The Volcanoes near Antigua Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala has four volcanoes around it. Agua, 3,776 m, rises south of the town and is the nearest. Acatenango, 3,976 m, and Fuego, 3,763 m, stand side by side to the south-west, and Pacaya, 2,544 m, lies to the south-east (heights from CONAP, 2008). Fuego is the active one that Guatemala’s volcano institute reports on every day. The tours from Antigua climb two of them: Acatenango over two days, and Pacaya in six hours.

Agua, 3,776 m

Agua is the volcano closest to Antigua, rising south of the town. We list no tour up Agua: none of the hikes we compare goes there, so we have nothing to send you to and print no route.

Acatenango, 3,976 m

Acatenango is the highest of the four and the one the overnight tours climb. The hike starts at La Soledad, 21.7 km by road from Antigua, and takes two days with a night at a base camp facing Fuego and a climb to the summit at sunrise. The park is run by the Municipalidad de Acatenango, which charges foreign visitors Q100 (quetzales) a person (checked November 2026).

Volcano Expeditions' two-day hike is from US$57 a person (checked November 2026), with hotel pickup, three meals and a guide in Spanish. CONRED restricted the ascent of Acatenango on 4 August 2026, during Fuego’s eruption; operators were selling dates in November 2026 when we checked. Check CONRED and INGUAT before you go.

Fuego, 3,763 m

Fuego is the active one. INSIVUMEH, the national volcano institute, publishes a daily bulletin on it; on 7 November 2026 it recorded three to five explosions an hour, with ash columns rising to between 4,200 and 4,700 m. Between 3 and 5 August 2026 Fuego went through an eruptive phase that lasted about 50 hours before its activity returned to normal levels (CONRED bulletin 245-2026).

You cannot climb it: CONRED said on 9 August 2026 that the ascent of Fuego is not authorized. People watch it from the camps on Acatenango, its neighbour, and from the top of Pacaya. Can you climb Fuego has the rules.

Pacaya, 2,544 m

Pacaya is the lowest of the four and has its own national park, the Parque Nacional Volcán de Pacaya y Laguna de Calderas. The tours drive about 32 km by road from Antigua to San Vicente Pacaya and walk up to a plateau of steam vents and old lava, with a view across to Agua, Fuego and Acatenango from the top.

Volcano Expeditions' Pacaya tour is from US$23 (checked November 2026), 6 hours with hotel pickup. CONAP’s page for the park publishes no entrance fee; the Pacaya volcano tour covers what the tours charge and include.

Which to climb

Two of the four are hiked on the tours we compare: Acatenango, for a night facing Fuego and a summit sunrise, and Pacaya, for a shorter day. Pacaya or Acatenango helps you choose, and Guatemala’s volcanoes lists the rest of the country’s.