Guatemala Volcanoes

February 2020 – Together with my 13 years old son Troels I went off for Guatemala to climb as many volcanoes as possibly within two weeks. Guatemala has some stunning volcanoes albeit not as tall as the ones found further north (Mexico) or further south (Ecuador, Chile). But still, the tallest one in Central America – 4.220 meter Volcan Tajumulco – is found in Guatemala just south of the border to Mexico.

We managed to summit Acatenango, Atitlan, Santa Maria and Tajumulco. And we got to within safe distance from the summits of Pacaya and Fuego.

For logistics i prebooked airport pickup and hotel in Antigua for the first five days. Our hotel in Antigua – Palacio Chico 1948 – was a really nice, small and cosy hotel very close to central Antigua. I also prebooked our first two ascends – Pacaya and Acatenango. Many tour companies do these volcanoes out of Antigua, i booked with Balam Tours as they seemed to get a lot of very good reviews.

After Antigua we took a bus to Lake Atitlan from where we summited Volcan Atitlan. And then to Xela from where we summited Volcan Santa Maria and Volcan Tejumulco.

Volcan Pacaya

This is the easy one where almost everybody can join. The ascend is a mere 300 meters and if this sounds too much, porters and even horses are ready to assist. The volcano is active and summiting is neither allowed nor safe. Gas and smoke poured out of the summit and we even saw a little magma coming out just below the top of the volcano.

Many tour companies do tours to this volcano out of Antigua. We booked with Balam Tours (https://www.balamtoursacatenango.com/) as they got a lot of fine feedback from earlier guests. The tour was well organised and everything was nice and smooth.

Volcan Acatenango and Fuego

Acatenango and Fuego is a double volcano, two volcanoes where the slopes down from the summits merge halfway down. Fuego is very active, throwing gas, dust, stones up every five minutes or so. During the night it gives a spectacular show.

We joined a two day tour with Balam Tours, together we 18 other guests. First day is an ascend 1300 meters up to a basecamp with permanent tents. The track up is easy with a nice path all the way. From the basecamp we had a perfect view of Fuego, very cloudy when we arrived but it soon cleared up. What a view 🙂

Just arrived at the basecamp we were offered to climb up Fuego for a close encounter with the active volcano. My son and I really wanted to do this, so together with three other guests we started a 400 meters descend of the upper slopes of Volcan Acatenanga followed by a 300 meters ascend of Fuego. These tracks were steep and mostly loose gravel so we went to bed right away when we finally came back to base camp around 11pm. But the detour was absolutely worth the effort, I have never experienced such an awesome show of fire and gas that close. Just wow 🙂

Early next morning, around 5pm, we started climbing the last 300 meters to the summit of Acatenango. Step track but no climbing involved. The summit of Acatenango has a nice crater and stunning views of the sunrise and surrounding volcanoes. From the top we could easily se Volcan Agua, Fuego, Atitlan, San Pedro and Santa Maria. And even in the far distance we could see Volcan Tajumulco, the tallest volcano in Central America.

If you are going to climb just one volcano in Guatemala, this double volcano should be the one! Awesome views, great hike, lots of tours to choose from and easily accessible from the tourist hotspot of Antigua.

Volcan Atitlan

From Antigua we took a morning bus to Panajachel at Lake Atitlan where we were met by Lee Beal from Los Elementos Adventure Center (https://kayakguatemala.com/). I had been emailing with Lee for some days about planning volcano hikes after Antigua and we ended up getting Lee to make arrangements with local guides for our last three volcanoes – Volcan Atitlan, Santa Maria and Tajumulco. Lee managed to arrange private summit tours of the three volcanoes so we could do them all as one day up and down climbs and with no other climbers. Especially Volcan Tajumulco is normally done as a two day tour in groups of 20 or so people, a little bit strange because it is actually the easiest one to climb, we did up and down in less than five hours. Lee himself became our driver for the five days.

The night before we climbed Volcan Atitlan we stayed at Hotel Tiosh Abaj in Santiago Atitlan, nothing special, just a place to stay. We were picked up at five o’clock in the morning so we could get an early start. Fifteen minutes later we started climbing and the summit 1,700 meters up from trail head was reached a little less than four hours later. There is a nice track all the way up, in the beginning not so steep and then gradually getting stepper and steeper. We started early because I wanted to make sure we would reach the top before the clouds came in, but we were to late. The top was windy, cloudy and very cold from early morning and only a few times were we able to see the stunning views of San Pedro and other volcanoes from the top.

Having done Volcan Atitlan – the highest volcano around Lake Atitlan – the first day of our stay in Lake Atitlan area we wanted to do something else the following day. I found nobody offering tours to look for and see the beautiful bird Quetzal (also the national bird of Guatemala), but Lee asked around and found a guide who knew where to hike and look. So we started out at 6pm the next morning and after two hours of hiking the lower slopes of Volcan Atitlan we finally found a couple high up in the tree canopies.

Volcan Santa Maria

A very beautiful volcano in Guatemala. And due to its eruptions in 1902 this volcano is also one of the three most explosive volcanoes during the 20th century. From the top one have a fantastic view of Santiaguito, a very active side cone. We stayed at the top for two hours and got to see Santiaguito erupt three times.

The ascend is around 1,300 meters and there is a nice track all the way up. We started around 5 am from the trailhead and reached the top a little more than three hours later.

Volcan Tajumulco

Volcan Tajumulco at 4.220 meters is the tallest volcano in Guatemala and the highest mountain in Central America. But it turned out to be the easiest one to climb, only 1,000 meters up from where we started climbing. Round trip up and down, including plenty of time to explore the summit and the crater was less than five hours. And where most people do this volcano on two days tours carrying food, water, tents, mats and sleeping bags up to the base camp close to the summit, we only brought a light pack with water, snacks and camera! We left Xela at 2am in the morning and picked up our private guide from Quetzal Trackers (https://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/xela) before driving the two hours to trail head. We started climbing 4:30 am and reached the top three hours later, more or less at the same time as the big group from Quetzal Trackers who started the day before.

Climbing Volcan Tajumulco was a really nice way to finish Guatemala volcanoes – standing on the top of Guatemala (and Central America) was just fantastic 🙂