Volcano Park | Tourist Attraction

March 7th, 2023 by Hibiscus

go directly to the pay booth at the beginning of the trail. We camped at Bello camp so we do not have a car/ need parking.at the entrance you pay the fee. a guide is not nescesary and no one offered us one.

February 2nd, 2023 by yannic.loritz

Ask friendly and you can do it without the guide

October 10th, 2021 by tigr_zo

Short covid update, appreciate the detailed reviews from other users below:
Since Covid, to hike Santa Ana they start going up with groups at 7:30 until 10:30.
If you arrive for an 11am departure you’ll be too late.
It’s open everyday.
Groups usually leave on the half hour, but if there aren’t enough people you may end up waiting to the next half hour slot.
Everyone has to leave the crater rim by 12.30 now instead of 13.00
Prices are the same. We started at Tibet hostel and paid their parking fee (currently $3p vehicle), $6 Park entry fee, plus a tip for mandatory guide, nothing else.
There was an armed guard at the crater rim but not with our group.
Recommend going midweek, we went on a Sunday simply because we were there at the time and it was very busy with locals, which meant the descent was quite slow as the trail is single file in many places, and most groups leave the crater rim at the same time.
Well worth the hike though we enjoyed it

November 27th, 2019 by mischling

My two cents after Tuck's Truck and sidwaysmoon comments.

a) 45min (1.3km) trail can officaly just be made with guide which you find anytime until 16:00 at the hut just before the parking lot. On this little walk you get two viewpoints. One of the Lago Coatepeque (best view of the lake even after climbing Santa Ana and Izalco) and one of Izalco. Guides live of the tip you give them which they share between all 22 guides which are 'employed' in the park.

b) Izalco:

Vulcano itself is more impressive from the distance. Once up there you can enjoy extensive 360° Panoramas and walk arround the crater rim. Nice to see how far the lava made it down into the flatlands until its last erruptions in 1966.

1,5 hours 'up'
1,5 hours 'down'
30min arround the crater rim
can be very windy

Official is:
You can hike this with guide and police whenever there is a group big enough which is only for sure on Sundays at 10:45 (just before the parking lot).
Guides live of the tip you give them.

Unoficial is:
Oficial rules are not enforced very strictly. With a bit of talking you get to catch up with groups which left 30min ago. I observed groups of 4 with one guide so they did manage to convince the guide to do the hike with such a small group. Not sure if the promise of a generous tip could have been the key.

Entry into this hike is on the left 30m after you paid the entrance. (check attached picture) If you decided to sneak trough this gate on its left side you will have no issues getting lost bacause the path is clear.

Claro Coverage available 50m further up on the Mirador.

I was told that there is a trail up to Izalco starting from Helvetica area crossing through two private lands.This saves you the entrance to Cerro Verde and big part of the hike down from Cerro Verde. Did not further investigate that but you could help by confirming that.

c) Santa Ana/Ilamatepec:
Don't drive or go up on Cerro Verde to do this hike as it will make your hike unessecary longer and cost you additional 3usd pp and 1usd per car to enter the Cerro Verde area.

Of the 3 hikes this one offers the nicest reward because of the lagoon up there which shows vulcanic activity.

Medium speed: 1.5h up and 1h down (Starting at Tibet or Helvetica, see further below)
Can be very windy.

Oficial is:
Mon-Wed: hike starts from pay booth at 11:30
Thu-Sun: hike starting from pay booth can start between 9:00-12:00

Sun: Hike to see sunrise tends to enter at pay booth at 04:00. Talking to the Rangers during the day we were granted permission to enter without guide or police and the night guard left the gate open for us to enter. Not sure if the night guard ever locks the gate at night.

Background info:
Before 2000 robberies were very usual and some deaths when police confronted the delincuents. Park was closed with the help of an volcanic erruption in 2001. It reopened in 2002 and groups could only enter with police. Robberies happened more seldomly since then but was still possible because one police men for 50 hikers with differents speeds tend to seperate. 2013was the last time there was a criminal incident. Some were caught and taken convicted to prison.
Guide obligatory mostly for Salvadoreños because of their tendancy if leaving trash.

Unofficial info from the ranger for forgeiners only:
Go to the pay booth during the above stated hours and you will be allowed to enter with the groups comming in. It is not enforced 100 percently so by having a nice talk with the Ranger (Dany in our case) you might be able to enter anytime between 04:00 and 13:00.

There are s couple of paths leading to the pay booth of Volcan Sants Ana.

From Tibet go down until past the turn off to Campo Bello sign until the flat dirt road. Walk on it until it ends in a parking lot and there turn left into the hiking path. It is about 20minto the pay booth from here.

From Helvetica San Blas continue down to Capo Bello for 50m and turn right into a hiking path marked with a sign Ilmatepec and fenced with a barbed wire gate. It is just 5min to the pay booth from here.

March 15th, 2019 by sidewaysmoon.com

Here's what I wish I knew before the hike after reading tucks truck entry.

You can get a group guide at hotel tibet (where you park to avoid the Cerro Verde climb out at the end) and they'll leave around 10:50. Thus you don't have to wait for the mass start at 11:30 with the Cerro Verde crowd. (Best to check in there early or night before to see if there are enough going, but worst case you join the mass departure later.). Guide fee $1 pp.

Even better, however, is you can hire a private guide for a small group (we were told $5 per person for the guide plus the normal $6 pp entry), and you can leave at any time (e.g. 4am for sunrise on the top). You won't have the "benefit" of an armed guard hiking with you, but the reality is you don't need one. We were told that since the tourist police program was started in 2005 there have been 0 incidents of robberies or attacks, and it wasn't clear really if there were any prior to 2005 anyway..

We would have preferred an early start and private guide, as our group was caught up by 200 young people and their guides during our hike. Also, some days the clouds build early and you might be wrapped in fog with the later start.

December 15th, 2018 by flymikey1

They now charge you 2 x day entries =6$ and 2 x parking charges =2$if you sleep here in your vehicle but the sunset is free

November 20th, 2018 by facebook.com/2MsOnTheRoad

- Cerro Verde: $3pp+$1 car, we had to pay double for overnight stay at the parking lot, one comedor (1.50 egg and bean breakfast, $0.50 pupusas, probably chicken later for lunch), couple souvenir stands, $0.15 bucket flush toilets, playground, cabanas, hotel, information booth for hikes, briefing 10:50am before St.Ana hike, views identical on the St.Ana hike. You can also see the Izalco hike from here - steep down and steep up.
- Hotel Tibet: $2 parking for a day, $0.25 bathroom, $1.75 beer, $0.75 can of Coke. We met the hike here around 11:15-11:20 as told by the information staff at Cerro Verde. We waited a bit here if more people will show up (??).
- ‎Santa Ana entrance: $6 for foreigner, stand with snacks, toilets, guards opened the gate for the group, waiting little bit more, I guess you can join the group here. We left this area at 11:50!!!
- ‎Santa Ana summit: moderate difficulty hike, mostly hard pack dirt trail, some loose rock, last section (about 1km) little more difficult, loose rock to the top, we made it up at 13:00!!! We had about 30-45min to look around before heading down. There was a guy selling ice cream 😀 at the top. We saw a school group starting at 10:00 from Cerro Verde and one more group after us with different guide.

June 21st, 2018 by Tucks' Truck

This is what I wish we had known before getting here:
1. It costs $3pp + $1 per vehicle to enter this park area.
2. There are 3 possible hikes starting from here. All 3 hikes must have a guide. The two crater hikes also take armed police escorts for security.
a) a short 45min circular trail. Can go anytime. Trail is free, pay guide a tip (suggested $1).
b) Izalco crater hike. 5hrs. Guide said it is steep & challenging. Rarely goes on weekdays unless pre-booked for a group. Demand is low due to the challenge but there's usually enough people at the weekends. Price $6 pp (foreigners) for trail in a special volcano zone, + $1 pp for guide. Leaves only at 11:00 hrs (no other times).
c) Santa Ana crater hike. 4 hrs. Goes everyday (except rarely if less than 4 people turn up). Bit steep in parts but not too challenging. Leaves only at 11.00hrs. Must leave the crater rim at 13:00hrs to come down. If you are slow going up, you may have very little time at the top. This hike leaves from the main park (here) but the first section is steep downhill to Hotel Tibet. You can intercept and join the hike either at Hotel Tibet at around 11:10 (you can park here for $2) or at the Santa Ana entry point at around 11:20 (see on maps.me and iOv - this is good if you are camping at Casa Cristal). There are 2 benefits with these 'shortcuts': (i) you don't pay the park entry fee to get to the start point; and (ii) you don't have to walk all the way back up the steep hill to the start-point to get your car afterwards. Hike price is $6+$1pp.
We did the Santa Ana hike from the start point and really regretted not having joined them at Hotel Tibet instead. By going to the start you pay the extra park entrance money just to do a tiring and boring section of the hike (walking back up at the end was hell!! 😐). Other than that, it's a great hike, spectacular views and highly recommended.