February and March are the best months to visit Guatemala and El Salvador. That window lands in the middle of the dry season, known locally as Verano, which means clear skies, cold nights in the mountains, and dry trails without mud. Clear skies matter more here than on a standard beach trip because the centerpiece of the first weekend is watching an active volcano erupt against the night sky.

When people talk about “that volcano” in Central America, they almost always mean Acatenango in Guatemala. You hike up Acatenango to camp across the saddle from neighboring Volcán de Fuego, which regularly sends plumes of ash and glowing lava into the dark.

Here is a 13-day, two-country logistics plan built for a group of colleagues. It balances a big opening hike in Guatemala with accessible waterfall adventures and Pacific surf in El Salvador, while keeping solid infrastructure in place for our remote work days.

Making Acatenango Fun for Everyone

Acatenango is a steep climb of roughly 5,000 vertical feet over loose volcanic gravel, reaching nearly 13,000 feet of elevation. Carrying a heavy overnight pack at that altitude can turn a bucket-list hike into an exhausting grind.

To keep this a fun adventure for the whole group rather than a slog, two things are worth treating as standard issue:

1. Book a premium outfitter with permanent cabins. Operators like Wicho & Charlie’s or OX Expeditions maintain insulated A-frame cabins at basecamp, cook hot meals, and provide proper sleeping gear. Having solid walls and wind protection at 11,800 feet makes all the difference once temperatures drop near freezing after dark.
2. Hire personal porters for overnight gear. Having a porter carry the sleeping setup and heavy layers lets everyone hike with a light daypack holding water, snacks, a camera, and a rain shell. You save your legs on the climb and reach camp ready to enjoy watching Fuego erupt all evening.

The 13-Day Itinerary

Day	Day	Location	Activity & Logistics
1	Thursday	Guatemala	Travel: Fly into GUA (Guatemala City). Take a 1-hour private shuttle straight to Antigua and settle in.
2	Friday	Antigua	Acclimatization: Easy day. Walk the cobblestone streets, or take a light mountain bike ride at Finca El Pilar to get used to the 5,000 ft base elevation.
3	Saturday	Acatenango	The Big Hike: Shuttle to the trailhead and hike 4 to 6 hours to basecamp. Watch Fuego erupt all evening from the cabins.
4	Sunday	Antigua	Summit & Recovery: Optional 4:00 AM push to the Acatenango summit for sunrise. Descend, shuttle back to Antigua, and grab a big dinner.
5	Monday	Antigua	Work Day: Excellent cafe compute infrastructure here, with fast fiber optics and quiet courtyard cafes.
6	Tuesday	El Salvador	Transit: Take a 45-minute Avianca flight from GUA to SAL, or a 5-hour private shuttle straight to the Ruta de las Flores (Juayúa or Ataco).
7	Wednesday	Ruta de las Flores	Volcán Santa Ana (Ilamatepec): A rewarding, low-stress hike for the team. Four miles round-trip to see a steaming turquoise crater lake.
8	Thursday	Ruta de las Flores	Work Day: Work from a boutique hotel in Juayúa. Cool mountain climate and some of the best coffee in the country.
9	Friday	Juayúa / Coast	Siete Cascadas Trek: A wet morning hike rappelling down seven waterfalls, then a 2-hour shuttle down to the coast (El Zonte / Surf City).
10	Saturday	El Zonte	Coastal Exploration: Low-tide sea caves, black-sand beaches, and ocean recovery.
11	Sunday	Tamanique	Jungle Trek: Hike down to the Tamanique Waterfalls near El Zonte for cliff jumping and swimming. Short, steep trail.
12	Monday	El Zonte	Buffer / Surf: Take a beginner surf lesson, or use this as a final beach and light work day before packing up.
13	Tuesday	Transit	Fly Out: Take a 45-minute shuttle from the coast to SAL airport for the flight home.

How the Route Flows

Antigua and Acatenango (Days 1 to 5)

Antigua sits at 5,000 feet in a valley surrounded by three volcanoes. Spending Thursday night and all of Friday in town gives everyone 36 hours to hydrate, adjust to the elevation, and check gear with the outfitter before Saturday morning’s trailhead shuttle.

Saturday’s climb moves through farm fields, cloud forest, and high pine forest before reaching the volcanic ridge at basecamp. Because basecamp already looks straight across at Fuego’s crater, Sunday’s 4:00 AM summit push to 13,044 feet is completely optional. Anyone who stays by the cabins with a hot coffee at sunrise still gets the best view on the mountain. We descend to Antigua by midday Sunday and spend Monday working from courtyard cafes or hotel workspaces.

Ruta de las Flores (Days 6 to 8)

On Tuesday we cross into western El Salvador’s coffee highlands. Because Juayúa and Ataco sit close to the Guatemalan border, a 5-hour door-to-door private shuttle from Antigua is often just as fast as flying from GUA to SAL and driving back northwest.

Wednesday’s hike up Volcán Santa Ana starts high in Cerro Verde National Park, making the 4-mile round-trip climb very approachable. At the rim, you look down into a bright turquoise crater lagoon before heading down to Lake Coatepeque for lunch. Thursday is a quiet remote work day in the cool mountain air.

Waterfalls and the Coast (Days 9 to 13)

Friday morning kicks off with Siete Cascadas, a guided hike outside Juayúa that threads through coffee fincas and rappels up and down a canyon of seven waterfalls. After lunch, a two-hour shuttle drops down to El Zonte on the Pacific coast for our final four nights.

Saturday is for black-sand beaches and sea caves at low tide. Sunday morning we head 30 minutes inland to the Tamanique Waterfalls for cliff jumping and swimming in jungle pools, going early before the steep 35-minute walk back up heats up. Monday gives everyone a surf lesson or beach day before Tuesday’s 45-minute highway ride to SAL airport.

Tactical Execution

• Flights and Routing: Book open-jaw (multi-city) flights, flying into GUA and home out of SAL to avoid backtracking.
• Work Infrastructure: Both Antigua and El Zonte are remote-work hubs where boutique hotels pair fiber lines with Starlink backup. Both countries stay on Central Standard Time (UTC-6) year-round, just two hours ahead of Pacific Time in February and early March.
• Drone Logistics: Guatemala technically asks for temporary DGAC registration, though customs checks at GUA are inconsistent. El Salvador is very relaxed for recreational drone flights away from SAL airport and military sites.
• Group Pacing: Acatenango is the only tough altitude climb on the trip. The hikes in El Salvador (Santa Ana, Siete Cascadas, and Tamanique) are short, punchy, and accessible.

Colleague Checklist: PTO, Flights, Passports, and Gear

1. How Many Vacation Days to Book (5 to 7 PTO Days):
   • Standard plan (7 PTO days): Take Thursday and Friday of Week 1 (Days 1 and 2), Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of Week 2 (Days 6, 7, and 9), and Monday and Tuesday at the end (Days 12 and 13). Monday Day 5 and Thursday Day 8 are normal work days, plus two weekends.
   • Lean plan (5 PTO days): Take a Wednesday night red-eye to GUA and work remotely from El Zonte on Monday Day 12.
2. Which Flights to Book (From SEA or SFO):
   • Book a Multi-City ticket: SEA or SFO to GUA outbound, and SAL to SEA or SFO returning.
   • From SFO: United and Avianca offer direct or fast 1-stop flights into GUA and nonstop 5.5-hour flights from SAL back to SFO.
   • From SEA: Connect via SFO, LAX, or IAH on United/Avianca, or via DFW or MIA on American. Aim to land at GUA within a two-hour window on Day 1 to share the Antigua shuttle.
3. Passports and Entry Requirements:
   • Ensure your passport is valid for at least 6 months past our return date with two blank pages. No advance visa is needed for US, Canadian, UK, or EU passports.
   • Guatemala: Complete the free online digital traveler declaration within 72 hours before departure and screenshot the QR code.
   • El Salvador: Bring $12 USD (cash or card) for the tourist entry card on arrival.
4. Money and Gear:
   • Cash: Pull Guatemalan Quetzales (GTQ) from a bank ATM in Antigua for Acatenango park fees, porters, and tips. For El Salvador, bring $100 to $150 in crisp, untorn $1, $5, $10, and $20 US bills from home.
   • Packing: Pack broken-in trail runners, thermal layers, a fleece, a down jacket, a rain shell, warm gloves, a beanie, and a headlamp for Acatenango. Add a second pair of shoes that can get soaked in the waterfalls, swimwear, an eSIM for hotspot backup, and a 20L to 28L daypack.