Best Church Ruins to Visit in Antigua, Guatemala

Antigua is home to a large number of church and convent ruins. Visiting them became one of our favourite things to do in the city. These ruins are the remains of buildings that were severely damaged in the earthquakes of the 1700’s. Today, you’ll find them scattered all across the city. Some of them are huge and have been partially restored but there are plenty that are no more than impressive façades. In this blog post, we’ll provide you with a list of some of the best ones to add to your Antigua itinerary including their exact locations and admission fees.

We appreciate that visiting every single ruin would take time that you may not have. We also decided to skip a few even though we spent 2 weeks in the city. Plus, let’s not forget that all the entry fees add up quickly. So, if you’re a budget traveller too, then hopefully this post helps you decide which ones are actually worth paying for.

If you’d like to see what we got up to in town, then make sure to watch our dedicated Antigua video on our YouTube channel. For more Guatemala videos, you can also check out our Guatemala series.

A Short History of the Church Ruins in Antigua

Antigua Guatemala is located about 40 km to the west of Guatemala City, the country’s modern-day capital. This city was in fact the capital of Guatemala between the 1500’s and 1700’s, formerly called ‘Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala’ during this time. It was a cultural, economic, and political centre of Central America, as well as being one of the earliest examples of urban planning in Latin America.

The city sits 1,545 m (5,068 ft) above sea level and is surrounded by several volcanoes including two of the three active volcanoes in Guatemala: Fuego and Pacaya. Thanks to its close proximity to volcanoes, Antigua is prone to natural disasters. There have been many devastating earthquakes over the years, especially in the 1700’s. The first major one occurred in 1717, damaging thousands of buildings. Then two more massive earthquakes hit the city, in 1751 and 1773, which destroyed most of Antigua.

At this time the government decided to move the capital to the modern-day site of Guatemala City for safety reasons. A lot of people left Antigua and the city became known as ‘La Antigua Guatemala’, or ‘Old Guatemala’. This meant that most of the buildings were left to decay. Luckily, people didn’t completely abandon the city and over the years they’ve rebuilt Antigua around the ruins.

Antigua was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

11 Best Church Ruins to Visit in Antigua

Visiting church and convent ruins in Antigua is actually one of the best things to do in the city. In fact, Antigua had probably the largest number of church ruins of any of the cities we’ve visited in the past, which isn’t surprising due to the city’s history. Luckily, we could go inside many of them for a small fee. However, there were many ruins where we could only admire the façades. Below we’ll list our favorites for you to add to your Antigua itinerary.

Top Tip. Most ruins that you can go inside have a big map and description boards at the entrance. We recommend snapping a photo of the maps to help guide you through the buildings.

1. San Jose Cathedral

San Jose Cathedral is one of the most visited church ruins in Antigua because it’s conveniently located at the main square. It’s worth noting that there are actually two cathedrals. The newer one faces the main square and was built after the earthquakes. It is an active church and you can visit it free of charge.

Right behind it are the ruins of the original San Jose Cathedral. It’s quite a small area but we still found it very impressive, with its tall arches and missing domes. It reminded us of the Ani Ruins in Eastern Turkiye, where the cathedral’s dome was also missing due to earthquake damage.

Location: 5 Calle Oriente and 4 Avenida Norte. Enter the ruins from 5a Calle Oriente (located here on Google Maps).

Entry fee is only Q20, which is considerably cheaper than most of the other church ruins. However, it’s also much smaller than most of the others too.

2. Santa Clara Convent

Convento Santa Clara was by far one of the most beautiful ruins we visited in Antigua. It was founded by nuns from Puebla, Mexico back in 1699. It first got damaged in the 1717 earthquake, after which it took around 26 years to restore. Unfortunately, the building was damaged again during the following quakes and was subsequently left in ruins.

Unlike some of the other ruins in Antigua, Santa Clara Convent doesn’t look like anything special from the outside. However, once we got inside we were blown away by just how beautifully it had been restored. We loved how it still looked like a ruin but with an interior that was well maintained. It’s also a huge place to wander around where you get stunning views of the surrounding area from the upper sections.

We also walked around Parque Union right next to it which is full of palm trees and street vendors. There’s also Union Tank (Tanque La Union) at the end of the park, which is a historic public laundry pool that’s worth checking out.

Location: 6a Calle Oriente and 1a Avenida Sur (located here on Google Maps).

Entry fee is Q40 per person, which is totally worth it in our opinion.

3. Church and Convent of Las Capuchinas

Another popular church ruin in Antigua is the Convento Capuchinas. It was only built in 1736, so didn’t have a long life before the Santa Marta earthquake seriously damaged it in 1773.

We found it very beautiful and peaceful inside. At first it appeared quite small because we thought there wasn’t much more to it than the well maintained courtyard with the fountain in the middle. This section actually looked similar to the Claustros de la Compañía we visited in Arequipa, Peru.

However, we could go up to the top floor too which gave us another vantage point of the main courtyard. It also had a few different sections such as a circular building, a small garden, and a tiny museum that displayed numerous paintings. Apparently, the circular building is quite a unique structure, of a style that you won’t see anywhere else in Antigua.

Location: 2a Avenida Norte and 2a Calle Oriente (located here on Google Maps).

Entry fee is Q40 per person. If you have the time, then we definitely recommend visiting it.

4. La Merced Convent and Church

La Merced is a beautiful yellow church located only a short walk from the Santa Catarina Arch. From the small park in front of it (Parque la Merced) we could also see Volcan’s Fuego and Agua on a clear day.

Just like with San Jose Cathedral on the main square, we could visit the church and the ruins through two separate entrances. The ruins were really beautiful with an impressive fountain in the middle. What we loved most about this ruin was that we could walk up to the roof of the church, from where we got beautiful views of the Santa Catarina Arch, Antigua, and Volcan Agua in the background.

Location: 1a Calle Poniente and 6a Avenida Norte (located here on Google Maps).

Entry fee is Q20 per person for the ruins, which is totally worth it for the views you get of the arch. The church is free to visit but you can’t take photos inside.

5. San Francisco the Great Sanctuary

The San Francisco the Great Sanctuary is another popular church and convent ruin to visit in Antigua. You can enter the church for free, which we highly recommend as it houses the remains of San Hermano Pedro, one of the most important saints in Antigua.

The ruins are accessible via a separate entrance around the back. It’s quite a large area and contains a tiny museum section, although this wasn’t too impressive. Similar to the Santa Clara Convent, this convent is very well-kept but still feels like you’re walking around some ruins.

We were also lucky because Volcan Agua was clearly visible at the time of our visit. We entered around 4 PM, so the light was perfect too. The combination of these factors were the reason we really loved our visit to this particular church ruin.

Location: 7a Calle Oriente and Calle de los Pasos (located here on google Maps).

Entry fee is Q40 which is just about worth it in our opinion.

6. Convento la Recoleccion

Convento la Recoleccion is a former church and monastery of the Order of the Recollects. It was completed in 1717, not long before it was damaged by the earthquake. Then it was damaged further in the following two major quakes of 1751 and 1773.

Although it’s located slightly outside the city centre, it’s well worth the trip to visit. We didn’t have high expectations, but Convento la Recoleccion was actually the most authentic church ruin we visited in Antigua. This is because there’s been hardly any restoration work done on it. You won’t find well-maintained courtyards, cute flower pots and other decorations here.

The most impressive part of the ruins is the arch that’s miraculously still standing. Once we’d walked through it we could see all the huge pieces of rubble from the rest of the building littered across the floor. It felt like stepping back in time and visiting the site right after the earthquake.

There are some other areas to explore too, although they weren’t as interesting. Unfortunately, there weren’t any information boards either. Despite this, it was probably our third favourite ruins to visit because of it being more authentic and less touristy.

Location: Corner of Calle de Recolectos and 1a Calle Poniente (located here on Google Maps).

Entry fee is Q40 per person. You should definitely visit this one if you have time.

7. Santo Domingo Church and Convent (Casa Santo Domingo Hotel)

The Santo Domingo Convent was one of the most interesting ruins we visited in Antigua because of its location. It was once one of the biggest and richest monasteries in Antigua. However, along with most of the ruins in the city, it was seriously damaged during the earthquakes.

In the 1970’s, an archeologist bought the site and presided over excavations before the Casa Santo Domingo Hotel took over. Today, you can still only access the ruins via the hotel. We could see some parts of the ruins for free, but we had to pay an entry fee if we wanted to visit the museums and see more of the area. There are six permanent museums and two art galleries with temporary exhibits in this hotel-museum-spa complex.

Location: Casa Santo Domingo Hotel on 3a Calle Oriente (located here on Google Maps)

Entry Fee: Q50 per person. If you’re a hotel guest, you can visit for free.

8. Antiguo Colegio de la Compania de Jesus

Antiguo Colegio de la Compania de Jesus is another beautiful church ruin to add to your itinerary. This Jesuit monastery and college was built in 1626 but the order was expelled in 1767, only a few years before the devastating earthquake. Later, the Spanish government decided to rescue the building and turned it into a Cultural Centre (Cooperación Española). They house some exhibits that are worth checking out.

The only part that hasn’t been restored is the grand façade of the church which you can admire from the street.

Location: Poniente and 6a Avenida Norte (located here on Google Maps).

Entry: It’s free to visit the Cultural Centre and to view the old façade from the street.

Top Tip. You can get an overview of the ruins from the rooftop of Bella Vista Coffee, where you can also enjoy views of Volcan Agua and Fuego.

9. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen

Another church ruin in Antigua that you can’t visit inside of, purely because there isn’t much left of the original church since the earthquakes. However, the remaining façade is impressive enough to see. The columns have intricate carvings that look especially beautiful during sunset with Volcan Agua in the background.

Although we couldn’t visit inside the church, we did check out the artesian market (Mercado de Artesanias El Carmen) right next to the ruins.

Location: 3a Avenida Norte (located here on Google Maps).

Entry: Free to view from the street.

10. Candelaria Church Ruins

The Ruinas de la Iglesia de la Candelaria was another church ruin that we could only see from the street, as only the façade is left of the original structure. It definitely wasn’t the most beautiful ruin we saw, but it’s still worth stopping for a quick look if you’re en-route to the Cerro de la Cruz viewpoint.

Location: 1a Avenida Norte, close to Cerro de la Cruz Viewpoint (located here on Google Maps).

Entry fee: Free to view from the street.

11. San Pedro Apostol Church

Iglesia San Pedro Apóstol is a beautiful yellow church that doesn’t look anything like the other church ruins scattered around the city. It is one of the oldest churches in Antigua and also got damaged in the earthquakes. Luckily, it never really collapsed, so after some restoration work it looks very similar to La Merced Church.

It’s also right next to Union Park where the Union Tank is, in the vicinity of the Santa Clara Convent.

Location: 6a Calle Oriente and 3a Avenida Sur, next to Parque Union (located here on Google Maps).

Entry fee: Free.

Final Thoughts on the Best Church Ruins to Visit in Antigua

Visiting church ruins was one of our favourite things to do in Antigua. Whilst seeing all of them would’ve been a bit too time consuming and expensive, we still managed to visit a fair amount. Overall, our favourite church ruin was the Santa Clara Convent but we also loved La Recoleccion because of how untouched and raw it felt. La Merced is fantastic too, with the added bonus of getting great views of the Santa Catarina Arch from the roof.

Have you ever been to Antigua before? If so, how many of the above church ruins did you visit? If not, which ones would you add to your itinerary? Let us know in the comments below.