Ipala Volcano
Few places gather so much beauty as the Ipala Volcano. Its located in a warm region where the summer heat hits kinda hard, but still, no matter the time of the year, its summit stays fresh, really fresh.Combine the beauty of this volcano, the fresh trails with amazing views of the valley and a blue lagoon at the crater.
Ipala volcano reaches 1,650 meters above sea level. Is not a difficult ascent and the trails are visible and clearly marked for the visitors. There are several routes around with varying difficulty levels, but the famous ascent from Monjas is the easier.
Reaching the summit is about 2 hours of ascent. If you have a physical problem or just want to avoid the sweat you can rent a horse to complete the journey even faster and easier.
What to expect at Ipala?
- No hotels, sorry, it is a natural area great for camping. But you can find hotels nearby at Jutiapa
- Expect little cabins at the summit, you can ask the guards permission to stay.
- It is a protected area with guard so you must buy your ticket in at the entrance (at the summit). It is really cheap, about US$4 per person.
- Expect the view of an amazing landscape: the blue lagoon surrounded by a green deep forest with lots of singing birds.
- Also expect a cold weather.
- Depending on the season you can find strong winds. In fact is windy most of the year.
How to get to Ipala?
Drive from Guatemala City to Jutiapa via the CA1. Get to Asuncion Mita and from there collow the road to Santa Catarina Mita and then to Ipala. Just before reaching the small town of Ipala you will see the sign to the entrance at your right. It is visible from the road and it goes seeking the volcano. After 5 minutes you will reach the parking where you must leave your car. From there you can actually view the forest at the summit of Ipala.The complete drive from Guatemala City is about 3 hours and a half.
Take your camping gear with you or just make a quick ascent starting early in the morning. Is not a hard ascent. Good luck!
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There is no other way to get you into the mountain sports and volcano climbing but this: climb the Culma volcano. Is located at the side of the road from where you only have to ascent approximately 900 meters. Its a 40 minutes trek and the view is amazing.