My challenging yet insanely rewarding experience of hiking Volcan Acatenango, near Antigua, Guatemala.

Hiking Volcan Acatenango was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

It was also one of the most beautiful, mesmerizing, and unforgettable things I’ve ever done. So the physical and mental struggle was worth it.

After spending a month in Guatemala, I learned that hiking this volcano was many travelers’ favorite thing they did in the country.

Not wanting to miss out on such an opportunity, I booked an overnight hike from my hostel in Antigua and had the adventure of a lifetime!

My Experience Hiking Volcan Acatenango in Guatemala

Here are all the details of my experience hiking Volcan Acatenango Guatemala. I’ll include details about my tour company and recommendations for future travelers hoping to do this volcano hike!

First I’ll answer some basic questions about hiking Volcan Acatenango that you might have.

Read next: 7 Best Things To Do In Antigua Guatemala

Is hiking Volcan Acatenango worth it?

Hiking Volcan Acatenango is 100% worth it! It is one of the coolest hikes I’ve ever done, and was one of my favorite experiences in Guatemala.

It’s an easy, overnight trip from Antigua that you can book through a number of tour companies. Which brings me to my next point…

Can you hike Acatenango without a tour?

You can hike Volcan Acatenango during the day without a tour, but it’s not recommended. It’s a difficult and rugged hike with intense elevation and raw exposure to the elements. A guided tour ensures you stay safe.

Plus, the guided tours are affordable and give you the opportunity to camp in comfort. The best part of hiking Volcan Acatenango is watching Volcan Fuego erupt lava into the night sky from your campsite. You don’t want to miss that part!

Guided tours also provide all the necessities, including:

• A pre-set-up campsite
• Cooked dinner and breakfast
• Sleeping bags and pillows
• Warm winter clothes which you”ll definitely need for the sunrise summit hike
• Walking sticks which you’ll definitely need for the descent
• An expert guide who will ensure you’re doing ok (trust me, this matters and I’ll explain later!)

So just book the tour and have the best experience possible!

Find more ways to save money in Guatemala with my list of 50 Budget Travel Tips!

Which tour company should I use for hiking Volcan Acatenango?

For the intense wilderness adventure of hiking Volcan Acatenango, I would pick a tour company with lots of good reviews. It’s also worth paying a bit more for a better experience as opposed to choosing the cheapest option.

As someone who usually picks the cheapest option for everything, I was proud of myself for booking a pricier tour to ensure I had a comfortable hike!

Balam Tours is the company I went with for my volcano hike. But as of February 2024 it looks like they are no longer running Volcan Acatenango tours unfortunately.

So if I were to do the hike again now, I would check Get Your Guide and this hiking tour looks like the best option! It has a 4.6/5 star rating and over 170 positive reviews. And it’s around $90 USD, which is pretty decent for an overnight tour that includes all the gear and an expert guide.

Is the Acatenango hike hard?

Yes! Hiking Volcan Acatenango is very challenging, but it’s super rewarding if you’re an outdoorsy traveler who loves hiking and adventure.

The hike is steep, rocky, at high altitude, and freezing cold at the top. So again, having the extra amenities of a guided tour, such as winter clothes and walking sticks, really helps.

My hiking experience

I showed up for the Volcan Acatenango hike feeling excited and overly optimistic, as I usually do before a treacherous hike.

I felt a little intimidated by the others in my tour group. There were 2 Belgians and 3 Swiss, plus myself and our local guide, Miguel.

The others in my group were all super tall and fit, equipped with proper trekking backpacks, sturdy hiking boots, and those convertible pants that zip off into shorts. I glanced down at my worn-out Nike sneakers and thought maybe I had underestimated the difficulty of the hike.

This thought was confirmed as soon as we started hiking!

I like to think I’m pretty active and fit, but I had absolutely no chance of keeping up with these giant European gods and goddesses.

But it was easy for the group to stay together because whenever I fell far behind Miguel would eventually hold everyone up and cheerfully yell “Vamos Gabby!!”. He was so adorable and never made me feel bad for being so far behind everyone.

I’ve done a lot of hiking at this point in my life, and I don’t think I’ve ever struggled as much as I did on this one.

Hiking Volcan Acatenango was difficult for a few reasons:

1. The hike begins at 1400 meters above sea level. We trekked upwards for about 10 km until we reached our campsite at 3,300 meters above sea level. So the altitude is intense, especially for me since I just came from the low-lying jungle of Semuc Champey.

2. The hike is steep the entire way. Some hiking trails slope up and down and there are breaks between the intense inclines, but not this one. You just trek up these steep, hairpin turns for the majority of the trail.

3. The terrain is pretty much just dirt, gravel and small rocks. So it is very easy to slip, especially if you aren’t wearing sturdy hiking boots (which I wasn’t).

4. Everyone else in my group was insanely fit and fast, so the pace was set pretty high for me.

The struggle was REAL.

Due to all these things, I found myself huffing and puffing and slipping and sliding up rocky ground for 10 km.

My heart was pounding in my ears, my lungs were struggling to find oxygen and my legs were burning. The whole entire time.

Not to mention every time I looked up, my group members were just trotting along three hills above me like they did this every day. So I was pretty much the only one having a horrible time.

But my misery faded when we reached the campsite around 3pm.

Hiking Volcan Acatenango in RECORD TIME???

Miguel told us that most groups take about 4.5 to 5 hours to reach the campsite. We made it in 3 hours and 45 minutes.

So even though I was the slowest one, we still had an overall faster pace than any other group Miguel has led before.

We had passed through three different ecosystems on the way up. The changing scenery throughout the hike distracted me from my suffering a little bit.

The hike began in Oak Forest filled with flowers and corn fields. Then, the scenery turned into Cloud Forest filled with thick humidity and jungle vines. Finally, it turned into Sub-Alpine Forest filled with drier air and pine trees.

Camping on top of Volcan Acatenango

We spent the evening at our campsite huddled around the fire as the temperature began to drop. Pretty cool that we were literally camping on Volcan Acatenango.

Miguel served us dinner along with a glass of red wine, hot chocolate, and marshmallows for roasting.

While relaxing, we intently watched the nearby Volcan Fuego.

Our campsite was conveniently located with a perfect view of this peak, and we eagerly waited for the famous eruptions.

The thick clouds swirled around the volcano, sometimes filling our whole view with white and sometimes clearing briefly to reveal the monstrous peak in all its glory.

When the volcano did erupt, billows of black smoke would hurtle into the air as thundering booms echoed around us.

The Eruptions of Volcan Fuego

The evening was loud, with the rumblings of Volcan Fuego mixing with the deafening crashes of thunder. A storm enveloped us, but luckily we were too high up for the rain.

Instead of rain, we got to witness sharp streaks of lightning burst through the sky, illuminating the volcano as they cracked.

It was so incredible, and I’ll keep that view of lightning bolts igniting next to a massive volcano in my mind forever.

As darkness fell, the volcano eruptions became absolutely fantastic.

Red hot lava bubbled over the peak, and glistening streams of fiery orange and yellow tumbled down the side of the black gravelly volcano.

Every time the lava shot upwards, which was every 10 minutes or so, we all cheered in excitement and marveled at the sight.

It was like watching a nature documentary. But the scene was actually happening in front of us. It was an unforgettable evening.

Hiking to the Volcan Acatenango Summit at Sunrise

After a very cold and restless sleep that night, Miguel woke us up at 3:50 am. It was time to continue hiking Volcan Acatenango so we could reach the summit at sunrise.

Excited to escape my frigid sleeping bag and get my numb toes moving, I once again started the hike with unrealistic optimism.

We hiked up for 1 hour and 15 minutes, but it felt like an eternity.

The early morning was pitch black and insanely cold, and the trail was still just rocks and slippery gravel.

My chest was tight from the altitude and my headlamp kept slipping down my face. My freezing fingers could barely hold on to my walking stick.

But once again, my misery turned into elation when we reached the top.

A Breathtaking Sunrise

Standing atop the volcano, as the horizon gleamed red with the slowly rising sun, I felt on top of the world.

I had hiked the third highest volcano in Guatemala and was standing at 3,975 meters above sea level.

Volcan Fuego was still spitting lava into the sky. Nearby, the sunrise began to shed pastel light onto Volcan Agua, the third volcano in this trinity of peaks next to Antigua.

The Descent

Once we got too cold to stay at the Volcan Acatenango summit, we hiked back down to the camp to eat breakfast and begin our descent.

Hiking down was easier on the lungs than hiking up. But it was definitely harder on the legs.

That consistently steep incline that I had trudged up the day before was now like a slippery death trap.

This is where the walking sticks really mattered. Trying to hike down steep gravel was more like just constantly tensing your leg muscles, stressing out your knees and trying not to fall.

Once again, our all-star group hit a record for Miguel. We made it down the volcano in 1.5 hours instead of the usual 2 – 2.5 hours.

I am still in awe that I even completed that hike at all, let alone did it in record time.

I’m already reminiscing about Hiking Volcan Acatenango.

As I sit in my hostel dorm bed in Antigua, ready to fly home to Boston tomorrow, I am feeling exhausted, sunburned, and accomplished.

I have done high altitude hikes before, and I’ve done steep hikes before.

But this was my first very steep hike that was also at high altitude.

My lungs and legs are still recovering, but my memory will cherish the experience of hiking Volcán Acatenango and the views of Volcán Fuego and Volcán Agua forever.

☼ ☼ ☼

Planning On Hiking Volcan Acatenango??

☼ Get Travel Insurance! If you plan on doing any hiking or adventuring in Guatemala, you should probably have travel insurance in case you get injured or sick.

I recommend Squaremouth Insurance because they have great affordable plans and a helpful live chat for answering your questions quickly!

☼ Pack Proper Shoes and Warm Clothes! Most tours supply jackets, hats, and gloves, as I mentioned. But you should have some warm layers in addition to that, especially for the night.

I also recommend hiking boots! Hiking Volcan Acatenango would’ve been much easier for me if I wasn’t wearing sneakers with no traction.

To read more about my travels in Guatemala, check out:

San Juan La Laguna Photo Diary

15 Best Things To Do In Panajachel, Lake Atitlán, Guatemala

How To Visit Semuc Champey On A Budget

Lake Atitlan Travel Guide: Towns, Transport, and More

To read about my other epic hiking adventures around the world, check out:

Conquering England’s Lake District

3 Beautiful Hiking Destinations in Great Britain

How To Visit The Drakensberg, South Africa On A Budget

The Castle Hike, Budawangs: Complete Hiking Guide

Imlil Morocco Budget Travel Guide: Atlas Mountains