Adventure sports Maya Mountain Bike Tours, 3 C Pte and 7 Av Nte (tel 832 3743, www.mayanbike.com ), have an excellent range of trips, plus bike rental and whitewater rafting; Old Town Outfitters, 6 C Pte 7 (tel 832 4243, www.bikeguatemala.com ), run mountain-bike excursions and rock-climbing trips for all levels, and offer tent, sleeping bag, pack and bike rental.

Banks and exchange Banco Industrial, 5 Av Sur 4, just south of the plaza, has a 24hr ATM for Visa and Plus cardholders; Lloyds, in the northeast corner of the plaza, changes sterling travellers' cheques. Note that the Banco del Quetzal Mastercard/Cirrus cashpoint on the north side of the plaza routinely accepts cards but fails to dispense money.

Bike rental Aviatur, 5 Av Norte 35 (tel & fax 832 2642), and Maya Mountain Bike Tours and Old Town Outfitters (see "Adventure sports") rent mountain bikes for around US$8 a day, US$25 weekly.

Bookstores Casa Andinista, 4 C Ote 5A; Casa del Conde, on the west side of the plaza; Un Poco de Todo, also on the west side of the plaza. The Rainbow Reading Room, 7 Av Sur 8, has by far the largest selection of secondhand books.

Car and motorbike rental Avis, 5 Av Nte 22 (tel & fax 832 2692), and Tabarini, 2 C Pte 19A (tel & fax 832 3091, www.centroamerica.com/tabarini ), both have cars from around US$45 a day and Jeeps from US$60, including unlimited mileage and insurance. La Ceiba, 6 C Pte 15 (tel 832 0077), rent out motorbikes from US$25 a day.

Horse riding Ravenscroft Stables, 2 Av Sur 3, in the village of San Juan del Obispo, on the road up to Santa María de Jesús (tel 832 6229).

Internet There are over twenty places where you can send and receive email; rates are set at around US$1.50 an hour, though there are discounts for heavy users. The best set-up places include La Ventana, 5 Av Sur 24 (daily 8am-9pm), and Enlaces, 6 Av Nte 1 (daily 9am-9.30pm). Conexión, in the La Fuente cultural centre at 4 C Ote 14 (daily 8am-8pm), is probably the best place to head for real computer queries.

Laundry Rainbow Laundry, 6 Av Sur 15 (Mon-Sat 7am-7pm). A wash typically costs around US$2.

Libraries and cultural institutes El Sitio, 5 C Pte 15 (tel 832 3037), has an active theatre, library and art gallery, and regularly hosts exhibitions and concerts; see the Revue or Guatemala Post for listings.

Medical care There's a 24hr emergency service at the Santa Lucía Hospital, Calzada Santa Lucía Sur 7 (tel 832 3122). Dr Aceituno, who speaks good English, has a surgery at 2 C Pte 7 (tel 832 0512).

Pharmacies Farmacia Santa María, west side of the plaza (daily 8am-10pm).

Police The police HQ is on the south side of the plaza, next to the tourist office (tel & fax 832 0572). The tourist police are just off the plaza on 4 Avenida Norte (tel 832 7290).

Post office Alameda de Santa Lucía, opposite the bus terminal (Mon-Fri 8am-4.30pm). DHL are at 6 Av Sur 16 (tel 832 3718, fax 832 3732, ecastill@gtl-co.gt.dhl.com ), and Quick Shipping is at 3 Av Nte 26 (tel 832 2595).

Supermarket La Bodegona at 4 C Pte and Alameda Santa Lucía.

Telephones The Telgua office is just south of the plaza on 5 Avenida Sur (7am-10pm), but rates are higher here than anywhere else and you'll have to queue. Several places now offer Internet-linked phone facilities, including La Ventana (see "Internet", above), enabling you to call North America for US$1.50 an hour, or Europe and the rest of the world for a little more, though lines can be very fuzzy. The cheapest conventional phone connections are at Kall Shop, 6 Av Sur 12A (daily 8am-8pm), where you can call North America for US$0.25 a minute, Western Europe for US$0.45, and Australia and New Zealand for US$0.64 a minute.

Travel agents There are dozens of travel agents in Antigua; the following are the most professional and reliable: The Rainbow Travel Center, 7 Av Sur 8 (daily 9am-6pm; tel 832 4202, fax 832 4206, rainbowtravel@gua.gbm.net ), is fully computerized and has some of the best deals in town, as well as friendly and efficient staff. Viajes Tivoli, at 4 C Ote 10, on the west side of the plaza (Mon-Sat 9am-6pm; tel 832 4274, fax 832 5690, antigua@tivoli.com.gt ), is another recommended all-rounder. Monarcas, 7 Av Nte 15A (tel & fax 832 4779, www.angelfire.com/mt/monarcastravel ), is a highly recommended specialist agency with some fascinating Maya culture and ecology tours and daily connections to Copán in Honduras. Adventure Travel Center Viareal, 5 Av Nte 25B (tel & fax 832 0162, viareal@guate.net ), is particularly good for adventure and sailing trips and shuttle bus services. Perfect for backpackers, Quetzalventures, 1 C Pte 12 A (tel 832 5827, www.quetzalventures.com ), offers a number of good, inexpensive trips to Petén and the Verapaz highlands; all profits aid Guatemalan street children. Vision Travel, 3 Av Nte 3 (tel 832 3293, fax 832 1955, www.guatemalainfo.com ), has very high standards of service and is consistently recommended.