Guaranteed tours:

Acatenango volcano

Background:

Acatenango, along with its twin volcano to the south, Volcán Fuego, overlooks the historic former capital city of Antigua, Guatemala. Acatenango, which has two principal summits, was constructed during three eruptive periods post-dating the roughly 85,000-year-old Los Chocoyos tephra from Atitlán caldera. An ancestral Acatenango volcano collapsed to the south sometime prior to 43,000 years ago, forming La Democracia debris-avalanche deposit, which covers a wide area of the Pacific coastal plain. Construction of Yepocapa, the northern summit of Acatenango, was completed about 20,000 years ago, after which growth of the southern and highest cone, Pico Central (also known as Pico Mayor), began. The first well-documented eruptions of Acatenango took place from 1924 to 1927, although earlier historical eruptions may have occurred. Francisco Vasquez, writing in 1690, noted that in 1661 a volcano that lay aside of Fuego "opened a smoking mouth and still gives off smoke from another three, but without noise."
---
Smithsonian / GVP volcano information

Acatenango Fotos:

Volcán de Pacaya, con su visto flujos de lava del volcán de Acatenango. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)	The silhouettes of Acatenango, Fuego and Atitlán volcanoes at dawn (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)	Hiking up Acatenango volcano, Guatemala (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Fuego and Acatenango volcanoes seen from Antigua (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)	Forest and fog on Acatenango (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)	Siluetas de la noche de Fuego, Acatenango y Agua. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)

Latest satellite images