Volcán Pacaya trailhead | Tourist Attraction

January 3rd, 2023 by La Famille POOS

Perfect, calm and free. We took the tickets in the evening for the next morning. Always 100q per person. They tried to impose a 200q guide on us. We said we'd see tomorrow morning. The office opens at 7am. We left at 6:30am without seeing anyone.

July 8th, 2022 by proyectonomadacombi

Este es el segundo puesto de atención al cliente para comprar los tickets para el volcán. En este insistimos mucho para dejarnos entrar sin guía ya que lo marcaban como requisito indispensable ($200Q Guia) por otro lado hay 3 estacionamientos, uno abajo, el del establecimiento que es muy chiquito y cierran y otro que está enfrente pequeño terreno de una casa donde nos cobraron $60Q para estacionar y pasar la noche. No lo recomiendo porque esta muy desnivelado el piso, tiene una pendiente la calle donde este se encuentra y poco espacio para maniobrar.

May 13th, 2022 by Toutencamion

Nouveau tarif 100Q par personne.
le 🌋 est éteint, il n'y a plus de chaleur. c'est fini pour les guimauves, malgré que des locaux allument des feux de bois...
Belle balade et très belle vue sur les autres volcans.
est cher pour 3 heures de balade.

February 4th, 2022 by follow_nadle

Don't pay here! The correct entrance is in San Francisco de Sales, just say you only want to visit San Francisco. There you can book a offical guide.

September 13th, 2021 by pierre.moreau1

That is indeed the start of a very easy hike to the volcano! I politely refused a guide or a horse, which really wasn’t an issue at all. At some point there was a fence, I went below it to climb the actual volcano. Well that’s a completely different piece. Not sure if I recommend it: super steep, very rocky and slippery, it felt quite dangerous to be honest. Also, I would probably have been in front line in case the volcano decided to wake up at that moment. Oh well!

May 22nd, 2021 by landroots

No lava, at this moment, in nowere.
Cool them before Will go. Petrified all lava.

September 18th, 2019 by oldhorse1

If you're over 60, the entrance fee is 20Q.
It's pretty steep up there, we were glad that we rode the horse.

July 21st, 2019 by ninsche1

hiked up without guide.
we got here late afternoon and were swarmed by guides. we told them we werent going up today and had a guide for tomorrow already. we parked in the dirt parking lot (free) for the night. it was quiet and felt safe. pit toilets available.
the sign says it is a must to go with a guide. though the price of Q200 seemed too steep for us for what the hike was gonna be. and hearing stories of guides charging on top of that to reach the actual lava fields didnt motivate us any more to pay.
so the next morning, we went up to the ntl park booth when no guides were around and asked if we could go up by ourselves. they agreed right away. though were a bit more hesitant when we went to pay the 50Q entrance to go in 5 minutes later. I feel it was bcs there was a guide close by. So pick your battles and choose a good moment to ask. this may involve hanging out for a bit until the guides loose interest.
hike is easy accessible and well marked and not dangerous in any way (even without guide). the lava on top is impressive and worth a visit. for us not worth the Q200 a guide would have cost though.

November 8th, 2018 by facebook.com/2MsOnTheRoad

The sign said that every group has to be accompanied by licensed guide, the trail is pretty obvious though... Guide is 200q. The sign also said vehicles are allowed only in emergency, but they let you in for 50q. We asked about sleeping in our car, on the volcano, without a guide, not possible. The guide has to show you where to camp and we heard lots of other excuses for any combination we tried. We ended up sleeping on the parking lot next to the entrance booth for 10q each. We asked a young guide to take us up at 4am (they offer 24h service) and he brought his aunt and a horse, just in case. When we were past the first lookout, she wanted 200q more to take us to the end of the trail+marshmallows in lava field+200m to the second crater. We agreed only on marshmallows and loooong observation of lava and sunrise for 100q. The hot lava in the dark and the views in the morning were awesome experience, just too bad it's such a tourist trap. Also horse renters are very persistent and their kids are renting hiking sticks. It's not a difficult hike we were up in one hour with frequent stops to admire views. 3km one way to the end, 2.2km one way to the first view point, elevation gain 430-470m

July 23rd, 2018 by Tucks' Truck

The drive up from the Lake Amatitlán side (the east) is very poor track. Probably not 4x4 required, but high clearance highly preferred. The road up the Antigua side (from the west) is new tar almost all the way. No problems for any vehicle.

July 22nd, 2018 by funlifecrisis

Did not stay here overnight but drove from Antigua and hiked the volcano at 8 am. Paid 50 pp for entrance. Guide is not required. Just drive all the way to the gate and insist on not needing one. Path is well marked and traveled.

July 12th, 2018 by cmazella.rbird

Great volcano. We did it with a child of 10 and 13, no problem. For the 10 year old, we took a horse to climb the first part (75 Qtz) each way. 50Q per adult and 20Q per child. Attention, go to the Visitor Centre entrance for official guide. We also slept in our 10m rig in front of visitor centre, in centre of San Francisco, safer than the other entrance. In the other entrance, not sure you get official guides, not recommended to sleep by the villagers as very isolated, not the direct route for the volcano either.
Our guide was great. We started at 4am and were back after 9.30am. We went up to the crater for same price (very windy and cloudy), waited for the clouds to go to see lava going down, cooked marshmallows over the 4 week lava, great view on the 3 other volcanos (agua, el fuego, acatenengo), a lot of info on plants. And all of this for 200Q for our family (other would take another 200Q and the hike would be very quick). Great guide for children. His name: Luis Alberto Quezada Morales tel/whatsapp: (502) 4647 1912. Also on FB: luis morales guia volcan pacaya. Speaks mainly spanish.

February 18th, 2018 by fleurdupays.oz

50Q/p pour l'entrée et petite nouveauté le guide est obligatoire !
On a demandé pourquoi car des amis l'ont fait sans guide fin 2017.. "car les gens se perdent" nous a t on dit.. mouai...

200Q max autorisé pour les services de guide.. mais attention !! Des voyageurs nous ont rapportés que si vous souhaitez monter au sommet il vous en coûtera 200Q de plus annoncé à la dernière minute!!!!!! À négocier avant de partir si vous le pouvez..
Nous avons rebroussé chemin .. tan pis..

Julien & Julie

May 6th, 2017 by viva-panamericana

We camped there for free. When we startet our hike at 05:30 in the morning to Pacaya we were absolutely alone. No guides, no horses, no worries. We payed the entrance fee to the volcano when we get back from our hike.

April 14th, 2017 by instagram.com/wanderingfamvan

Slept here. They have tourist police posted near here 24/7. Started the hike up 6:30am. The guide is not mandatory! There was 2 guys offering their services to us and we politely refused. On the return the ticket office was opened and we paid our 50Q per person national park fee. You get official ticket for that.
Use maps.me app for your guide. Some places it's possible to cut the normal route. If you look the map on maps.me and see the hiking trail. Trie to choose the straightest line to farthest point what this map shows. It would take you straight to the greater. Be 100% sure that the wind is from north (ish) if you decide to go all the way up to see the volcano erupting. Then at least it will blow hot stuff away from the side you are climbing up. It's scariest thing we have done and it was by accident. Its not everyday you will see red hot lava shooting out from the volcano. There is nobody on the last information "booth" to stop you or offering theirs services as an quide on that early in the morning. Thinking back how scary it was to accidentally stumble to the mouth of volcano we WOULD NOT REALLY RECOMMEND you to do this but if you do there's at least some info here before you will decide to do it. We where looking magma flow what's was reported to be at the NE side. To the top is 4km from the parking lot and vertical climb near 1km!

September 23rd, 2016 by maria_barmettler

we arrived at 7.30 and get an personal guid for 200 Q. He gave us a lot of Information about plants. in the half he offer us to bring us to a cave and a view-point for another 100Q. we paid. the cave was Not worse. but the way down very funny! we saw just Black old Lava.

September 1st, 2016 by panchosway2015

Slept for free at the entrance and hiked at 7am up the volcano. No one at the entrance and a guide we picked up at the last shelter close before the crater. Paid 50 quezales to him and later the entrance fee as we returned.
The guide brought us up to the rim of the crater where one sees the lava!!!!

May 16th, 2016 by highfish

This place is in wrong location - it is located at 14.39947, -90.61524

April 13th, 2016 by highfish

Entrance 50 pp, Guide was 200.
In the night you see the red lava.
If you bring marshmallows you can grill them at the hot stones.
You can also sleep at the entrance. Toilets are there. Or we slept at a property of a guide Jorge. He lives 200m before the entrance at the right side. We can recommend him, speaks slow and is motivated.

December 13th, 2014 by ajsml

Fun hike up active volcano. There is no red hot lava currently but you get to hike around on the lava flow. Drive all the way to the trail head for free parking. Tickets $50Q per person. Guide was $150Q and we picked him up right where we got tickets. His name was Robin and he was awesome! Took us the "express" route down