The beautiful colonial town of Antigua Guatemala is an excellent destination for single dude travelers. Antigua is Central America , but with sushi restaurants and brunch buffets. You can take a shuttle from the airport directly to Antigua for around 10 bucks, just find one of the many services for this on the Internet and arrange it beforehand.
As a general rule you will spend more if you book online than just walk in some places. You can also stay at the Black Cat Hostel also which is a real backpacker hotspot with a lively bar scene of its own. Pretty much every night of the week there is a ladies night going on with cheap or free drinks for ladies and some minor restrictions on guys. Usually this means something like a 10Q 1.
You would not believe the number of sleazy Guatemalan dudes that that keeps out. They come in from Guatemala City to drink 3Q Do not miss this whatever you do. They also have live music all week that is often quite good. Cielos and Rikis are in the same location and are also good places, and has salsa dancing with live music on Wednesdays and music on the weekends.
Reillys is the local Irish bar, and a great place to meet gringo hunters, especially as a first stop Friday night, and all weekend. You can kill there Sunday afternoons meeting all the girls who hang out there then before they go back to Guate to work at their lawyer jobs for the week. Live music is also frequent there. They have a day trip too early and a night trip where you can really see the lava up close. Antigua is totally mobbed every Semana Santa, which is the week leading up to Easter.
Reserve a place way ahead of time if you plan to go there then. For a pleasant afternoon, go to the central square in town and have a coffee at the open air coffee shop. When you sight any targets in the park, you will have an easy approach. Beware of prostitutes. The shoeshine boys can get you anything. Make sure to pick up a free copy of Que Pasa Antigua which will have all the listings of music, art, etc. They even have a Ladies Night Calendar and a map inside.
