Guatemala, volcano by volcano.
Which Acatenango camp puts Fuego in front of your tent. Whether Pacaya is worth half a day. What the boat across Atitlán really costs. Every tour in the country, reviewed.
Three volcanoes, three completely different days.
All volcano days →
Acatenango is the overnight everyone talks about. Pacaya is the half day that still gets you onto black lava. And a quad takes you up the skirts of both without a summit push. Start by deciding how much of your legs you are willing to spend.
- 1Adventure, 2-Day Hiking to Acatenango Volcanofrom $54
- 2Pacaya Volcano Tour in English/Spanishfrom $23
- 3Pacaya Volcano Trekfrom $23
Camp on Acatenango, watch Fuego work
Six hours up through cloud forest to a camp at 3,600m, then Fuego erupting across the saddle after dark. Cold, hard, and the reason most people book a Guatemala trip at all.
Pacaya’s lava fields before dinner
A shuttle, a steady hour of walking and you are standing on black rock that was liquid a few years ago. Ground heat toasts marshmallows at the top; you are back for an early dinner.
Quad up the volcano skirts
Coffee terraces, ravine tracks and a ridge with three cones on the horizon. The version of a volcano day that suits knees, short stays and anyone travelling with teenagers.
What most travellers in Guatemala actually book.
Every review →The tours that fill first, from the Acatenango overnight to the shuttle everyone needs on the last morning.
1
Adventure, 2-Day Hiking to Acatenango Volcano
Acatenango Volcano from Antigua is a tough, rewarding 2-day hike with starry camp nights, sunrise views, and eruptions of Volcán de Fuego.
From · $54
Read our review →
2
Pacaya Volcano Tour in English/Spanish
from $23
3
Tikal Guided Tour with Transportation
from $20
4
Pacaya Volcano Trek
from $23
5
Antigua Cultural Walking Tour
from $35
6
Volcano Acatenango Overnight Hiking
from $90
7
Lake Atitlan Villages Tour on ATV
from $57
8
Hike to Pacaya Volcano from Antigua
from $35
The Guatemala most itineraries are built around.
A volcano, a Mayan city, a lake with a boat timetable, a colonial grid, a highland market and a coffee slope. Book these six well and the rest of the country arranges itself.
Antigua Guatemala is where the trip starts and keeps restarting.
Ruined convents on a grid you can walk in twenty minutes, three volcanoes closing the view at the end of every street, and more tours leaving before six in the morning than anywhere else in the country.
On Atitlán the boat timetable is the itinerary.
Panajachel is the door; San Juan, San Pedro and Santiago are the rooms. Public lanchas stop running around dusk, so a village day is planned backwards from the last crossing.
Tikal is a flight or a night bus, and worth both.
Temple IV pushes above the canopy at dawn with howler monkeys somewhere below and nothing man-made in sight. Flores is the base: a lake island of painted houses an hour from the gate, with Yaxhá two hours further into the forest.
- 1Tikal Guided Tour with Transportationfrom $20
- 2Tikal VIP Exclusive Tour All inclusive from Flores Guatemalafrom $199
- 3Tikal SUNRISE, Archeological focus and Wildlife Spotting Tour (North and West)from $98
Days you can only have in Guatemala.
Ruins and markets exist across Central America. An erupting cone at eye level from your sleeping bag, a K’iche’ market on church steps and a hobbit village above the coffee belt do not.
The Acatenango Overnight
You climb through farmland, cloud forest and then bare volcanic sand to a camp at around 3,600 metres, facing Fuego across a saddle. Fuego erupts several times an hour, and after dark the ash column turns orange. Nights drop near freezing, so the outfitters lend jackets and sleeping bags; the summit push for sunrise leaves camp around four.
- 1Adventure, 2-Day Hiking to Acatenango Volcano★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 1,189 reviews
- 2Volcano Acatenango Overnight Hiking★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 645 reviews
- 32-Day Acatenango Volcano Hiking with Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 366 reviews
The Chichicastenango Market
Chichicastenango’s market fills the streets around Santo Tomás twice a week, and the church steps are still used for K’iche’ offerings between masses. It is a working highland market first and a textile market second: masks, candles, cut flowers, pigs. Most trips leave Antigua Guatemala or Panajachel before seven to beat the coach parties.
- 1Chichicastenango and Lake Atitlan Tour From Antigua★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 63 reviews
- 2Chichicastenango and Iximché Day Trip from Antigua★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 48 reviews
- 3Chichicastenango and Lake Atitlan★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 30 reviews
Hobbitenango
A ridge above Antigua Guatemala rebuilt as a hobbit village: round doors, an oversized chair hanging over the valley, axe throwing and a beer garden looking straight at Agua. The last kilometre is rough track, which is why almost everyone arrives by quad or shuttle rather than in a hire car.
- 1ATV Mountain Tour with Hobbitenango Entry★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 277 reviews
- 2Hobbitenango & Antigua Shared Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 81 reviews
- 3Hobbitenango and Altamira Half Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 78 reviews
Guatemala prices, from a shuttle seat to a private volcano guide.
Guatemala is cheap by Central American standards, and the ladder shows where that stops: the overnights, the flights north to Flores and the private guides are where a budget actually goes.
Pacaya, market runs, walking tours and the shuttle seats that link them.
- 1Pacaya Volcano Tour in English/Spanishfrom $23
- 2Tikal Guided Tour with Transportationfrom $20
- 3Pacaya Volcano Trekfrom $23
Acatenango overnights, Tikal day trips, cooking classes, quad days out.
Private guides, flights to Flores and the multi-day trips that cross the country.
- 1Acatenango Volcano Overnight Tourfrom $119
- 2Tikal VIP Exclusive Tour All inclusive from Flores Guatemalafrom $199
- 3Pacaya Volcano ATV Tourfrom $125
The Guatemala days that will not wait for you.
Most of this country can be arranged over a hostel desk the night before. These four cannot: they run on fixed market days, park permits, small group caps and one shuttle a day.
- 01Adventure, 2-Day Hiking to Acatenango VolcanoSmall group caps and lent kit. In dry season the reputable operators are full days ahead.
- 02Chichicastenango and Lake Atitlan Tour From AntiguaThe market only runs Thursdays and Sundays, so the trip exists on two days of your week.
- 03Tikal SUNRISE, Archeological focus and Wildlife Spotting Tour (North and West)Sunrise entry needs a separate park permit and a 4am gate slot, arranged before the morning.
- 04From Lanquin: Semuc Champey Park and Kanba Cave Guided TourOne rough road in, one shuttle a day, and most trips run as an overnight rather than a day out.
Guatemala saves its best light for people who set an alarm.
All evening trips →
When the afternoon rain arrives, cook, roast and weave instead.
From May to October the mornings are usually clear and the rain lands after lunch, often for an hour. Plan the volcano for dawn and the indoor half of the day for two o’clock: a market-to-table cooking class, a bean-to-bar chocolate bench, a backstrap loom, a cupping table on a finca.
Ten days in Guatemala, in the order most people drive it.
By region — where you will be waking up
Antigua Guatemala162 tours
Guatemala City65 tours
Lake Atitlán53 tours
Flores & Petén42 tours
Chichicastenango12 tours
Semuc Champey4 tours
Puerto Quetzal4 tours- Every region →
The newest Guatemala reviews.
All recent →
Pacaya Volcano Adventure in ATV from Quetzal Port.
Read our review →
Private transfer Mundo Maya Airport to Flores Island Hotels
Read our review →
From Guatemala City to Semuc Champey in one day.
Read our review →
San Antonio Aguascalientes Weaving Tour from Antigua
Read our review →
Private Chocolate Tasting Experience in Guatemala
Read our review →
Private Transportation from Guatemala City to La Antigua
Read our review →
Tikal and Yaxha Overnight Trip by Air from Guatemala City
Read our review →
Shared Transportation from Antigua to Guatemala City
Read our review →