Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain Day Trip from Cusco – Easy Hike

Palcoyo Mountains is part of the Rainbow Mountains it a 3:30 hours drive from Cusco, but it is somewhat easier, marked trails, shorter, less crowded, and lower altitude. Our guide, driver, and hiking guide for this hike was Ricardo. We are still somewhat acclimating to the altitude so we are not the fastest hikers and he was patient with us and matched our slow pace. We didn’t feel rushed at any point during our hike. He kept asking us if we are okay and how we are feeling. He even lent us his walking sticks for each of during the hike and he was our translator when we interact with the locals to get some pictures with Alpacas and Llamas. As our driver going to and from the hike, we felt very safe too and his car is cleaned and well kemp. He arrived in our hotel on time and he was able to drop off us at our hotel on time as well. Overall it’s a fun experience but it’s not for everyone since it’s a high altitude hike it can be risky especially to those who have heart problems.

The location was amazing. The driver was very good. However our guide Richard was not the best. He spoke very little with very little info about place. He also walked 50 yards ahead of us at most times. We told him to slow down several times as we could not keep up. We figured we could have done it on our own.

There were more llamas than people on this lesser used entrance to rainbow mountain. The setting is surreally beautiful. You see striped areas, red areas, and very high peaks. This tour is very well organized and thought out.

Richard was our guide, and he gave the choice of the Palcoyo Trek and the actual Rainbow Mountain....we chose the real deal, and it was a great choice. He showed pictures, but we decided to go to the actual Rainbow Mountain. To make it a "little" less strenuous, we booked horses up and back to the base of the hiking mountain.....it is still a 40-50 minute hike up from there. The horseback ride was about 45 minutes to the base, then you hike up the mountain, with lots of breaks. Once you step over the rock wall at the top of the mountain, whew, it is lovely. You take a break, and then climb to the second crest for incredible pictures and views of the rainbow mountain and the glacier mountain. Then reverse, careful down the mountain, horses back to the parking areas. I will tell you the car ride up was car cliff driving.......if you get car sick easily, perhaps there are other ways to see the beautiful Rainbow mountain range........internet is good. But, if you are adventuresome and get to Peru, this is a MUST tour.