Cusco: Palccoyo Trek Full Day Tour
- Duration
- 11 Hours
- Prices:
- On request
Looking for an alternate, easier and shorter trek than the Rainbow mountain that offers equally stunning views - all with 90% less trekkers and less altitude to climb? Then look to the Palccoyo trek.
It is an early start from either Cusco or the Sacred Valley. You will be picked up from your hotel and then drive approximately 2 to 3 hours south of Cusco. You then turn into a valley and begin the picturesque drive to that start point of the trek.
As you travel through rural Peru, with no other traveler in sight, you pass through small villages where you can see their inhabitants, in the fields tending high altitude potatoes and maize fields while also shepherding their hundreds of alpacas and llamas.
The views become grander as you snake along side a river fed from the high Andes before entering the town of Palccoyo. Here you enter the park and drive to the car park where your trek starts. The advantage of this trek is being driven to the altitude of +/- 4100 meters, leaving a short walk of about 1 hour and another 800 meters to reach the view point.
A gentle climb exposes stunning towering rock formations to your left and when you turn to your right - panoramic views of multi colored rock layers are n offer almost everywhere you look. The silence is deafening at this high altitude and with minimal people around you.
When you reach the look out you have at your back a "rainbow mountain" as well as clear views (weather permitting) to the highest mountain the in Cusco valley - Ausangate standing at 6,384 meters / 20944 feet.
You then return to your vehicle for your boxed lunch before heading back to Cusco arriving late afternoon.
Duration: 11 Hours
Departs: 5:30 a.m. - Returns: 4:30 p.m.
From: Cusco or Sacred Valley
