The Acatenango Volcano hike is one of the most famous things to do as a traveller in Central America, and for good reason. When I was in Guatemala this year (wow, it’s already December and I won’t be able to say that for much longer!), climbing Acatenango Volcano was one of the things I knew I couldn’t miss, and it really didn’t disappoint. Camping at Acatenango Volcano base camp, watching the adjacent Volcan de Fuego erupt right before your eyes was a true bucket list experience, and one of the highlights of my four-month backpacking trip.
Acatenango Volcano is just a couple of hours outside of Antigua, which is one of the most commonly frequented towns in Guatemala by travellers. It’s summit is just below 4,000 metres (3,976 metres, to be exact), and whilst the climb is not for the faint-hearted, it’s manageable by most people with a decent level of fitness.
It’s also recommended that you stay somewhere above 1,500 metres for two days before you begin the Acatenango Volcano hike to help your body adjust to the altitude, but we did this and I still ended up with altitude sickness because the climb is just so steep! But, I’ll talk more about the altitude and pros and cons of taking altitude sickness tablets later on.
So, what else do you need to know about the Acatenango Volcano hike?
🌋 Contents
- How Hard is the Acatenango Volcano Hike?
- How to Book The Acatenango Volcano Hike
- What Time of Year Should You Go?
- Important Note on Altitude Sickness & Medication
- Things to Do Before You Go
- What to Pack
- The 4 Parts of the Acatenango Volcano Hike (And What It’s Like)
- FAQs About the Acatenango Volcano Hike
How Hard is the Acatenango Volcano Hike?
As an amateur who enjoys a hike and keeps a decent level of fitness myself, I’d personally say that this hike is intermediate in difficulty.
It’s rated as “hard” on AllTrails and there are a lot of comments saying that it was really difficult. Whilst that is true, there were people of varying fitness levels, ages and backgrounds on our hike, and everybody made it to base camp. As I was travelling I came across hundreds of people who had done the hike or were about to do the hike, and whilst it is difficult, it doesn’t necessarily need any special preparation beyond a basic level of fitness and a good degree of determination.
That being said, it was more difficult than I had expected it to be.
A big part of the reason that it’s difficult is the altitude. The trail begins at 2,200 metres altitude, which is already enough to get you out of breath, and that’s before you’ve even started walking. You start the hike in the sweltering midday sun, and by the time you reach the top you’re wrapped up in every single one of your layers.
Another reason I’d say it’s an intermediate hike is because it’s not a technical hike; it doesn’t require particular skills or equipment, and there are no dangerous parts where you could fall, for example. Almost all the way to base camp, it’s quite a standard hiking trail. That changes right at the end of the base camp hike, but I’ll talk more about that and the side-quest hikes you can do later on.
🇬🇹 Read more about Guatemala: What to Pack for Travelling in Guatemala
How to Book The Acatenango Volcano Hike
There are a few ways to book the Acatenango Volcano hike. I was on a tight budget, so we just chose the cheapest tour provider we found when we were in Antigua, although I do think that most standard tours work out to be the same price. We chose the very cheapest tour, but then got hit with additional costs that meant we paid the same as people on other tours anyway.
These are the things you should check are included when you book:
- Entrance fee to Acatenango
- Side quests (additional hikes to Fuego Volcano and the summit)
- Food
- Renting of hiking poles (trust me, you will need them)
These standard tours are easily bookable by asking your accommodation, or contacting a local tour company. You can also do this if you want to book a private tour or pay for upgraded accommodation.
Do you need to book the Acatenango Volcano hike in advance?
If you want to take a private cabin (our cabin was shared with about 14 people in total!) or a private local guide, I’d recommend booking in advance. You can also book in advance online if you prefer to have everything organised, but it’s not necessary. We booked our hike after arriving in Antigua, about 2 days before we did it. It’s also possible to book the night before, but I wouldn’t advise that in case they run out of spaces!
What Time of Year Should You Go?
If you want to get a good view, the best time to climb Acatenango Volcano is during the dry season in Guatemala which runs from November to April/May. We did the hike in mid-January, and had great weather, but I met somebody later on that had done the hike in December and got soaked through with rain and zero views. So, I guess good weather cannot be guaranteed.
Rainy season in Guatemala is from May to October, and I’d avoid doing any hiking during this season!
🇬🇹 Read more about Guatemala: How to Get from Guatemala Airport to Antigua
Important Note on Altitude Sickness & Medication
So, as I mentioned earlier, you gain altitude really quickly during this hike, and altitude sickness is a real issue on the trail. Some people and tour companies recommend that you start taking altitude sickness medication before you go, whereas others say to take it with you just in case.
When we bought altitude sickness pills at the pharmacy, the pharmacist told us not to stop taking them until we came back down from altitude, whereas other people we met were advised to take them only if they had symptoms.
We decided to follow the pharmacists instructions, and started taking the altitude sickness tablets the night before the hike. For me, this was a mistake. I had no idea that altitude sickness tablets have a diuretic effect, and I pee a lot already. So, in the few hours we slept the night before the hike, I got up to pee four times. The bathroom was outdoors in our hostel, and it was really cold outside, so I was running on very little sleep the following day.
I also ended up with altitude sickness, anyway, so I’m not convinced that the tablets did us much good. Or, maybe I would have been more sick without them, who knows. Either way, I’ve been to altitude several times since, but never took the medication again…
Either way, I’d definitely follow the recommendation to stay at least 48 hours above 1,500m before you begin the hike. It still means you’ll climb 2,500m within 24 hours if you choose to do the summit hike, which is above the safe limit, but it’s for sure better than going up from sea level.
If you do get altitude sickness, be sure to drink plenty of water, rest, and most of all stay calm. It’s really horrible to feel like you can’t breathe properly (guess who didn’t sleep for a second night in a row after reaching base camp), but panicking will only make it worse.
Things to Do Before You Go
The most important things I’d recommend to do before the Acatenango Volcano Hike are to stay this 48 hours above 1,500m and take altitude sickness tablets with you, just in case. However, there are a few more things I’d recommend:
- Talk to your fellow travellers. I got some really invaluable advice just from talking to random people in my hostel about what to bring, what the hike is like, and how to balance my expectations. The most important advice I received was to take walking poles, and to remember that the first two hours of the hike are the worst (if I’d not had that information, I would have been tempted to turn around…)
- Buy a variety of protein-filled snacks, rehydration sachets and energy gels to take with you. Most tour operators provide food, but extra snacks are a good idea for extra energy as well as moral-boosting!
- Make sure you don’t have much planned for the next day, when I can assure you you’ll need to rest your legs 😉
What to Pack
Right after I did this hike, I wrote a full article on what to pack for the Acatenango Volcano Hike. So, if you want a full run down, head that way! However, here are a few essentials:
- Walking sticks (you will need them, especially if you want to do the additional hikes – anyone who didn’t have poles on the summit hike was literally on their hands and knees!)
- The aforementioned snacks and hydration sachets
- In the standard format you’ll be told to bring 3 litres of water – 2 to drink, plus for the guides to use to cook your dinner
- As many warm clothes as you can fit into your bag, including hat scarf and gloves
- Toilet paper – for the first three breaks you make, there will be toilets, but they generally don’t have toilet paper. After that, you’re going in the bushes
- A buff, bandana, or something else to cover your face – the volcanic ash that gets kicked up as you descend is no joke
Things you don’t need to carry are a sleeping bag, a tent, or anything like that. This big equipment is stored at base camp and isn’t carried up and down the volcano.
🌋 Read more about Acatenango: What to Pack
The 4 Parts of the Acatenango Volcano Hike (And What It’s Like)
So, what’s it actually like to hike Acatenango Volcano? Hopefully you’ve learned quite a lot already, but I’m going to walk you through our entire experience, so you can know what to expect before you go.
Most standard tours are a round trip leaving from the city of Antigua, which is the closest city to Acatenango Volcano. The pickup time will vary depending on where your hostel is and how many stops you have to make on the way. You’ll stop to pick up other travellers, and then to pick up kit and food parcels, and then you’ll be taken to the trailhead where many other groups hiking that day will also be waiting.
Here at the trailhead you can talk to locals who will rent hiking poles, gloves and other essentials for your hike, you can use the bathroom, and then wait to be called by your guide to start the hike.
The Main Hike
As I mentioned earlier, the first part of the hike is the hardest. I might include a picture here, but it really doesn’t capture how steep the trail was at this point and is just a bit embarrassing, to be honest… I promise, here at the start of the hike, there is a steep incline, and it’s hard, ok?
You stop for a 10-20 minute break every half an hour, and about half way up, you stop for longer for lunch. There are 6 or 7 sections of 30-40 minutes of walking, which sounds more manageable than it is; whilst it’s not a particularly long hike, it’s the steep and the altitude that make this challenging.
The first two sections are the hardest; they are the steepest, and you are out in direct sunlight. After the second rest stop you get some shade from trees on the trail, but it’s still very steep. From about two thirds of the way up it starts to get less steep, and then the final section is almost completely flat. Then, right before you reach base camp, you hit steep volcanic ash for the last ten minutes, which is like trying to climb up a sand dune made of cat litter. i.e. very hard.
(This last part will vary based on where your base camp is.)
The problem with hiking in a big group is that you can’t hike at your own pace. You basically have to keep up with the guides, even if that means going faster or slower than you’d want to otherwise. For me, the guides kept a decent pace, but some people in our group found it too slow, and others found it too fast.
With the way the breaks were set up, it also meant that anyone who was already struggling and falling behind would arrive to the rest stop later, and get less time to rest than everyone else before we set off again! There was always one guide at the front, middle, and back, so nobody got left behind, but we all had to stop and set off from rest stops at the same time.
We were one of the last groups to start, so we were just arriving at base camp at sunset. Many groups that got to start earlier did the Fuego hike during sunset, and I think I’d have been more tempted to do it if I could have seen the sunset from there. However, it was dark, we were freezing cold, I was exhausted, and I really wanted to make it to the summit the next day. So, we had a simple dinner of pasta and went to bed around 9pm.
The Fuego Hike
Around 50% of the people in our group decided to do the Fuego hike, which is an optional, extra hike that takes you onto Volcan Fuego, which is an active volcano that sits next to Acatenango. Fuego is constantly producing small eruptions, which are visible, and incredible, from Acatenango base camp.
If you do the “Fuego hike”, as it’s known, you get much closer to the eruptions. The people I know who did it said that it was worth it for the sunset, and it was worth it with good weather. (Those who did it with bad weather said it wasn’t worth it). We were told it’s really challenging, but that you can literally feel the volcano erupting in the ground shaking beneath your feet.
Speaking of which – a lot of people say that this side quest is dangerous. Not too long ago, hundreds of people were killed in a town nearby after Fuego unexpectedly erupted more violently than usual. And this hike takes you onto the volcano…
When we waved goodbye to the brave souls in our group that were tackling the Fuego hike, we told them all “see you tomorrow for the summit hike!”, but not a single one of them showed up. They were too tired after the Fuego hike was more difficult than they’d expected. I met a couple of people here and there who had done both side quests, but the majority of people only did one, or neither!
The Summit Hike
This brings me on to the summit hike, which I did. I mentioned before that I didn’t sleep at base camp due to altitude sickness, so the temptation to stay in bed when the guides came to wake us at 3.45am the next day was really strong. I did feel like I should get some rest, and it probably wasn’t a good idea to climb up even further when I was already struggling with the altitude.
But…
I really wanted to reach the summit, and I’m a sucker for a good sunrise. So, I dragged myself out of bed and I’m so, so glad that I did.
That treacherous volcanic sand I mentioned before? The entire 2-hour hike to the summit was like that. It was like walking up a sand dune, only worse, because dust is so thick you feel like you can’t breathe. It was probably the two most difficult hours of hiking I’ve ever done.
The good thing is that it’s so difficult that everyone is going at a snail’s pace, even the experienced hikers. You don’t feel pressured to walk too fast because nobody can. I didn’t have a head torch (big mistake!) but I could usually see because I was surrounded by hikers that paved a steady trail up to the summit with their lights.
Note: definitely take water with you! The good thing about side quests is that you can leave your heavy backpack at base camp, so, being incredibly optimistic, I downed a load of water before setting off and then left my bottle behind. This was a mistake, but luckily one of my fellow hikers offered me some of their water along the way.
After hours of gruelling hiking, we reached the summit of Acatenango just in time to watch the sunrise. And it was amazing! At the summit I reunited with a few people from my group and we watched it together. We stayed at the summit for about twenty minutes, before we were all starting to freeze.
The way down back to basecamp was almost comical; it was so steep and so ashy, that it was more like skiing than hiking. We got back in around 30 minutes because it was so easy compared to the ascent, and because we were so desperate to get some rest in at base camp before we started the descent!
By the time I made it back to base camp, I was really suffering with altitude sickness. One of my friends who hadn’t done the summit hike brought me water and breakfast as I sat on the floor and tried to rest my legs for the descent!
The Descent
You always expect the descent of a hike to be the easy part, but it’s never as easy as you imagine! It can be quite hard on your knees (again, this is where the poles come in very handy), and because of the dust and ash, everyone was slipping and falling down. I slipped quite a few times because my hiking shoes were too old!
All in all, moral was quite high amongst everyone on the way down, and although there were stops, they were shorter. We made it back down to civilization by about 11am, and then waited a while to get picked up by the minivans that would take us back to Antigua.
Once back in Antigua we went back to our hostels for the best showers of our lives before we met up again for the most well-deserved pizza ever…
Acatenango Volcano Hike FAQs
How long does it take to hike the Acatenango Volcano?
The hike typically takes two days. Most tours begin in the morning, with the ascent to base camp taking about 4–6 hours. Optional side hikes to Fuego Volcano or the summit add 2–4 hours. Descending back to the trailhead takes 3–4 hours.
Is the Acatenango hike difficult?
The hike is challenging due to its steep inclines and high altitude, which can cause altitude sickness. However, it’s manageable for individuals with a basic level of fitness and determination. No technical skills or prior experience are required.
Can I hike Acatenango without a guide?
While it’s possible, it’s not recommended due to safety concerns like unpredictable weather, altitude, and terrain. Guided tours provide essential support, navigation, and equipment for a safer and more enjoyable experience.
Is it safe to hike Acatenango Volcano?
The main trail is generally safe, with no technical risks. However, the optional Fuego Volcano hike involves added risk as it approaches an active volcano. Always follow safety guidelines and stay informed about local conditions.
What is the best time of year to hike Acatenango?
The dry season (November to April/May) offers the best conditions for clear views and stable weather. Hiking during the rainy season (May to October) increases the likelihood of poor weather and muddy trails.
What should I pack for the Acatenango Volcano hike?
Essentials include walking poles, warm clothing, snacks, hydration sachets, 3 liters of water, a head torch, a buff for dust protection, and toilet paper. Sleeping bags and tents are usually provided by tour operators.
What should I know about altitude on the Acatenango hike?
The trail starts at 2,200 meters and peaks at 3,976 meters, which can cause altitude sickness. To acclimatize, spend at least 48 hours above 1,500 meters before the hike. Staying hydrated, resting, and staying calm can help alleviate symptoms.