The Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain is a new alternative to the already famous colorful mountain, this mountain is lighter, less strenuous and without crowds looking for a great photo. If you are hungry for spectacular and remote landscapes, join us on this day tour to merge a wide smile with the colors of Palcoyo on a hike that will make you feel like the only one on the planet.
On this guided tour you will visit Colca, Cusipata, Checacupe, known for its emblematic bridges: Inca, Colonial and Republican. You’ll hike for just an hour and a half to see not just one, but all three colorful Palcoyo mountains. Then, you will ascend at your own pace to 4,900 meters to admire the sacred snow-capped Ausangate, considered the highest snow-capped mountain in Cusco. In addition, you will feel that indescribable tranquility experiencing the unique silence of the Vilcanota mountain range while you walk through the beautiful Rock Forest. Try it and let yourself be moved by history, culture and amazing nature.
This beautiful Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain or Tres Rainbows offers a more leisurely, shorter and mostly flat option and is the best option for those who don’t want to hike for 3 hours round-trip or more, as in the standard one-day tour to Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain, which has a very challenging uphill ascent.
If you’re short on time and want to tick-off impressive landscapes without committing too much hiking, then Palcoyo or alternative Rainbow Mountain is a very interesting option as a day trip from Cusco, also, if you are not good at walking, you have problems with the high altituden or you don´t like overcrowded attractions.
You will have thorough briefing with your guide 1 or 2 days before your Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain. Your guide will meet you at your hotel and you can take this opportunity to ask questions and make any final preparations.
We will pick you up very early from your hotel at 4:00 am. We then set out on a beautiful drive through the South Valley, along the Cusco – Puno highway, passing many colorful colonial towns. After nearly 2 ½ hours on the road to the alternative rainbow mountain, we reach the small town of Checacupe.
From here we take a detour onto a dirt road, where we will travel for 1 hour in our transport until we reach the trailhead for our 1 day trek to Palcoyo (4,900 meters/ 16,076 feet). At this point, we begin our gentle ascent towards the first lookout point. After about 15 or 20 minutes, we’ll have our first glimpse of Peru’s incredible Red Valley, and several smaller colored mountains. After admiring the breathtaking views and getting that Instagram-perfect shot, we continue another 15 or 20 minutes until we reach the principal Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain lookout.
At a whopping 5,040meter (16,534 feet), you’ll feel on top of the world! Here, you will have gorgeous views of the three Rainbow Mountain Palccoyo peaks laying across one another parading as well as the most unique views of Ausangate (6.375 meters/ 20.915 feet), the highest snow capped mountain of the Cusco region. Bring your thermos! It can get very chilly at these high altitudes.
Then, there will be an optional extra hike through Palcoyo’s Rock Forest, where you will enjoy a well-deserved break here admiring the view, and then we have the option to continue on a bit further to the Rock Forest. It’s about a 20-minute uphill hike to reach this fascinating geological feature, a stunning outcropping of jagged rocks. This is a great sport to get more of those classic Palccoyo shots, and take in all that mother Nature has to offer.
After exploring the area and enjoying the spectacular view. Once we are done enjoying the scenery and amazing painted landscapes, we walk back down the way we came. We now take our private transport to the village of Checacupe (approx 1 hour) where we will enjoy our box lunch and explore the small bridge there. After taking some time to walk across the bridge, take pictures and enjoy the area we take our private transport back to Cusco (about a 2 to 2.5 hour drive) and drop off at your respective hotel in Cusco.
A group tour means that it is open for other clients to join you. This means that your group will have varying hiking and fitness abilities. All our guides are experts on how to keep the trek moving and happy no matter how fast you hike.
