the handsome wealthy travelers of the 1930s and 40s arriving in fancy cars with mountains of luggage; travelers soon seen relaxing on the veranda, conversing over cocktails. In 1934 world travel was a privilege of the rich. Lake Atitlan was one of those absolutely beautiful, exotic destinations featured in National Geographic Magazine, ...but a destination rarely visited. Seventy years ago the fortunate few who visited Atitlan had nowhere to stay. To accommodate them, Ernesto Weymann built Hotel Regis. His granddaughter, Maria Mercedez Weymann, owns and runs the hotel today. Over the years the world has gotten smaller and Lake Atitlan has become more accessible, ...and more affordable. But some things never change. Lake Atitlan is still the most beautiful lake in the world!Lake Atitlan, the colorful Mayans who live in villages around the lake, and the famous volcanoes that make up the lake's southern shore are as colorful and exotic as ever. Likewise, Hotel Regis has maintained the essence of that bygone era, while adding the amenities the modern traveler expects. Ernesto Waymann originally moved to Panajachel to grow coffee. To this day some of the world's best coffee is grown around the lake. Coffee still grows in the hotel's garden, but as Lake Atitlan became more accessible to world travelers, the need for rooms in Panajachel and the hotel's central location eventually led to the coffee farm evolving into a hotel.