Pacaya Volcano Overnight
See active lava flows light up the nighttime sky
Explore some of the most impressive volcanic landscapes in all of Central America
Roast marshmallows over geothermal hot spots
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Overview
The Pacaya Volcano overnight hike is a top tour for good reason. If Pacaya is particularly active you're likely to see blazing lava flows glow against the night sky. The Pacaya hike is also one of the easier overnight volcano hikes available in the area.
Details
Price
$125 - $225 per person, depending on group size
Duration
Overnight
Distance
~8kms.
Elevation Gain / Loss
+400mts. / -400mts.
Difficulty
Beginner
High Point
2552 mts.
We Provide
- Private round trip transportation from Old Town Outfitters office in Antigua
- All park entrance fees
- Freshly prepared picnic dinner and breakfast served on the mountain
- Hot coffee and tea at mealtimes
- Sleeping bags, sleeping pads and comfortable tents for camping at altitude
- Full tour of Volcan Pacaya by a local, bilingual guide with certified 1st-Aid training
Please Bring
- Hiking boots or trekking shoes (no sandals)
- Daypack with rain cover
- One warm layer and/or windbreaker
- Rain jacket (May thru October)
- Personal toiletries and/or medications
- Camera, hat, sunglasses & sunscreen
- Two liters of water + flashlight (for sunset-hike)
- TIP for great service from your Old Town guide!
What to Expect
Our group meets at Old Town Outfitters Shop in Antigua at 2 PM. Drinking water, bathroom facilities and retail outdoor equipment are available for hikers. Our drive to the trailhead is just over 1-hour in private transport from Antigua to the Park Office.
After checking in with the park administration, our guide will gather current information and decide on the best trail approach on the mountain (trail conditions change quickly on the volcano). As our group moves up the myriad of trails on the mountain, our guide will direct the group toward active surface or sub-surface lava flows near the summit.
No matter what conditions we encounter on the mountain, our group will have the opportunity to traverse unique volcanic-rock landscapes - just a few weeks or months old – as we ascend towards the peak. We’ll undoubtedly encounter geothermal hot spots on the cooled lava formations – which are always available to help roast marshmallows!
Your Old Town guide will decide where to make camp for the evening and arrange the group’s campsite close to one of Pacaya’s many beautiful vistas. A freshly prepared dinner will be served up for the group while you have ample opportunities to enjoy the sunset views and fiery orange glows that characterize Pacaya’s super-surface lava flows after dark.
Hot coffee and tea will keep your group warm after sundown, and after a good night’s rest in tents and bags enjoy sunrise views of surrounding highland volcanoes Agua, Fuego and Acatenango at first light. Early morning hours in the Guatemalan highlands are characterized by clear and bright conditions – ideal for sipping coffee and snapping photos of Volcan Pacaya’s smoldering peak and surroundings.
After breakfast, our group will break camp and have a relaxed descent down to the trailhead. Our group returns to Antigua by private transport to arrive in town at ~12:00 PM.
Photos
What Our Travelers Are Saying…
We were a group of 4 friends who really aren't hikers but were told this hike was "easy" so we figured we'd give it a try. This hike wasn't easy. It was considerably more steep then any of us had thought it would be. Our guide Alex and local guide Monkey, were the absolute best and helped us all the way to the top, with a little help from Estrella, the horse, half way up. We could not have asked for a better group. We were joined by two guys who were serious hikers and they could not have been more supportive of us! Even though the whole experience ended up being way more then we had expected, we had an awesome time and would definitely suggest it to anyone looking for a bit of adventure! When will you ever get to sleep on an active volcano and wake up to watch the sunrise and then hike down a lava field to roast marshmallows in a magma vent, even if you do fall down and take out the guide, SORRY MONKEY!!! Take this tour and ask for Alex and Monkey because they're the absolute best!
— Christine T. from Hoboken, NJ - TripAdvisorBook Your Adventure
Choose your dates below, or join and existing trip and save with tiered pricing!
What's Tiered Pricing?
We work with a tiered pricing system, which means that the individual price per person depends on the total number of paying customers (or PAX) in the respective group. This allows us to operate without fixed departure days and required minimums. Joining existing trips is usually the best option for solo travelers, as this way we can offer a lower trip price from the start. You can see all our trips on the calendar of confirmed departures. You can keep track of the calendar to see if and which tours we still get going for your preferred trip dates. If you prioritize not making a commitment ahead of time and prefer to book on short notice, this would be the way to go.
That being said, you can of course start a new group yourself for your preferred trip date in order to get the ball rolling and hopefully have other people join over the coming weeks. If you prioritize securing the date and ensuring guide availability, choose this option. We usually charge a deposit of the respective 2-person trip price to get started. If more people join the group, the trip price will come down accordingly. Any resulting price difference we will of course refund you. In case nobody else joins, you would however have to be prepared to pay the full corresponding 1-person price in order for your trip to still go forward.
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