Pacaya Volcano: roasting marshmallows on the lava

April 20, 2026

Euri and I did Pacaya as a tour from Antigua, and we picked it for a very practical reason: it fits in half a day, and nobody has to sleep outside on a volcano. If we'd had one more day in Antigua, we'd have gone for Acatenango, the more popular volcano hike, instead. Pacaya still got us some extra exercise, plus marshmallows.

Trail details

Living in Guatemala rates it easy to moderate, with about 1,970 feet of gain to a high point of 8,373 feet and about 1 hour 45 minutes going up. It doesn't list a distance, and you don't summit the active cone. The trailhead is the visitor center in San Francisco de Sales, in San Vicente Pacaya, about 1 hour south of Antigua by its estimate (our van took about 45 minutes). Tours cover the guide and transport, but bring cash for the park entrance: Turisteando lists Q100 for foreigners and Adrenalina Tours lists $14 (checked October and November 2026). Wear closed-toe shoes, because the footing turns to loose gravel and sharp lava rock. Pacaya is active, and Living in Guatemala cites a 23 October 2026 government volcano bulletin warning against walking on the western-flank lava flows and fissures or climbing Mackenney crater, so check conditions before you go.

Forested hills and a dark pine ridge, with the towers of Guatemala City in the distance under big white clouds

Steep, gravelly and very rocky

The van drops you at the trailhead, and from there it's a steep climb through pine forest with a view back toward Guatemala City. Then the trees stop and you're looking at Pacaya's dark cone over a huge field of hardened lava. There's a lot of loose gravel on the way up and a lot of rocks once you get there. Our guides were nice, and they set the pace.

Pacaya's dark, symmetrical cone rising above a field of hardened lava, with green shrubs in the foreground and a blue sky with clouds

The marshmallow thing is real

Around 5:30pm we were kneeling next to a crack in the lava rock, feeding marshmallows into it on wooden skewers and waiting for an active volcano to toast our dessert. The rock in there is still hot from geothermal activity, so the guides find a good crack and you roast right in the stone. It's a little absurd and completely worth it.

Pink and white marshmallows on wooden skewers held inside a crack in gray lava rock

Coming down

On the way down, a volcano came into view (Agua, most likely, based on where we were standing) with a scarf of cloud wrapped around its summit.

A big cone-shaped volcano with a thick cloud rolling over its summit

The same volcano with a cap of cloud on its peak, seen past a pine branch

The cloud-capped volcano with a second volcano behind it and a town spread across the valley below, framed by dark leaves

Jereme in an orange shirt and Euri in gray, smiling at a wooden railing with volcanoes and clouds behind them

Pacaya or San Pedro?

Of the two volcanoes we hiked in Guatemala, I liked Volcán San Pedro more, even though I didn't reach the top. That may have nothing to do with the volcanoes. On San Pedro we could go at our own speed, and Pacaya is a tour. If you're short on time in Antigua and want to walk on some lava, it does the job in half a day.