Guam Villages

Our footprint-shaped island is divided into 19 villages, each with its own distinct history and character.

Each of Guam's villages is also home to its own Catholic church.

Over the centuries, these communities' identities have evolved from bases for farming, ranching, and fishing to residential centers, hubs for commerce and history, and bases for the same food-producing activities that have long been a focus of life on Guam.

Visitors are invited to take special note of the island's colorful and uplifting village murals, beautiful works of art that arose as part of a revitalization project to unify the island, spearheaded by the Guam Visitors Bureau in cooperation with local mayors, businesses, schools, and residents.

Architecture in Guamanian villages varies widely, from strongly Spanish-influenced edifices to the matching two-story concrete homes in Asan-Maina, where in the 1980s the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority undertook a major redevelopment of residential structures, even painting the suburban-style houses the same color.

Some villages' borders are formed by modern highways, while the boundaries of others are defined by natural features; the municipality of Chalan Pago/Ordot, across the narrow "waist" of Guam, divides the predominantly volcanic southern half of the island from its mostly limestone northern half.