Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley ATV Tour from Cusco
$51 Full Day
Overview
~4,900 m
Highest viewpoint
3
Rainbow ridges
Under 1 h
On foot
Dozens
Visitors, not thousands
Palccoyo lies in Checacupe district, Canchis province, about three and a half hours south of Cusco. It is a rainbow mountain, and it is not the famous one.
Vinicunca is the mountain most people mean when they say Rainbow Mountain. It is a single coloured cone reached by ninety minutes of steady climbing, shared with hundreds of other people. Palccoyo is a different proposition entirely.
Here the colour is spread across three separate ridges. They stand across the valley from one another, and you can take all three in from the same spot. The bands are broader and softer than at Vinicunca. They are laid down in long sweeps of rust, ochre, cream and pale green rather than one dramatic stripe.
The geology is the same story. Sedimentary layers built up over millions of years, each carrying different minerals, then tilted and worn back until the layers show at the surface. Iron oxides give the reds and rust. Other minerals give the greens and yellows. What differs at Palccoyo is the shape of the ground the layers sit in, which is why the colour reads as landscape here rather than as a single object.
Beyond the third viewpoint stands the stone forest, a field of tall eroded rock pillars that most visitors reach and few photographs show. On a clear day Ausangate, at 6,384 metres the highest mountain in the Cusco region, is visible with its glacier still on.
You will see the name written as Palccoyo, Palcoyo, Palqoyo or Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain. Same place. Quechua has been written down with several competing spellings and none of them fully won.
Most visitors come for the ridges and walk past the rest. Our piece on the stone forest at Palccoyo argues for it.
Tour Highlights
- ✓ Not one hill photographed from one angle. Three separate coloured ridges standing across the valley from each other, visible together.
- ✓ The shortest walk to a rainbow mountain in the region, on a broad track with gentle gradients and nothing to scramble.
- ✓ A field of tall eroded rock pillars beyond the third viewpoint. Almost nobody photographs it and almost everybody remembers it.
- ✓ The highest mountain in the Cusco region, 6,384 metres with its glacier, standing across the horizon.
- ✓ Vinicunca takes hundreds a day and sometimes over a thousand. Palccoyo takes dozens.
- ✓ If you are travelling with children or with someone who walks slowly, this is the rainbow mountain that works, provided the altitude is respected.
What to Expect
A long drive, a short walk, and more time standing still than most of our trips. Expect around seven hours in a vehicle across the day, split either side of the mountain. An early start, a buffet breakfast on the road, and back in Cusco by evening.
Expect the walking to be the smallest part of it. Under an hour out and rather less coming back, because the return runs downhill. Most people spend longer at the viewpoints than on the path between them.
Expect the colour to depend on the sky. Direct sun makes the bands read. Heavy cloud flattens them to brown and grey, and no operator can do anything about that.
Expect cold and wind at the top. At 4,900 metres on an open ridge there is nothing to shelter behind, and the wind is usually the reason people cut a viewpoint short.
Expect very few other people. That is the point of coming here rather than to Vinicunca, and on most days it holds.
Best Time to Go on Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain Tour from Cusco
The bands only read as colour under direct sun, and snow hides them completely. Season matters more here than distance or effort.
Green is the season we recommend Red is when departures are limited
May to September
Best
What to expect
Dry. Cold at dawn, clear skies, strong sun by mid morning
Our view
The season. Firm ground on the last stretch of road, and the light the ridges need.
April and October
What to expect
Shoulder months. Mixed cloud, firmer ground than the wet season
Our view
Good, and quieter still. Accept that one ridge may come out flat.
November to March
What to expect
Rain, cloud sitting on the ridges, unreliable last stretch of road
Our view
Limited departures. Snow on the ridges hides the colour entirely.
i
Before you pick a month
Snow covers the thing you came to see.
A light dusting is enough to hide the bands completely, and outside the dry season it can arrive overnight. Rain you can dress for. Cloud usually lifts. Snow on the ridges simply ends the reason for the drive, and there is nothing any operator can do about it. That is the real argument for travelling between May and September rather than at the edges of it.
Palccoyo or Vinicunca
Both are rainbow mountains, both are a long drive south, and they suit different people. Here is the split, with nothing hidden. Green marks the better of the two on that row.
Palccoyo
Vinicunca
Highest point
around 4,900 m
5,036 m
Time on foot
under 1 hour
about 1.5 hours
Gradient
Gentle throughout
Steady climb, steep at the end
Coloured ridges
Three
One
People on a busy day
Dozens
Well over a thousand
Stone forest
Yes
No
Suits children and slower walkers
Yes, with acclimatisation
Harder
Entrance fee
S/ 15
S/ 25
The photograph
A landscape of three ridges
The one everybody knows
i
Choosing between them
The short answer.
If you want the famous image, go to Vinicunca and accept the crowd. If you want coloured mountains without a queue, or you are travelling with someone who cannot manage ninety minutes uphill, come here. We have set the whole question out in is Rainbow Mountain worth it, including the case for going to Vinicunca anyway.
Tour Itinerary
1
Pickup in Cusco
Collection from hotels and hostels in the city. We leave once the whole group is aboard.
Bring cash in soles, warm layers, sun protection and shoes with grip. The first stretch runs south on tarmac down the Vilcanota valley.
2
Buffet breakfast on the road south
3
Palccoyo trailhead
5
The three viewpoints
6
The stone forest
7
Lunch
8
Back in Cusco
✓
Inclusions
- ✓ Pickup from your hotel or hostel in Cusco
- ✓ Tourist transport for the whole day
- ✓ Professional guide, Spanish and English
- ✓ Buffet breakfast on the road south
- ✓ Buffet lunch
- ✓ Oxygen and first aid kit on board
X
Not Included
- X Entrance ticket
- X Drinking water and snacks
- X Travel insurance
- X Dinner on return to Cusco
Departure Information
Available: Daily departures
Group Size: Up to 9 people
Start Time: 4:00 AM
Pickup: Your hotel in Cusco
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Palccoyo easier than Rainbow Mountain?
On foot, yes, and by a wide margin. Under an hour of gentle walking here against about ninety minutes of steady climbing at Vinicunca. The altitude difference is much smaller than the effort difference, so the day is easier but it is not low.
How high is Palccoyo?
How many rainbow mountains are there here?
Will the colours look like the photographs?
What is the stone forest?
Gallery
