Rainbow mountain, also known as Vinicunca, Winikunka or called in spanish Montaña de siete Colores one of the main wonderful landscapes found in Cusco Peru declared by many people as a cusquenian paradise where you can appreciate sheeps, alpacas vicuñas, local people and catalogued by the magazine NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC as one of the 100 places that must be visited before dying.
Everyone who sees the photo of the color full hills on instagram, facebook or pinterest wants to see it and if you’re already in Cusco you can see a lot of posters stuck on the walls of the streets and in many hotels and hostels.
Almost all travelers who come to Cusco want to go to rainbow mountain, however they have some fear and doubts about the rainbow mountain, How’s the weather in the mountain, is it necessary to acclimatize before the tour ?, How many days do I need to acclimatize before doing rainbow mountain?, is it possible to do it on my own or I need to hire a travel agency mandatorily? , can we find toilets or shops? since they hear some people say that it was quite an odyssey to get to the top of the mountain of 7 colors, others indicating that it is necessary to bring oxygen or go on horse and other They indicate that you can get there without any problem.
So if you want to know what exactly a Rainbow Mountain day trip from Cusco involves (and whether it’s actually worth it), learn why the mountain has become so crowded, what is the best season to travel to this mountain, what to pack for Rainbow Mountain and If you need a travel agency or you can do it on your own, save a lot of money, time and understand how to prepare for the insane Vinicunca altitude – plus appreciate some of the new realities Rainbow Mountain Cusco in 2019 – so here you can find all this information about rainbow mountain and also if you have more questions write in the final comment box I will be happy to help you ;).
Where is Rainbow Mountain in Cusco: Ausangate Trek.
Rainbow mountain is located in the Andes of Peru in the department of Cusco and province of Canchis, located between the villages of Pitumarca and Cusipata, an enigmatic and hypnotic place that is currently inhabited by alpacas, llamas and a lot of local people who live in the low areas of the mountains, a true and challenge adventure waiting for all those people who love adventure and nature.
Rainbow Mountain Day Trip from Cusco.
Currently in 2019 exist one route for rainbow mountain full day tour from cusco, the pick up time for the rainbow mountain tour begins between 3:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. some travel agencies pick up their passengers at the main square (plaza de armars) or near to the this afterwards, we go to the town of cusipata where we will take our breakfast,
Once we finish our breakfast we return to our car and continue our trip to the point of entrance to the rainbow mountain trek, where we need to pay our entrance (S / 10.00 per person),in this place we will also find toilets the cost is from s / 1.00 after we start our hikking day 50 meters beyond we can rent horses if we want the cost is arund 100 soles round trip of course you can negotiate with the horseman also if you want you can rent just one way,the route is semi-flat and there is one route that leads to the top so it is difficult to lose, If you choose to take the horse, the horse does not reach the top, reaches a stop that is 30 minutes from the top, in the top you will have about 45 minutes to take pictures, make selfies or make a funny videos 😉 once concluded our adventure in the top we return by the same route the time is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes we return at the point of entrance where our car is waiting for us then we will return to the town of cusipata where we can Enjoy an exquisite lunch and then return to the city of Cusco the arrival to the city of Cusco is around 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Although some tours may leave and arrive earlier or later, the standard day trip to Rainbow Mountain will involve the following:
Hostel pick-up between 4 a.m. – 5 a.m.
Drive for two hours
Breakfast stop for 30-45 mins
Drive for 1.5 hours to Rainbow Mountain car park
Walk along trail to the mirador / viewpoint (1.5 – 2 hours)
Stay at viewpoint for 10-20 minutes
Walk trail back to tour bus (1 hour)
Drive for 1.5 hours and have a lunch stop
Drive back to Cusco.
What to Pack for Rainbow Mountain.
The biggest mistake anyone will make for Rainbow Mountain is to underestimate the altitude and its impact. If you’ve heard anyone else say how much they struggled on the walk or how terrible they felt, then it’s almost certainly because they didn’t understand or prepare correctly for altitude sickness.
The first point is what kind of dress is appropriately for Rainbow Mountain, When you leave Cusco at around 3:30 AM you want to wear a few layers, gloves, sweater, warm jacket and hat, suncream is essential due to the UV at this altitude and also plenty water.
When the bus dropped us off in the entrance of rainbow mountain You will see some people in shorts and t-shirts and maybe you thought they were crazy. However, hours later, the sun is very hard and the hikers in shorts were actually properly dressed well but always the top of the rainbow mountain is cold and you can find strong winds and some days hikers experienced snow and rain, specially in rainy season so here what I’d recommend packing:
Small Backpack
- Comfy Shoes(Hiking shoes are best).
- Warm clothes sweater if you stay days before I’m sure you bought an alpaca sweater ;), gloves, jacket just for girls alpaca clothes are the best invention ever: warm light and cheap.
- Hat and sunglasses, sunscreen – For the sun,wind and snow.
- Coca candy for the altitude – If you’re afraid of the altitude we recommended bring 1 pack of coca candy.
