Zona Viva

- Holiday Inn, Hard Rock Café, Plaza Fontabella, Edificio Atlantis, Westin Camino Real, Real InterContinental, Edificio Atlantis, Interamericas World Financial Center, La Aurora Airport

Zona Viva, that is the main business, shopping and entertainment district in Guatemala City. It is situated in Zona 10 in the south part of the city and is very modern. It is bordered by Avenida La Reforma to the West and Diagonal 6 to the East. Here you find modern highrises, fancy stores, malls, luxury hotels, fastfood restaurants, bars, night clubs and good restaurants. The roads are in good condition, and it is one of the safest areas of Guatemala City, it is a great contrast to both the historical center and the nearby poor areas. La Aurora Airport, the international airport, is situated just a few blocks from Zona Viva (that could be seen from our hotel room). Many of the highrise hotels and office buildlings are illuminated, many with neon lights after dark. Condominio Geminis, Edificio Atlantis (glass buildings with an atrium that features a shopping galleria and an atrium), Dubai Center, Euro Plaza, Pacific Plaza, and Interamericas World Financial Center are some examples of office and apartment highrise complexes, many of them are twin towers. Due to the proximity to the airport, none of these highrises are taller then 20 floors. The last decades many of the highrises have arisen like swamps from the ground, yet it is still a green and comfortable area, much less hectic then the central parts. You find exclusive boutiques, wellknown brand stores, and restaurant and fastfood chains like Hard Rock Café, Mc Donald's, Burger King and Starbucks as well as Pizza Grizzly with it's significant bear sculpture at the entrance.

Westin Camino Real and Real Intercontinental are the most prominent highrise luxury hotels in Zona Viva. Radisson, Clarion, Mercure, Hilton Garden Inn, Holiday Inn (were we stayed, read review at the bottom of the text) are other large hotels.

There are several nice, large and modern shopping malls in Zona Viva . Plaza Fontabella is a special fashionable mall, partly outdoors, with colourful buildings in Italian style built around courtyards. It is quite new and was built in neo-colonial style. Among its features is a vintage Citroën 2CV, and a London phone box, placed by Saul's Café. Oakland Mall (click here) is the newest and most upscale shopping mall, it has 170 stores on 6 floors and is sitauted right at the East boundary of Zona Viva. The mall features a waterfall (that seemed impossible to find), an aquarium, lost of escalators, atriums with glass enclosed elevators, a merry-go-round, a mobile train for children, large panorama windows, A Siman department store (chain from El Salvador), several restaurants and a foodcourt (where we had breakfast). A vintage VW bus can be found at Saul's Café.

Holiday Inn Guatemala, the hotel where we stayed, is also situated in Zona Viva. It was idealic since the luxurious yet cheap Pullmantur bus (highly recommended) from El Salvador stopped right at the hotel. Right opposite the hotel was Dubai Center with the new 2-storey Hard Rock Café, that we visited twice. It is significant for its large neon guitar sign. The hotel is a 4-star white highrise hotel with 18 floors, built in 1997, it's exterior is illuminated in green light after dark. The double room on floor 12 was great with amazing views of Zona Viva, the airport, other parts of the city and the mountains. The marble bathroom was large and light and the air condition worked well. The only downpart for some people might be that it is close to the airport and commercial flights passed very often close to the hotel, personally I think it added to the international feeling. Service was ok, but nothing special. The lobby was typical modern with dark wood panels, the hotel features a souvenir shop, two ATMs, a restaurant and a Barista café.