Is Antigua Really The Cheapest Place To Learn Spanish?

I spent two weeks attempting to learn Spanish in Antigua Guatemala on a Spanish immersion program. But how much did it actually cost and is it really the cheapest place to learn Spanish?

I picked Antigua, Guatemala because it was so cheap but when all added up, the grand total was more than I thought it was going to be.

Let’s break it down…

The Immersion Program = $490/£374.30

I knew I wanted to do a Spanish Immersion program somewhere in the world so I googled “cheapest place to learn Spanish” and Antigua came up, so into a research hole I went!

In the end I chose a school called Maximo Nivel and I paid $490 for a 2 week Spanish Immersion program. This included a private double room with a host family, breakfast & dinner, two hours of Spanish lessons daily plus a bunch of other perks included. Check out my Maximo Nivel review for more info on the perks.

This was an insanely cheap price especially when compared to the price of Maximo’s other schools in Costa Rica and Peru. Plus I did upgrade to a private room as I didn’t really want to share.

The $490/£374.30 total price is broken down as follows…

Homestay = £267.81

For a private double room and two meals a day, the homestay was £267.81 which works out to around £20 per day which is crazy! Especially considering this also included two meals a day and it was safe to say I would never have starved here. The portions were crazy and the food was actually very tasty.

Spanish Lessons = £107.12

Classes only run Monday to Friday so I did 10 lessons total for £107.12 which breaks down to £10.71 per lesson which I think is a great price. I absolutely loved my teacher and although only there for 2 weeks I learned a lot and saw a massive improvement in my Spanish. No wonder Guatemala is deemed the best and cheapest place to learn Spanish.

However, this isn’t the only thing I had to pay for! I had to get there from New York (straight from the best housesit I’ve ever had), pay for extra meals and any activities. So how much extra did I pay?

The Extras

Flight There = £65.70

I flew to Guatemala City from New York and bagged an absolute steal of a flight. This included baggage, entertainment, a drink & snack – and no it wasn’t a points flight!

Like with most of my flights, I booked this through Skyscanner and couldn’t believe how cheap it was. Especially when friends I met on the program paid hundreds to also fly from the US.

Whilst, I found this flight on Skyscanner, I actually booked it through Trip.com. Now I am entirely sure if I just got super lucky or if they were running a promotion but I’m not complaining.

Especially because they had the latest season of Young Sheldon on the plane and I’d refused to pay $25 to watch it only the week before. Best flight ever!

Food & Drinks = £242.12

Considering breakfast and dinner were included in my homestay cost, the food & drink total is super high BUT I did drink way more than usual on this trip and went to coffee shops daily!

This works out to around £18 extra each day on food and drink. Most of the time this was just spent in coffee shops and for lunch but some nights, like salsa night, I did get dinner out instead of with my host family.

I got to try a lot of local dishes, both with my host family and from their recommended restaurants. Plus I found a tonne of really cute cafes where I would spend the afternoon, either hustling or studying.

And I did get a taste of the Antigua night life a couple of times and discovered a new love for margaritas!

Activities = £28.68

Most of the activities I did whilst in Antigua were free, either through my Spanish school, like salsa and cooking classes, or just general things I’d heard about. A group of us went to this really cool natural pool on the outskirts of Antigua, which was a super cool experience and entry was like £2.

I did pay to do a Street Food tour whilst in Antigua and it was ok but not amazing. I was expecting to come away full to the brim but we didn’t try that much food so we ended up having to find a snack afterwards. The things we did try were nice and authentic but it wasn’t what I was expecting. The tour guide did share a lot of history which made my heart happy so overall it was a good experience.

The one thing I regret not having time to do was the Acatenango overnight volcano hike. I was planning to do this on the one Saturday I had, as my weekdays were reserved for Spanish class. But it just so happened to be Independence weekend and I decided to stay in the city and experience the parades and street parties. This was cool in its own way but I wished I’d done the hike.

Sim Card = £20

I decided to go down the “add on” route rather than go down the e-sim rabbit hole. My UK sim card provider offers roaming add ons for when you’re travelling so I simply bought a 15-day pass for Guatemala. This was £20 for 2GB of data, 100 minutes and 100 texts. Exactly what I needed.

The majority of places I went to had wifi, including my homestay, so 2GB was more than enough for 2 weeks of constant uber and maps usage.

Transport = £22.30 (+£100)

My transport from the airport on arrival was included in the Spanish school costs as a perk which was good. But I did need to organise the way back on my own. The cheapest route I found was $30 for a taxi directly through the school. The ride from Antigua to Guatemala City airport is around an hour so this was actually a pretty good price.

I’ve put an additional £100 in brackets after the spend total because I did spend £100 on Ubers when in the city. However, my parents paid for this. In the spirit of transparency I knew I needed to include this.

I only felt unsafe once whilst in Antigua and that was on the first afternoon when walking back to my homestay from the school. You don’t get a choice in where you’re placed and I was placed in the homestay the furthest away from the school, in the next town over.

This was only a 30-35 minute walk from the school. Normally I’d probably enjoy but it was all along a dirt road. I did the walk there and back once and found the route back not very enjoyable.

In all honesty, my parents weren’t thrilled when I told them I was going to Guatemala. Then hearing about this even less so. My dad instantly transferred me uber money under the agreement that I wouldn’t walk back alone again.

Now, typing this out it does sound a little ridiculous. I’ve been solo travelling for 3 years now and I trust my gut so I happily took this option. Plus on the flip side, I made a point to chat to my uber drivers. This was a great way to practice my Spanish.

Cash Out = £32.60

I took $100 out at JFK airport to convert when I arrived in Guatemala. In the end, I only converted $40 so I’m only counting £32.60 in this spending diary. I spent all the cash I converted on various things but have no receipts. So I’m just tracking it as one spend.

Grand Total = £786.53

My grand total spend for two weeks at a Spanish Immersion program in Antigua, Guatemala was £786.53. This breaks down to around £56.18 per day for the 14 days that I was there which is a little on the high side of my normal budget but I didn’t really limit myself.

I definitely could’ve cut the costs down by not upgrading to a private room or not drinking so many margaritas but they really made the experience!

So there you go, the actual costs of spending 2 weeks in the cheapest place to learn Spanish! Would you ever do something like this?