Pacaya Volcano & Guatemala City Private Tour
Description
If you’re looking for a little bit of history and adventure at the same time this tour is your best option. First we drive to the Pacaya Volcano, which is an hour and 30 minutes drive, so we can climb it to appreciate the fauna and flora of the region. Once we get at the top, where the lava rivers are, we will have lunch so you can taste the famous pizza and roast some marshmallows. After spending more than an hour there we start going back to the base camp and then back to Guatemala City to visit the Historical Center. In the city we will walk through the Plaza of Constitution, the National Palace of Culture, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Central Market and the 6th Avenue.
Tour Options
Itinerary
The road to the parking lot of the Pacaya Volcano is approximately 1 hora 30 minutes. The total duration of the hike is approximately 4 hours and its difficulty level is 4 of 10. There is horses available for rent during the hike. The purpose of the climb is to get the experience to taste the Volcanic Pizza, made of an artesanal oven of the lava rivers. Also, during the climb you would be able to roast marshmallow at the lava rivers.
We star the tour by walking around the Plaza of Constitution, so you can have a better sighting of the historical buildings that surrounds it.
From outside you can see the National Palace of Culture uniqueness architecture and style. Prepare to be amazed by the interesting history that this palace hides at plain sight.
The next stop is the Metropolitan Cathedral where you can see some damage of the earthquake that hit Guatemala City in 1917 and 1918. This is the most important church in Guatemala and in here you will find old paintings from the XVI century and the oldest virgin brought by the spanish conquers at the XV century. It’s neoclassical architecture will blow you away!
In our way out of the cathedral, we’re going directly to the Central Market to shop some souvenirs or just to get the experience of being in one of the most iconic markets of Guatemala. You will be immerse in the colorful textile, the traditional food and the local craft.
We walk through the famous avenue of Guatemala City is a must! La Sexta is a pedestrian avenue where you can experience the day by day of the locals. In this walk you would be able to see the architecture of some historical buildings, the vibrant commerce and the different restaurants or food courts available. It’s a experience you don’t want to miss.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We’ll pick you up go at any location of Guatemala City and surroundings, it can be at your hotel, friend place, International Airport or even if you are in Antigua Guatemala. And after the tour end we drop you at location of request, it can be in the same place we pick you up or at any other location.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Reviews(20)
It was an incredible experience, perfectly well organized and very professional. Also amazing guides. I had the most amazing day!
It's scripted a little deceiving I think, but in the end I had a fun time, especially coming down. Now I hiked up to the viewpoint and of course the clouds rolled in, but got some nice view before hand. But I am a retired trekker, mountain climber, novice at best, still find myself bout there wondering why. Quite steep at times they do offer horseback rides to the top. I would recommend it, it was fun
The experience was very personal and amazing. Pamella was with me the entire day. Franklin hiked the volcano with me and was able to accommodate me with a horse for the hike. This was a solo trip for me I definitely enjoyed myself every person I met in Guatemala was very genuine and nice. I would definitely recommend taking the trip and learing about the history as well with a personal tour of the city center.
Excellent service. Prompt. Professional. Learned so much history. Horse ride to Pacaya was incredible
We were picked up where we were staying right on time. Our guide Esteban driving us was friendly and knowledgable. When we arrived he introdiced us to our guide that walked usbup the mountain. This guide was also friendly and patient. The hike was quite steep. I would refomend bringing plenty of water and snacks for the way up. For the climb, horses are also available separately, and can be engaged on site at the trail head if desired. My family who took the horse ride up had a good experience. Once at the end of the hike, you are introduced to the lava store which sels jewlery and mementos made with volcanic rock. Afterwords, We enjoyed a pizza (included with the tour) with the volcanoe as a background. Please note that you do not hike to the top of the volcanoe, but you do get a good view (see picture). After hiking down, guide that drove us there took us to the city center and gave us s brief walking tour of the Palacio Nacional and a couple of other points of historical interest. Afterwards we were dropped off back at where we were staying. It was a fun experience and a greatbwaybto spend the daybwith pur family.
A challenging excursion through a volcanic experience. Franklin was friendly and professional guide.
You can’t really see anything. It’s not like the photos. You see the city for about an hour and then drive to the volcano. The volcano hasn’t been active for years. Very foggy and you can’t really see the volcano either, just the ruins. The hike is pretty easy. Nothing spectacular. No views. The pizza was good and the marshmellow roasting was cool. But overall pretty underwhelming and not worth the price.
Guide was on time and was friendly & knowledgeable throughout the trip. We started with a tour in the historic district to see a few different important buildings & learn more about the historic district. As it was Holy Week there were processions happening and our guide was very accommodating to get us to a spot where we could witness part of a procession which was very interesting. Traffic getting out of the city to head to Pacaya was very busy but our guide navigated it very well and stopped at a highway rest stop so we could use an ATM to grab money for renting horses to take us up the volcano. Once we arrived at Pacaya we were swarmed by mostly children wanting us to rent their horse so we deferred to our guide to arrange this. Horses were 300Q round trip each and a person walks up with each horse. Our guide also arranged an official ‘Pacaya Guide’ for us and waited for us at the bottom. We were grateful for horses to take us up as the trail has a lot of loose hardened lava rock. It was also quite cool so light jackets/sweaters are helpful to have. There are a couple washrooms at various parts of the trail. We went as far up as the horses would take us and enjoyed delicious pizza cooked on volcanic rock. We were given the option of roasting marshmallows but passed on that. We chose not to trek to the very top of the volcano as visibility was low and there is no longer any active lava flow. Overall, it was a neat experience.
INCREDIBLE. 10/10. We had the most incredible day with Esteban as our guide. He was extremely accommodating, knowledgeable, and friendly. The hike was a challenge but the local guide was so kind and did not rush us. We walked the entire way but there is an option to ride a horse. We got marshmallows and pizza at the top which was such an amazing experience. They have a base camp setup for the pizza that has the most gorgeous view. The guide also carried/brought water for us which was helpful and there’s bathrooms there. Such a fun day!
Great tour, guide Pamella and our local guide for the volcano were excellent. Tour of town was very informative and Volcano was a very impressive sight. Pizza and mashnellows cooking from heat of rocks was cool. Only reason it's not a five was not seeing any lava/lava river. Would highly recommend
