How to Hike Volcan Toliman

Lake Atitlan was born from an eruption so large that an entire mountain collapsed on itself and made a huge depression reaching kilometers in diameter. That crater then became a huge caldera filled with about 80 square kilometers of water nearly 350 meters deep.

It’s surrounded by volcanoes and jungles that are teeming with wildlife on all sides. Getting the chance to explore this epic landscape and meet some of the remarkable locals has been an absolute privilege. If you’re looking to experience the lake like few others do, the hike up from Santiago to the summit of Toliman Volcano is an excellent way.

The Hike

A friend and I took this past Monday to make a roundtrip to the summit of Toliman Volcano from our home in Panajachel. We left Pana at 7am for Santiago (~50q boat ride roundtrip) and returned around 5pm. The hike to the summit sits at just over 3,000 meters in elevation and takes about 3 and a half hours to the summit from the trailhead. It’s a hike of moderate difficulty, but the trail is easily recognizable and well-maintained by locals; it’s actually a series of interconnected trails leading to fields of avocado trees, coffee plants, and corn and bean stalks. Therefore, it’s quite safe, no banditos will bother you if you choose to hike alone or camp out on the mountain. (San Pedro is a bit easier to hike, but beware of locals looking to take advantage of unsuspecting hikers.)

The People You’ll Meet

We encountered some real characters on our hike to the top. Whatever complaints we had about the steepness of the terrain were quickly curtailed after seeing local Mayan men lightly bantering in a mixture of Sutukil and Spanish pass us with MASSIVE packs of firewood on their backs. We watched in a mixture of awe and terror as they ambled down the rocky pathways with a near mountain on their backs. One friendly man mentioned that a 3–4 hour roundtrip packed with nearly 100kg of firewood earned him around 75q…about $9.50usd. My knees and ankles trembled just to hear it.

Wildlife On Volcan Toliman

On a lighter note, there are plenty of flora and fauna one can enjoy along the way. We hired a guide for 225q, if not for safety, just to inform us about some of the local wildlife in the area. If you are lucky, you may see a horned guan (a rarified species of turkey which locals casually dub a ‘pavo’) or even the glorified Quetzal bird. Though due to reclamation and habitat disturbance, the national bird of Guatemala is a sparse sight indeed. Our guide mentioned that the volcano south of Toliman named Volcan Atitlan holds a bit higher chance of a sighting. In the very least, you can listen out for the distinctive and beautiful canson of the Motmot bird (in Spanish, ‘guardabarranco’). You may see them perched amongst gigantic kanak trees of which the trunks were formerly used for making canoes and the broad leaves which are still used for wrapping tamales. The bush is a symphony of sights and sounds sure to delight.

We hiked into the clouds, so we didn’t get much of a view except a few exciting reveals. The summit is still well worth it for the cave and eerie jungle vibes at the top. The walk down was a controlled fall all the way back to Santiago for a well earned chuchito and Gallo cerveza. Sitting on the dock admiring the views of San Pedro and Toliman, we plotted out our next excursion.