Guatemala: The incredible IRTRA Xetulul theme park and Xocomil water park

Outside of Guatemala, or perhaps Central America, it is likely that few will have heard of IRTRA and its parks. We are talking here about Xocomil (the water park) and Xetulul (the theme park), next door to each other on the same site in Retalhuleu, western Guatemala. And yet these could be among the best theme parks in the world. We can’t claim to have visited all the other contenders, but we have visited quite a few. Why do we make this bold claim? – vast numbers of excellent rides suitable for all ages, not busy (especially outside of the Christmas and Easter breaks) meaning short queues and remarkably cheap entry. Visiting these seemed a perfect opportunity for the kids to let off some steam with something different after a string of cultural delights in Peru.

But wait, what is IRTRA? IRTRA runs both parks and the associated hotels over the road from the parks, and it is funded by some of the largest companies in Guatemala. As a perk of employment, subsidised stays and park entry are then available to staff of those companies and their families. Fortunately for everyone else you can also make use of the two parks at great prices (and possibly the hotels too, though we couldn’t work out how to book those as “non-IRTRA civilians” and so we stayed a couple of minutes up the road). The parks are very popular with Guatemalans, there were a number of school trips there on the days we visited. We met large, multigenerational family groups, and also Guatemalan families who now live in the USA back visiting for the US spring break. The IRTRA model means that these holidays/days our are affordable for Guatemalans from all walks of life.

The Xocomil water park

Who doesn’t love a water park? Certainly not Odessa who has been telling anyone who asks that her favourite part of the trip so far was a day at Waterbomb Bali. We were all keen to get a full day on the slides so we were there at 9am on the button. We needn’t have worried about queues – there were a few short ones, but a glance at the massive car park at midday saw it perhaps a quarter full.

We didn’t really have any expectations, but whatever they were they were surpassed. Many of the slides we could finish and then head straight back up for another go – “again, again!”. There were several splash park type water play areas for younger kids, but also a good number of play areas and mid-tier slides that were perfect for our two. The only one Odessa didn’t appreciate was the completely dark tunnel which was one of the slides on the Serpientes complex (it’s the one far right corner as you come to the top of the stairs). All the others were perfect, and the kids especially enjoyed bobbing around in the wave lagoon.

Perhaps the most thrilling slides was the Tamagas. Here the three of us (we left Odessa at the bottom) were sat together in an inflatable which was them literally catapulted up and around the route – not so much a slide, more a ride. Naturally we had a few goes on this one.

The Xetulul theme park

After the most fantastic, and great value day of water fun at Xocomil, the theme park next door had a lot to live up to. And it delivered. Again there are so many rides covering the full range of ages and thrills. Truly something for everyone. Dessa enjoyed some of the tamer rides but it was great to see plenty of ‘middle ground’ rides and coasters that both Odessa and Rafe could enjoy together – the caterpillar roller coaster and the log flume being good examples. At the more exhilarating end of things Rafe rode everything including the Avalanche corkscrewing coaster and several other upside down affairs.

Beyond the rides themselves the park is themed around different countries, so there is Italy and its Trevi fountain, Spain with its galleon ships, a Guatemalan town square and a huge red Mayan pyramid. As with the water park next door, we had a fantastic and full day in the park on the rides, often riding multiple times in a row in the absence of queues.

Dinopark

Dinopark isn’t connected with IRTRA at all, but it is a couple of kilometres south down the road so it was inevitable we would visit, given that both kids but especially Rafe are interested in dinosaurs.

Dinopark was a lot more impressive than we imagined it might have been. There were many large animatronic dinosaurs spread around the park alongside a multitude of rides. Aside from the small playground and dino excavation, most of the rides required a small extra fee but given we didn’t pay much to get in this was fine with us. Plenty of time was spent digging for fossils in the sandpits, with the surprise being the arrival of a man in a roaring dinosaur suit. This was a brilliant touch, though one has to be concerned for the staff member in the suit in this temperature and humidity.

On the same site as Dinopark (but for small separate entry fee) is a toy, comic and games museum called Xulik Museo del Juguete. Rafe and Odessa had a great time exploring this surprisingly large collection meeting some of their favourite characters.

How we did it

Top tip! – the two parks have different opening times in the morning! The Xocomil water park opens at 9am while the Xetulul theme park opens at 10am. We have no idea why this is, but it is definitely worth knowing. We spent nearly an hour hanging out with some friendly and chatty Guatemalan families when we turned up early for the opening of Xetulul. It is also vital to know that the IRTRA parks are only open Thursday through to Sunday, while Dinopark is open all week apart from Tuesdays.

Getting to and from the parks

We got a good price on a transfer from Lake Atitlan to Retalhuleu, which in theory is a three hour ride but took us a good four hours. There was no public transport apart from a complicated and lengthy succession of chicken buses which would have taken all day. To get from the IRTRA parks to Guatemala City we took the Litegua coach. This is a great option when coming from or to the capital as the coach drops you off and picks you up right in the Xetulul car park. It runs on Thursdays to Sundays between Guatemala City and IRTRA, leaving Guatemala City at 5am, and returning in the evening from IRTRA car park at 4pm (but you need to get to the bus at 3.45pm). Booking in advance online is essential, with tickets being checked on our phone (so no need to print them). The bus was comfortable, air-conditioned and had the bonus of WiFi.

After arriving in the morning, the Litegua coach waited all day in the car park before returning to Guatemala City in the afternoon. The drop off and pickup is close to the entrance to the Xetulul theme park, so it is a five to ten minute walk to/from the water park at the other end of the site. Guatemala City isn’t the safest of cities, and the bus dropped us outside the closed Litegua bus station, in a slightly sketchy area of zone one a little after 9pm. The area was busy with food stalls and other passengers, so we didn’t feel unsafe as we waited a few minutes for an Uber to take us to our hotel.

We walked from our hotel the 2km or so down the road to Dinopark. While entirely doable, it wasn’t particularly comfortable with the mass of large trucks and chicken buses making their way on this major trunk route.

Buying park entry tickets

We visited each of the parks on consecutive days, and simply bought the tickets for each park at the gate on each day. The Xocomil water park ticket is a flat fee covering a whole day of unlimited riding. With Rafe over 140cm, we paid for three adults and one child, 350Q, £35. The ticket for Xetulul is slightly more complex. In addition to the park entry ticket, to access the rides you need either a book of tickets or an unlimited ride “brazalete” wristband. Unless you think you’ll only go on a couple of rides, the brazalete is definitely the best option. After buying our entry tickets and going into the park we went to the Banco kiosk in Plaza Francia at the far west hand corner of the park to buy the additional unlimited riding brazalete wristbands. There are a few of these kiosks throughout the park. The entry to Xetulul cost us 300Q plus an additional 200Q for four brazaletes, total 500Q, £50, which is exceptionally good value. You can buy a one day, two park ticket (140Q per adult or 70Q for kids under 140cm) giving access to both sites, but it would be a rush to try and fit everything in in a single day.

Where to stay

As mentioned above, staff of IRTRA-affiliated companies can get great rates staying at the good looking IRTRA hotels over (or under, as there is a tunnel) the road from the parks themselves. We couldn’t work out how to book and stay there, so we stayed at the Zafra hotel / motel barely a five minute walk down the street from the parks. While not especially fancy, this was great for us with the pool a highlight for the kids, and the staff friendly.

Top tip #2! – If staying nearby and walking to the park, you may be able to save time by not using the main gate to the site. We found a small entrance on the corner of the site nearest our hotel which saved us some time at each end of the day. This was especially welcome when we went to fetch our big bags from the hotel bag store before then returning to the car park to get the bus to Guatemala City.

Where to eat

We certainly had a couple of good meals at our hotel, Zafra. For some variety we walked across the road to the site of the IRTRA subsidised hotels. Walk up to the main gate, show some ID, hand in your firearms, tell them you’re just coming for a restaurant and you will get a piece of paper. Head round to the next checkpoint where the piece of paper is checked. From there we went to the Hacienda restaurant which was good quality at reasonable prices and friendly too. There are apparently other eateries on the hotels site but we didn’t try them.

We tried not to spend too much on food in the parks themselves. Xetulul, the theme park, certainly seemed to have the better quality food options compared to the water park (many seemed to bring picnics there) although the prices in both parks were fine for us. We had a proper meal at the Restaurante el Comendador in Xetulul before getting the long bus to Guatemala City. This was a full sit down affair with local cuisine and was really very good, comparing well to places outside of a theme park – and reasonably priced. It is in the colonial style building on the main square quite near the entrance.

Maps of the parks

Below are maps of each of the parks and their location in the town.