Puerto San José

Guatemala's oldest port dates from 1853, its construction spurred by the then-nascent coffee trade. Its importance has been eclipsed since the 1980s by the more modern Puerto Quetzal, next door to the east. Puerto San José serves as the westernmost mainland point on the Canal de Chiquimulilla, a waterway separating a sliver of land from the rest of Guatemala. Puerto San José is the center of the Pacific coast's just-beginning-to-burgeon sportfishing trade. It has also been a traditional beach-vacation destination for residents of Guatemala City, but is being supplanted by nearby Monterrico.