Acatenango Overnight Hike

• Acatenango Hike
• Volcano Tours

The Acatenango Overnight Hike is such a special adventure and currently Antigua, Guatemala’s most popular among travelers. Volcan Acatenango is the beautiful beast that started it all for OX back in 2004.  With an elevation of 3976 meters it is the third highest volcano in Central America. This epic hike takes you to the summit of the most beautiful volcano in Guatemala with incredible views of the active Fuego volcano.

Acatenango hike: Overnight

The Acatenango Overnight Trip is for many travelers the highlight of their tour through Central America. Although big and a challenging hike the reward of staying in comfortable wood cabins with stunning views of the active Fuego Volcano is simply amazing. 

Our professional guide team and organized procedures work hard to manage the unpredictable chaos of mother nature to provide a high quality experience. It’s all about the details. We want each and every client to have an enjoyable time no matter where the adventure takes us. Another thing that sets us apart is we really care about the environment. We try to minimise our impact on the fragile volcanic ecosystem that we love so much. The wood used for our campsite came from a sustainable source, we transported it all up the volcano and didn’t use any of the  trees growing on the volcano.  We are also committed to reducing the amount of litter on the volcano in general and offer our clients the opportunity to earn a free T-Shirt if they help use collect litter from the trail on the way back down the volcano.

ACATENANGO OVERNIGHT HIKE : TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

Without doubt the most epic part of this adventure camping experience is watching the Fuego Volcano erupt with lava and a boom from the comfort of your wood cabin!

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Acatenango Overnight Hike: Best time to climb

At OX Expeditions we run the Acatenango Guatemala Overnight trip all year round. In Antigua, Guatemala there is a 6 month dry season from November – April, and a 6 month wet season from May – October. However this does not guarantee that you will have great weather in the dry season and bad weather in the wet season! We think it is great to do the Acatenango climb all year round but from Nov – Apr you are more likely to have clear views and less likely to get wet. Having said that in the rainy season it usually is clear and sunny in the morning, clouding over at midday and rains for a couple of hours in the afternoon and then clears up again in the evening. This is why we leave Antigua earlier than other Acatenango tour companies; so we can get to the campsite before the time it usually starts to rain.

Acatenango and Fuego hike: The Double Whammy

Want to combine the Acatenango Overnight Hike and Fuego Hike? Then the Double Whammy is for you! We hike to our Acatenango base camp, have a quick rest, leave our camping gear and then head over to Volcan Fuego. First we descend the slopes of Acatenango to the saddle in between the two volcanoes, then we head up onto the shoulder of Fuego volcano. We get as close as is safely possible and weather permitting have a coffee or some wine on the knife-ridge watching the eruptions up close! We then retrace our steps to base camp for some well earned dinner! The next morning we hike to the summit Acatenango for amazing 360 degree views and then head back down to base camp and from there back to base of the volcano.

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Acatenango Overnight hike: Temperature

The temperature on the Acatenango Tour can vary greatly as can Acatenango’s weather. It can be 20+ degrees Celsius (68+ Farenheit) in the day as you hike up and get down to below 0 degrees Celsius (32F) at night. The coldest (and clearest) months are generally December to February but due to Acatenango’s elevation of 3976m it is cold all year round in the upper parts of the volcano. For this reason we recommend using a 3 layer system and always bringing warm clothes. We can lend you warm clothes if you need them at no extra cost! On our Acatenango Volcano Day Hike the temperature variation is less and you don’t need as many warm clothes, although we still recommend taking a warmer layer for the time we spend at the summit.

Acatenango Volcano Hike: Difficulty

The Acatenango Overnight Hike is difficult. One of the biggest challenges is the elevation; altitude sickness whilst normally not severe can make hiking that much harder. We always recommend being in Antigua Guatemala or a similar elevation (1500m) for at least 48 hours before doing the tour. This will give you body enough time to acclimatize and will make the climb significantly easier. If you are in fairly good shape, have acclimatized and have a good attitude you should be able to do this tour!

You hike for around 4-5 hours on the first day and reach an elevation of 3400m at our Acatenango base camp. Here we rest for the remainder of the day (unless you opt to do the Double Whammy). The next day we get up before down to hike to the summit (1-2 hours) where we take in the amazing views, then it’s back down to base camp for breakfast and finally back to base (3 hours hiking). You are usually back in Antigua, Guatemala at about midday.

The Acatenango Day Trip has a higher difficulty level than the overnight trip as we hike up and down all in the same day; we do however take a different route to the overnight hike. We also leave much earlier (5AM) to give you plenty of time to summit and return before night falls. The whole trip including the shuttle to and from Antigua, Guatemala normally takes 10-12 hours.

Acatenango Overnight hike: Pre trip meeting

For all our Acatenango Overnight tours we have a pre-trip meeting at 5 PM the day before the tour (3 PM on Sunday). This is the perfect opportunity for you to meet your guide and fellow hikers and ask any questions you may have. At the meeting we will explain everything about the hike; what you need to bring, what to expect in terms of weather, volcanic activity etc. It is a vital part of our preparation process and ensures you a ready for the adventure of a lifetime.

Acatenango Overnight, Fuego Overnight and Double Whammy tours: What´s the difference?

The Double Whammy Tour is a combination of our Acatenango Volcano Overnight Hike and our Fuego Overnight Hike. On any of these trips the first and last parts are the same. To start with we all hike to the camp site together; this takes about 5-6hrs and we arrive at around 2 PM. Then the people doing the Fuego Overnight or Double Whammy head over to the shoulder of Fuego and come back to the camp site for dinner (3-4hr round-trip). We all have dinner and wine together and sit around the campfire! Early the next day those doing the Acatenango Overnight or Double Whammy hike up to the summit of Acatenango for sunrise (this is truly magical). Then they come back down to camp and we all have breakfast together, break camp, and head back to the volcano to take the shuttle back to Antigua arriving at about 12:30 – 1 PM.

If you are booked for either the Acatenango Overnight Hike or the Fuego Overnight Hike you can decide to upgrade to the Double Whammy when you get to our camp site. This gives you the opportunity to see how you a feeling physically and mentally after you have complete the first part of the hike and if you feel up to the challenge! You can pay the difference when you get back to our office in Antigua, Guatemala.

Acatenango last eruption?

The Acatenango volcano has not erupted since circa. 1925 but it’s noisy neighbour Volcan Fuego is constantly erupting with the last major eruption being on June 4th 2018 tragically killing hundreds of people in some of the villages on the volcano’s lower slopes.

Acatenango weather forecast

The weather here is very unpredictable and the forecast in the rainy season (April – October) is nearly always thunderstorms and is often wrong. Each of the volcanoes has its own micro-climate and it is not uncommon for in to be raining in Antigua and not on Acatenango or vice-versa! For this reason we only cancel our Acatenango Volcano Tour if there is a tropical storm or severe weather forecast warning.

Acatenango deaths

On January 8th 2017 6 people tragically died of hypothermia on the Acatenango Volcano. It was reportedly due to mix of factors: the weather on Acatenango changed dramatically for the worst and the hikers were said to have been ill prepared (lacking the correct equipment and knowledge to deal with the inclement weather). It was a terrible accident made all the worse as it could have been prevented. This is why we always stress the importance of doing the trek with a reputable tour company.