There are also many Spanish language schools located in Antigua. Because of individualized instruction and reasonable fees it has become one of the most popular places in Latin America to study Spanish. Students are usually housed with local host families or in local hotels. They can engage in many other activities apart from immersion language courses. Tourists come to see all that Antigua has to offer, including nightlife, bars, restaurants, markets selling Mayan goods, and excursions via shuttles to surrounding sites.

Three large volcanoes dominate the horizon around Antigua.

The most commanding, to the south of the city, is the Volcán de Agua or "Volcano of Water", some 3766 meters high. It is so named because the crater atop it was formerly filled with water. Shortly after the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, the first capital was on a site part way up this mountain, which was destroyed by a flood and mudslide when an earthquake let loose the water from the crater, and the city of Guatemala was moved down the valley to the current Antigua. The original site is a village now known as "Ciudad Vieja", ("The Old City").

To the west of the city are a pair of peaks, Acatenango, long inactive, some 3976 meters high, and the Volcán de Fuego or "Volcano of Fire", some 3763 meters (12345.800524934 feet) high. "Fuego" is famous for being almost constantly active at a low level. Smoke issues from its top daily, but larger eruptions are rare.