Hiking Volcano Acatenango
Okay guys, there I was: checking into the lobby of my hostel in Antigua, Guatemela - fresh off of the bus, bright eyed, bushy tailed, and SO excited to conquer one of my most anticipated experiences on my whole Central America backpacking trip - when all of a sudden, my ears start to pick up the conversations of my fellow backpackers at the lobby bar. A boy from the U.K. says to a Danish girl,
“You know - I played rugby my whole life - and THAT was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Her response?
“No literally, I didn’t even make it up. I had to turn around and go back two hours in”.
The nerves have started to set in, okay? The receptionist then asks me when my hike is, I tell her tomorrow. She raises an eyebrow and says, “Got your altitude sickness meds? You better - if you’re not even going to take a day and acclimate to how high Antigua already is.”
…. I, in fact, did not. *Gulp*.
She shows me to my dorm room, and we have to skirt around a girl sitting on the bottom bunk of the bed next to me. Her friends are helping her prop up her leg with some pillows - a leg that is in a cast from her toes up to her LITERAL hip joint. From what I gathered from her tearful conversation with her friends, she was calling it quits on her backpacking trip to fly home early due to multiple broken bones in her ankle and leg.
Bruh.
THIS is what I was exposed to immediately when I arrived in Antigua, Guatemala, two days before I, too, braved hiking Volcano Acatenango.
I know that was a scary intro, but please don’t leave! Quick little spoiler alert: I made it back (Alive!) to tell the tale. And if I can do it, I ASSURE you: you can too. And c’mon, don’t you want some bragging rights and epic pictures of your own?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
But before we move on, let’s get you some travel insurance. Just in case, ya know?
After I knocked my tooth out in Laos (listen - travel disasters happen to the best of us) I vowed to never go anywhere without it. And thank God, because 11 days into THIS backpacking trip, I ruptured my eardrum scuba diving. You just never know what’s going to happen, and although it sounds cliche, you are so much better off safe than sorry. You do NOT want to end up like that girl in the bunk, but if you do, you’ll be happy you had travel insurance.
Okay, let’s move on.
What is Volcano Acatenango?
Obviously - it’s a volcano, but in Guatemala, there’s gotta be something a little more special to it to make it noteworthy. After all, Guatemala is home to 37 volcanoes. And while that ~is~ an absurd ratio of volcanoes to square feet (Guatemala is not a large country you guys), only three of them are currently active.
…And not active as in - oh - it erupts once every five years kind of active - no. Active as in - erupts every 15 minutes kind of active. One of those lava-spewing mountains is fittingly named Fuego, which you’ll get a front-row seat to if you hike its taller, quieter neighbor, Acatenango.
Volcano Acatenango sits just outside of Antigua, which is a charming colonial city that sits in the Guatemalan highlands (hence the acclimatizing/altitude sickness medication comment), surrounded by dramatic volcanic peaks. Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with cobblestone streets, pastel-colored buildings, and cafes serving coffee strong enough to get you up any mountain (God-willing…lol). But for all its beauty and history, a lot of people are brought to the city for the sole purpose of conquering the surrounding volcanoes.
Where to stay in Antigua:
Honestly, if there’s ever a time to splurge on a hotel stay, it is before and after this hike. You need a good night’s sleep before, and coming back, you need a piping hot shower, a soft mattress, a float in the pool, and maybe even a massage. You can get all that and more at this 5 star resort.
Mid-range: Los Pasos Boutique hotel and Spa
The charm of Los Pasos is unbeatable! look no further for a gorgeous, authentic stay in the heart of old town Antigua. The roof terrace is simply stunning, and they have a literal pillow menu - which would come in extremely handy for that good night’s rest post hiking Volcano Acatenango
This is where I stayed! It definitely makes it into my list of top 10 hostels I’ve ever stayed in. The bedding was so plush, the bathroom clean (despite everyone coming in after the hike - an impressive feat), and the free breakfast was actually the best I’ve ever had. At $27 USD per night, it is a splurge for a hostel, but it is SO worth it.
Hiking Volcano Acatenango is no small feat - it stands tall at 3,976 meters (13,045 feet) (Don’t worry - hiking it only ends up being about 6,000 feet since Antigua is already quite high above sea level) and offers one of the most unforgettable views in Central America. You can see Lake Atitlan, the ocean, a million small towns and villages, and even if you didn’t have all that, Fuego erupting just one mountain over would still manage to make it into my list of top three things I’ve ever seen with my own two eyeballs.
But goodness gracious, was I nervous to start the trek after hearing what people had to say about it.
Hiking Volcano Acatenango: a Saga
Choose your company
The very best thing you can do for yourself is to pick a reputable company to hike Acatenango with. One thing to note is that each company has their own base camp scattered around Acatenango, each sitting between 70%-80% of the way up the mountain, but not every base camp view is created equal.
With some, you can’t even see Fuego from where you camp! You either have to walk to another viewpoint or hike a little higher up. Some of the camps have tiny cabins they squeeze hikers in, some have tents. Most companies pack all your meals for you, and again, some are much better than others.
If you’re a backpacker, I highly recommend booking through Tropicana hostel - especially if you’re looking to meet other travelers. That’s what I did, and our guides were amazing, the campsite was well located, the food was delish, and we had cabins! Tiny cabins with no heating or windows that we slept shoulder to shoulder in, but cabins nonetheless.
If meeting other budget backpackers isn’t high on your list of priorities, then your best bet is going to be OX expeditions. You can book through a trustworthy booking platform well in advance, their cabins are super cute with big windows (something I didn’t get! - this is soooo nice, every time we were zipped up, immobile, freezing in our sleeping bags, packed into our windowless cabin, and heard an eruption from our window-less cabin…. the FOMO!!!!! omg.). Still no heating, so you’ll definitely be chilly, but the sleeping bags provided will keep you warm.
Book your overnight hike up Acatenango here!
Another bonus to OX expeditions is that their rental gear is included in the price! I had to pay per piece at Tropicana, as no one is really traveling to Guatemala with thermal layers, heavy coats, and gloves. Make sure you bring thick socks and good hiking boots of your own, but other then that, you’re all set.
2. Set yourself up for success
I did not do this well, you guys. Because I had just arrived in Antigua the day before my hike, I just assumed I could get all my bits and bobs the morning of. WRONG. Because the start is such an early wake up call, even the little convenience shops haven’t opened yet. And maybe not everyone is not as food-motivated as me, but let me tell you. I was not getting up that mountain without a few packs of Oreos and a Snickers bar to bribe me into taking a few more steps keep my energy levels high.
Everything was a little chaotic the morning of, with sorting out rentals, eating as hefty a breakfast as I could manage, storing all of our backpacks and luggage, and then striking out at the shops. On top of that, we were super weirdly rushed onto the bus with little to no warning, and one of the last spots on the bus was right next to the bus driver (which was actually super lucky for me in the end).
Separated from my friend, Georgia, who was hiking with me in the chaos, I got that last seat next to the driver and promptly started panicking a little.
I’d been backpacking for over two months at this point, without even a HINT of a workout. I was trying to be on a budget so I opted out of having a porter carrying my backpack, and everyone else I was with had made the splurge. I didn’t spent a day acclimating and I didn’t have altitude medication. What if I had to turn around?
The bus driver saw me start to get a little teary (a normal occurrence when I’m feeling flustered), and (Spanish degree to the rescue) before I knew it, this kind man was pulling over the entire school bus full of hikers to drop me at one of his friends stores. Oreos finally in hand, I was feeling a little more confident.
Fitness Level:
Okay you guys - real talk. Hiking Acatenango is no walk in the park—it’s more like a walk through six types of ecosystems, up an endless staircase of volcanic gravel, all while you question your life choices. But the good news? You CAN do this. My friend had Asthma and made it up; I didn’t acclimate and had no altitude medication. We all struggled and hated our lives at some point or another, but when there’s a will, there’s a way.
Here’s what helps:
Basic fitness: If you’ve gone on a hike before - you can do this one too. Pay a little extra for a porter if you’re not feeling confident, but as you drink your water, your bag gets lighter. I rented hiking poles to help my knees on the way down. Do what you need to do - but hundreds of people do this every day, and you can too.
Some mental toughness: Remember: slow and steady wins the race. I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and not focusing on anyone else’s pace but my own. A guide will always bring up the rear, and trust me when I say: They do not mind not booking it up the mountain. They’re probably glad for it.
A good playlist and a sense of humor: This is critical - I probably wouldn’t have made it up that mountain without the most diabolical club music blasting in my ear. If I had to hear my own wheezing for 7 hours I definitely would’ve given up. Laugh with your new friends, make jokes, commiserate.
BOOTS WITH ANKLE SUPPORT: The one word of wisdom the girl with the broken leg gave me was this: Rent hiking boots with ankle support or don’t go at all. I know it’s a hassle to pack boots, so I made sure to choose a company where renting shoes was an option - not all companies offer boot rental. DO NOT attempt this in normal sneaker or running shoes - We saw a few more broken ankles on the way down.
What to Expect on the Hike
Most Acatenango hikes follow a two-day itinerary. All in all, I would say there’s three hikes all wrapped inside of hiking Volcano Acatenango: The hike to Acatenango base camp, the hike to Fuego and back, and then the sunrise hike to the summit of Acatenango. Here’s a rough breakdown.
Day 1:
Meet your group in the morning, stuff yourself with a giant (included) breakfast, and drive about an hour to the trailhead.
Spend 6 hours hiking steadily uphill through farmland, cloud forest, and alpine scrub.
Arrive at base camp in the late afternoon, watch some daytime eruptions, and eat a cup of ramen.
Decide whether or not to hike to Fuego to see the lava up close (two more hours there and two hours back through the night with headlamps) or instead, settle for some zoomed in photos and roasting marshmallows.
I love the photo below to the left - it’s a zoomed in photo of Fuego during sunset - you can see the tiny, tiny hikers just there on the ridge - and in the photo to the right, you can see the light from their headlamps as they hike up to Fuego. Some tours opt to hike Fuego earlier than others to catch the sunset from the ridge, while others choose to go at night when the lava is visible - it just depends on the tour!
Day 2:
Wake up around 4 am (why is it always 4 am?) to summit Acatenango for sunrise. It’s freezing cold, steep, and slippery, but wow—is it worth it.
Descend back to camp, eat something warm and wonderful, and head back down to the trailhead by midday.
***** If you have all three hikes in you, GOOD FOR YOU!! that is such an amazing accomplishment. If you feel like you only have two, skip Fuego in lieu of summiting Acatenango in the morning. It was SPECTACULAR - the most rewarding moment of the whole thing. (spoiler for the rest of the article - but I did not do Fuego.) Friends who did all three said the summit was 10x better than Fuego - so pick your battles!
But I mean… c’mon. You do NOT want to skip out on sunrise colors like this.
My experience Hiking Volcano Acatenango
After my quick snack pitstop, our driver dropped us at the trailhead, where we rented hiking poles and bought rolls of toilet paper (necessary) before starting our ascent.
Very quickly, I understood why most people who turn back, turn back in the very first hour. That hike through the farmland is actually the worst part of the whole thing. It is SO steep, and the terrain is straight gravel and ash. Taking one step and slipping back two was a common occurrence, and seeing people on their way down looking like they’ve just walked through hell and back was NOT encouraging. They’d look at you with a look that said “dude - you don’t know what you’re in for” and I simply did not appreciate it - lol.
Forgive these horrific screen-grabs I got from a few videos I took, but I did want to just give you an idea of the beginning of the path!
The one good thing was that our guides made us stop and take breaks at least every 20 minutes. It seemed excessive at first, but as the day wore on, I’m really glad they forced us to pace ourselves from the very beginning.
This is where those Oreos come in, I’m telling you.
After we passed out of the ashy farmlands, we had a lot of tree cover and entered the cloud forest section of the hike. It stayed just as steep, but the gravel turned to dirt, and it became a lot less frustrating.
We breaked for lunch here, and the lunch they packed for us was actually so delicious and filling! We fed what we couldn’t finish to the sweet sweet stray dogs that had been walking with us since the very beginning, slung our backpacks on, and set off yet again.
After the cloud forest, the large trees gave way to small, dry shrubs - we had officially made it to such a high altitude that even the trees couldn’t thrive. And don’t get me wrong - we were not thriving either, not by any means, but at least the terrain had finally leveled out, after 6 hours of hiking.
Once we reached the section where the path switched from going up to going laterally around the mountain, moral SPIKED. We knew we were almost to base camp. Rounding that last corner and seeing Fuego not only in view, but erupting at that very moment? We all starting jumping and cheering, absolutely ecstatic that we had made it through the hardest part. It was like Fuego knew, and was rewarding us for all of our hard work.
Finally at base camp, they gave us 30 minutes to decide if we were going to make the trek down to the connection between the two mountains and back up onto Fuego. I’ll be honest - I was fully planning on doing Fuego. I wanted the bragging rights, I wanted the validation that I had the fitness level to do so, and I wanted the photos for the blog, DUH.
But when it really came down to it, I knew that this decision was what would be the difference between thoroughly enjoying my experience and being traumatized by it - and I decided to stay at base camp with my friend Georgia, eat a hot meal for dinner, roast marshmallows, drink hot chocolate and wine, and try to get a few hours of sleep before summiting.
And I have absolutely no regrets. I traded the incredible photos from the eruptions at base camp for a video of the one eruption they got from Fuego, so all’s well that ends well. And you guys - when you’re hiking up to Fuego, you’re back in the trees, and can’t see any eruptions while you’re hiking. Us as base camp saw probably 15 eruptions, while those who went to Fuego only saw one. Very up close, mind you, but I definitely chose the better option IMO.
After a lovely (freezing cold) evening and a few hours packed shoulder to shoulder in our little sleeping bags, our alarms went off at 4 in the morning to start the ascent to the summit. This hike was only about an hour and a half, but it's literally like an hour and a half on the freaking stairmaster - it’s that steep, and it’s done completely in the dark, so given the option to rent a headlamp, definitely do it. It was so freezing cold, I was so thankful to not have to have my hands out, holding my phone as a flashlight.
We summited just as the sun crept over the horizon, and the view was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Acatenango cast a literal shadow over the landscape below us, the the colors were otherworldly. Georgia and I had just popped a squat, huddling together for warmth and marveling over our accomplishment, when Fuego erupted yet again. I thought we couldn’t beat the nightime eruptions, as the lava is only visible in the pitch black, but this eruption against the pastel colors of the sunrise might just have become my favorite.
We saw a proposal, tears, smiles a mile wide, and it was overall one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Once we decided that if we didn’t start moving we’d freeze to death, we headed back to base camp, where we reunited with the people who had decided they didn’t have a sunrise hike in them (huge mistake) and enjoyed some hot oatmeal and instant coffee before making our way back down (knees screaming the whole way obviously).
Is Hiking Acatenango Worth It?
Absolutely. It’s hard. It’s cold. It’s not always comfortable. But it’s also awe-inspiring, humbling, and 100% unforgettable. You CANNOT go to Guatemala without hiking Volcano Acatenango.
Have you hiked Volcano Acatenango? How was your experience?
Bonus pic: Me after getting to the bottom and staring into the void while I mindlessly inhaled some ice cream:
