🌋 Santa Ana Volcano: My Honest Review & Tips

Santa Ana Volcano, also called Ilamatepec, has a crater lake known for its otherworldly unique color. Using a clear rating system, I share my honest review of hiking it, along with firsthand tips.

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🍀 Lukiih’s Verdict

I highly recommend hiking Santa Ana Volcano in El Salvador to see its unique crater lake.

• While the photos make the crater lake look small, it’s much more impressive and bigger in real life.
• A guide is required, but the experience is affordable, even after accounting for transportation, a guide, and the entrance fee.
• Minimal preparation is required, as you only need to pack accordingly and figure out transportation (if you’re not booking a tour).

Planning a trip? Here’s what to know about El Salvador.

🏆 Where Does It Rank?

Hiking Santa Ana Volcano ranks as the #2 experience I had in El Salvador. Here’s how it compares to other things I did on my trip:

	Experience	Location	Overall Rating
1	🌊 7 Waterfalls	Ruta de Las Flores	7.7
2	🌋 Santa Ana Volcano	Santa Ana	7.4
3	🌈 Café Albania	Ruta de Las Flores	6.5
4	🍖 Juayúa Gastronomic Festival	Ruta de Las Flores	6.0
5	🏄‍♀️ El Tunco Surfing Lesson	El Tunco	6.0
6	⚽ Cuscatlán Stadium Soccer Game	San Salvador	5.7
7	📚 National Library of El Salvador	San Salvador	5.4
8	😈 La Puerta del Diablo	San Salvador	5.4
9	🚶‍♀️ Historic Center Walking Tour	San Salvador	5.3
10	🚶‍♀️ Centro Walking Tour	Santa Ana	5.0

My El Salvador itinerary features the above experiences.

✈️ About My Trip

For context on my review, here’s what to know about my trip:

• I finance my trips and don’t receive sponsorship; this review reflects my honest opinions.
• I hiked the Santa Ana Volcano in late 2024, but this post has updated 2025 information.
• My El Salvador trip was from late November to early December when it was transitioning from the low, rainy season to the high, dry season.

• Hiking the Santa Ana Volcano is an uncommon experience. I estimate that fewer than 75 comparable volcanoes worldwide. The crater lake is massive and has a natural, intense turquoise-emerald color that gives it an otherworldly appearance.

The crater lake is almost 1 mile in length. I was underwhelmed when looking at photos of Santa Ana Volcano but was pleasantly surprised at how big and stunning the crater lake looks in real life.

• Other volcanoes that have crater lakes with distinct colors exist worldwide, including Indonesia’s Kawah Ijen, the Philippines’s Mount Pinatubo, and Costa Rica’s Poás Volcano.

• Hiking Santa Ana Volcano is enjoyable mainly because the crater lake view is very much worth the accessible hike up.
• You also get a great view of Volcan de Izalco while climbing up.

• The hike is accessible and only takes about 3-4 hours to complete, but it’s challenging enough to be somewhat rewarding.

• The hike itself isn’t the most interesting. There are a few rocky portions of terrain, but it’s otherwise mostly flat and narrow.

The entrance fee to the park where Santa Ana Volcano is located is $3 (it used to be $6). A guide is required to go up the volcano, but the trail is straightforward so the guide is mostly there to help preserve the trails.

You can climb up with the park’s group guide (there’s one available 9:30–10 am daily), which costs $3. Alternatively, you can book a Santa Ana Volcano tour, which includes transportation.

See my El Salvador trip expenses.

• The hike is about 4 miles long round-trip and is considered easy to medium in difficulty. It’s doable for anyone with a reasonable fitness level.
• Santa Ana Volcano is about an hour from Santa Ana. You can take an Uber, bus, or tour to get to the trailhead.
  • If you’re taking the bus, it departs from La Vencedora terminal at 7:40 am and the ride takes about 2 hours and costs less than $1.
  • The trailhead opens around 7 am and the summit closes at 1 pm, meaning no hikes can start after approximately 11 am.
• Unless you’re going with the official group guide, book a guide at least 1-2 days ahead. Bring sun protection, sturdy shoes, water, and a light jacket as it can get windy at the top.

For more detailed tips on my experience, check out my trip planner below.

El Salvador Trip Planner 2025

Download my trip planner to make your travel preparation effortless. It features up-to-date travel information and a well-researched itinerary informed by firsthand experience. Each section is customizable so it can be as lightweight or as hyper-organized as you like.

My trip planners are built on Notion, which I use for all my planning. I genuinely love this tool and creating an account is free.