Hiking Acatenango Volcano: My Hour-by-Hour Breakdown of Guatemala’s Most Epic Adventure

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When I was planning my trip around Guatemala I read so many itineraries and guides about this crazy hard hike you couldn’t miss out on. Since I’m no big hiker I needed as much detailed info as I could get to make sure this was something I was up for. So naturally as soon as I came down I made a detailed description of the entire hike in the hopes that it might help other travelers who need it. So in this guide I will walk you through the whole experience—hour by hour—from the early morning start until we reach the trail end the next day. I will also answer every question I had before the trip as honestly and detailed as I can.

Day 1: The Ascent

7:00 AM – Pickup and drive to the trailhead

We met some of our group at a designated pickup point in the center of Antigua. We were supposed to be picked up at 7:00, but as always there are delays and we weren’t picked up before closer to 7:30. And then they learned that we apparently were too many people so they needed two more vans. It’s safe to say I was a bit surprised by the chaos, but we all ended up where we were supposed to in the end. It just took a bit longer.

8:00 AM - Breakfast and introductions

We were dropped of at the company’s office for a breakfast including eggs, toast, beans and guacamole. The manager gave a briefing on the tour and told us get our gear. Most companies offer to rent out gear for a small fee. This usually includes walking sticks, both pro and made of wood, warm clothes, backpacks, headlights and in some cases shoes. I got some walking sticks, gloves, a hat and a jacket. I also opted to pay a little extra to have a porter carry my bag so I also rented a bag that was better for him to carry than the one I brought. Everything is pretty old and well used with the occasional hole here and there, but it does the trick. I’d heard that if you didn’t get a jacket right away you were stuck with one that wasn’t your size, but this wasn’t true in my case at least. I was probably the last person finding a jacket and it all worked out well. If you’re unsure what to bring, just know that it gets crazy cold at the top and you won’t regret anything you bring once you’re up there.

9:00 AM - Find your gear and pay for the trip

The whole ordeal of renting gear was very chaotic. There was a total of 48 people trying to get their stuff, try on different things and repack their bags in a pretty small area with no organized lines. It’s safe to say it all took a lot more time than it needed to and definitely could’ve been organized better. But just be patient and wait, there’s enough stuff to go around. You also get 2 L of water and two boxes of food to bring with you up. They also tell you to bring 1 L of water additionally as well as toilet paper. So make sure you have extra room in your backpack or rent one from them.

You pay for the whole trip here at their office and even though it didn’t say so when we booked, you need to pay everything in cash, so make sure to bring enough.

10:30 AM – Start hiking

Now it’s time to hit the road again for a short drive to the trailhead. Once you get out of the car you start hiking, and its steep from the start. You climb through dusty farmland for the first hour or two depending on how fast you’re walking. Here you’ll also see people that went up yesterday coming down again, and they look tired! Some tried to encourage us and said that this was the worst part and that the view was worth it.

I started the hike in shorts and a top and was very happy about that because it gets hot!

11:00 AM – First break

After just 30 minutes we had our first break, which felt really nice. They stopped at a little shack where you could buy drinks and snacks. They even sold masks to protect you from the dust. I bought one for the trip down again because it was incredibly dusty. The next part was pretty similar to the first. Walking through narrow paths in the farmland. We walked in a huge and long line because the path was super narrow. The fact that we were so many, meant that everything went slow, which was pretty nice because you can already feel the altitude. You’ll also see that the group starts to spread out a bit as everyone finds their own pace and takes the breaks they need.

12:00 PM – Second break

The breaks come often, but trust me when I say it doesn’t feel like it when you’re walking. I took many more smaller breaks during the hike as well. Safe to say I wasn’t the first one to reach our base for lunch. Everyone was just walking in their own pace and the group spread out as we went higher.

Now the path is changing a bit, there’s more greenery and shade which is very welcoming. You can also feel the air getting a bit cooler. For me the last 30 minutes of this period was the absolute hardest. I’d read people saying that it was only the first hour that was hard so I was mentally preparing for that, but boy that felt so wrong! When you’re closing in on the lunch spot the altitude really starts to kick in and the trail is super steep. It almost felt like walking constantly up a staircase. This was where most people really had trouble. Just take lots and lots of breaks and you will get there in the end.

1:00 PM - Lunch stop (~3,000m)

When we finally arrived at the lunch spot I was happier than I can even say. We had a longer stop here which was very needed and had a nice lunch with fruits, rice and chicken from one of the boxes you got at the beginning. The view is starting to be pretty good, so this is the perfect spot to have lunch and rest up. I also changed into warmer clothes here because it was getting a bit colder. This is also where my troubles with the altitude started. My head was starting to hurt pretty bad and I felt super tired.

2:30 PM – Walk through the clouded forest

This part of the hike was stunning with dense trees, misty air, and moss-covered branches. It felt like a different world. Also, this is where the trail starts alternating between “This isn’t so bad” and “Why is my heart pounding in my ears?”. You’re actually done with the steepest parts and finally feel like you can enjoy it a bit more. I still needed breaks every now and then even though it was more flat than previously, but it all felt much easier. If you’re one of the people that will have trouble with the altitude you’ll probably know by now. Some people didn’t have problems at all, and some people looked like they wanted to go back. I was in the middle there somewhere unfortunately, not loving how this felt.

4:00 PM – Arrival at Base Camp (~3,600m / 11,800 ft)

Finally! We reached base camp and everything was fogged up. It felt pretty disappointing at the moment I’m not gonna lie, but at the same time I was just so tired and cold that we went in to our little cabin to take a nap. It was freezing so we packed ourselves into everything we had, snuggled into our sleeping bags close to each other and tried to sleep.

5:00 PM - Optional hike up the Fuego volcano

After you reach basecamp you can choose to stay there or take another hike after a short break. The next hike is up to the base of the Fuego volcano. This means that you have to walk back down for about an hour or two and up the other side for an hour or two depending on your speed. It was never an option for me because the hike we had done was hard enough in itself. Since the weather was extremely foggy, not many people chose to do the extra hike. Those that did, came back later saying that even though they were avid hikers this was one of the hardest they had ever done. Unfortunately the fog didn’t lift so they never saw anything either. If the fog had lifted it probably would’ve been spectacular!

7:00 PM – Dinner + campfire vibes

We were four friends traveling together, two of us felt the altitude pretty bad and two were mostly fine. Which meant that two of us skipped dinner and campfire. We tried the food and it was delicious, but we just couldn’t eat and just wanted to lay down. However, other people enjoyed a lovely evening roasting marshmallows at the fire and drinking hot chocolate with whisky in it. The guides were super helpful and gave us some kind of medicine which seemed to help a bit. Then we just snuggled up outside our hut for a bit to see the eruptions. The clouds lifted a bit and we could finally see Fuego in the distance. We could see it pretty good in reality, but it was hard to capture how cool it was on camera. We weren’t the most lucky ones who got to see huge eruptions or smoke coming out of it, but it was still pretty cool!

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Day 2: Wake up for sunrise

4:00 AM – Wake-up call if you want to hike to the summit

Today you can also choose to go for an extra hike. This time further up Acatenango to see the sunrise. Since the altitude was already kicking my ass I skipped it, but two of my friends went up. You start the hike at 4:00 am. Based on what they told me this was a pretty intense hike. A lot of people started the hike, but almost half of them turned back at some point before reaching the area they were watching the sunrise from. They said it was crazy hard, but 100% worth it. If you don’t have the possibility to walk higher up (even walking 10 meters up the hill was rough for me) you can still watch the sunrise from basecamp. It’s the same direction, its just that they’re seeing it from a slightly higher lookout point. I had an amazing morning watching the sunrise from basecamp so I never felt like I missed out on anything. Lots of people stayed behind so this is really just a personal choice. I do however recommend getting up for the sunrise no matter how tired you are, because it’s truly spectacular. Below you’ll se pictures from sunrise at basecamp (left) and sunrise from the hike (right).

6:30 AM – Pack up and breakfast

If you take the extra hike, now its time to head back down to basecamp. If you like me, just watch it from the basecamp, now it’s time to pack up your gear and enjoy some breakfast (the second box you got with food), and wait for the others to come down.

8:00 AM - Descent down the mountain

Usually the whole group leaves together around 8:30 or 9:00 AM to descent Acatenango, but since two of us had so much trouble with the altitude we got a guide to start the descent earlier at 08:00, which I’m forever grateful for. As soon as we reached the area we had lunch the day before I could feel my head starting to relax and my body wasn’t hurting as much anymore. I learned that I’m not an altitude person at least. The first leg of the descent is mostly flat as it was coming up, but after the lunch spot you will start to feel it in your knees. It’s in some ways equally hard to go down as up, it just hits different. Your walking sticks will come in super handy here.

9:00 AM - Snack break

It’s time for a little break and some rest for the knees. We bought some fruit, and even a celebratory beer, even if it was just 9:00 AM. This last part down is crazy dusty so bring something to cover your mouth and nose with.

10:0 AM - Shuttle back

We finally reached the start of the trail again and it felt absolutely amazing! I was so happy to be down and super happy to know that I’d made the hike.

We had arranged a shuttle directly to Lake Atitlan with the company we hiked with so after getting our stuff we headed straight to the lake for a couple of relaxing days. It was a long trip after such a hard hike, but I’m really happy about it, because relaxing there after the hike was just what we needed.

What amenities are there at basecamp?

The hut to sleep in

I was not expecting anything fancy, and that is exactly what I got. We were four people in a super tiny wooden hut with some blankets and sleeping bags. When I say hut, I truly mean just some wooden boards put together. No extra layers to keep the cold out or make it more comfy. We chose this because I thought the huts would be slightly better than tents, but to be honest I don’t think it would’ve made such a big difference. Since the hut was so small we got to share eachothers heat in the night which definitely helped. I heard from others with bigger huts that they couldn’t sleep because of the cold.

The toilet facilities

The toilet is basic, but at least there’s a toilet. Just remember to bring paper. There are also a couple of facilities on the way up you can use for a fee. It seems that different companies have deals with different facilities, so for us who had booked the tour with a pretty cheap company we were for some reason not allowed to use or pay for the toilets that seemed a bit nicer. I don’t know why, but that’s what we were told.

The food

We got two boxes of food to bring with us, one with lunch and one with breakfast. We were also served a breakfast before the hike started and dinner at the top. All the food tasted pretty good and seemed to be homemade. You could choose vegetarian options if you wanted to, you just had to let them know in advance. The first breakfast was eggs, beans and guacamole. For lunch we got rice, chicken and fruits. The dinner at the top was a Mexican stew with salsa, beans and chicken. For breakfast the next morning we got cereal, milk and bananas. It was enough food for me, but I know there were people who wanted more. I gave away a lot of my food each meal because people asked for more food. So if you’re the hungry kind, then make sure to bring some extra snacks!

Other things to know before hiking Acatenango

Don’t underestimate the cold temperatures

The most important thing in my opinion is to make sure you have enough warm clothes with you! It’s really hard to understand how cold it really gets. I’m a person who tolerates the cold pretty well usually, but this was pretty intense.

Pack lightly

Pack as light as you possibly can. The hike is hard enough without a heavy backpack. You’re told to bring an extra liter of water in addition to what they give you, but we didn’t finish that at all. Know yourself and what you need to bring. No need to bring more than necessary.

If you want to use a porter they have a limit of 10kg per backpack, so don't overpack.

Don't underestimate the altitude

Nobody really knows how hard the altitude will hit until they’re doing the hike. You can be super fit and healthy and find the altitude really rough. You can be less fit and not have trouble with it at all, it doesn’t matter. So just take it as it comes and adjust the pace to what you can handle. Some people get up quicker and some don’t. Some in our group arrived hours after the rest of us because they were having troubles, and one girl got a horse somewhere in the middle of the hike because it was too hard for her. My point is you never really know how hard it‘ll be until you’re there.

What Company to book with

This is a tricky one since I only have experience with the one we chose. We used a company called Asoava Tours. It had it’s ups and downs. On the positive side they were super friendly and helpful, the food was good and they have one of the highest basecamps so the view is amazing. They’re also on the more budget friendly side. On the downside it was pretty chaotic and disorganized from start to finish, and communication was tricky. I was lucky that my friend speaks Spanish, otherwise it would have been problematic. The biggest downside was the groupsize in my opinion. We were 48 people in the group. It was supposed to be maximum 40, but more people just joined apparently. Personally this was too many to walk with and if I was doing it again I would look for a company that has a maximum of 20 people maybe. You will see lots and lots of people no matter what company you use, but that’s my personal opinion.

Final Thoughts: Is Acatenango worth It?

I always read people saying that no matter how hard it was it was definitely worth it. However, I have to say that yes it was an amazing experience but I wouldn’t do it again. It’s a physically demanding hike with super cold nights and in my case altitude sickness —but it’s also one of the most amazing sunrises I’ve ever seen. It’s just one of those things that you never really know if will be worth it until you do it. Some people get the most spectacular eruptions, some people only see it fogged up. Some people handle the altitude with no problem and love the hike, and some people just get sick. I don’t regret doing it, but it was more demanding in different ways than I had originally thought, so I probably wouldn’t do it again. However, the views are pretty amazing and its a very fun thing to have done that I’ll never forget.

If you’re planning a hike up Acatenango and have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me on social media. I would love to connect and help you out!