Quetzaltenango (Spanish pronunciation: [ketsalteˈnaŋɡo], also known by its Maya name Xelajú [ʃelaˈχu] or Xela [ˈʃela]) is both the seat of the namesake Department and municipality, in Guatemala.

The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of 2,330 meters (7,640 feet) above sea level at its lowest part.

Municipalities abutting the municipality of Quetzaltenango include Salcajá, Cantel, Almolonga, Zunil, El Palmar, Concepción Chiquirichapa, San Mateo, La Esperanza, and Olintepeque in Quetzaltenango department and San Andrés Xecul in Totonicapán department.

With the help of his allies, Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado defeated and killed the Maya ruler Tecún Umán here[citation needed].

When Alvarado conquered the city for Spain in the 1520s, he called it by the Nahuatl name used by his Central Mexican Indian allies, "Quetzaltenango", generally considered to mean "the place of the quetzal bird."

However, many people (especially the indigenous population) continue to call the city "Xelajú" or more commonly "Xela" for short, and some proudly, but unofficially, consider it the "capital of the Mayas".

As the union broke up, the army of Rafael Carrera conquered Quetzaltenango making it part of Guatemala.

[citation needed] In the 1920s, a young Romani woman named Vanushka Cardena Barajas died and was buried in the Xela city cemetery.

[citation needed] In 1930 the only electric railway in Guatemala, the Ferrocarril de Los Altos, was inaugurated.

[5] Quetzaltenango was supposed to host 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games but dropped out due to a lack of funding for the event.

[6] In March 2022, indigenous activists began blockading the central waste deposit near Valle de Palajunoj to protest a city development plan enacted by the municipal authorities in June 2017.

During the dry season, the city frequently will not receive a single drop of rain for months on end.

[9] Due to the city's high altitude many athletes have prepared themselves here such as Olympic silver medalist Erick Barrondo and the 2004 Cuban volleyball team.