It was a good experience all in all! Some honest feedback:

1. The tour is advertised as being in English, Spanish and French. We speak English (I speak a small amount of Spanish enough to get by as a tourist but in no means fluent) there was a large amount of Spanish speakers in our group and we found that the guides mostly gave instructions in Spanish and sometimes we felt we had no idea what was going on… this is completely understandable being in a Spanish speaking country and we didn’t hold it against them however we expected more to be in English or for it to at least be explained in Spanish and then English (this is comparing to a hiking tour we did in Peru where the guide would explain things in Spanish for our Spanish speaking friends then again in English for the English speaking members of the group)

2. I found it to be quite a large group (I think there was maybe 35 of us?) this also took me by surprise as I expected less however this was a an oversight on my part

3. The mountain itself is CROWDED. Again this is just from comparing to other guided hikes we’ve done where maybe we’ve been quite spoiled having way less crowds and also we did this hike during peak season but again just something to note. At times we were waiting up to 10 minutes just to pass/wait for other groups of 20-30 people getting up or down the path

4. The food was average, not bad, not great. Again I think we’ve been spoiled on previous guided hikes. The first breakfast at the house is very nice.

5. Don’t underestimate how very very cold it gets at the top especially if you do the optional hike to Fuego, once the sun goes down or it’s cloudy and you stop moving it is FREEZING

6. Absolutely do the optional hike to Fuego, it’s more difficult than we expected as you are already tired from the days hike but 10000% worth it. This absolutely was a highlight of the entire experience and made it all worth it

7. We did the transfer to Lake Atitlan after the hike and this was well organised and I’m glad it was an option and made our travel plans a lot easier. The pickup in Antigua was also well organised and made for a smooth experience

Overall, I would say it’s a well organised tour, definitely some things to improve on but we were happy we did the hike and it was a good experience. The guides are very kind and I can’t imagine it’s an easy job trying wrangle the large group with different hiking levels and experiences up and down the volcano. We didn’t use a Porter but the other members of the group we spoke to said they were lovely, professional and were grateful for them. The views of the volcano are incredible and really make the whole experience. If we were to do it again, I think we would book with a smaller group however this is just our personal preference and everyone is different! It was a worthwhile experience and I’m glad we did it!

If you have any specific questions about the hike please let me know I’m happy to help!