Rainbow Mountain has become famous for its colorful mineral deposits, making it a popular place for people to take that perfect photo for Instagram. While Rainbow Mountain and the surrounding scenery is beautiful, it’s also important to know what you’re getting into. The hike to Rainbow Mountain is at high elevation and because of its popularity, the area is often incredibly busy with tourists.
Here’s what to expect on a visit to Rainbow Mountain.
Rainbow Mountains
Before we get too far into this post, it’s important to mention there are multiple Rainbow Mountains. Therefore, when you book your tour to Rainbow Mountain, it’s very important to look at which mountain you’ll actually be visiting. There’s no right or wrong mountain, but different mountains will give you different experiences, particularly in terms of crowds.
I booked my trip to Rainbow Mountain through my hotel and this ended up as a day trip to Vinicunca. I had a good time, but it was a very busy mountain since so many tourists visiting at the same time. Other mountains will offer similar views but hopefully smaller crowds.
A Day Trip to Vinicunca
As mentioned, this is based on my own experience. I booked my excursion through my hotel and that brought me to the Vinicunca Mountain (which is actually not the Rainbow Mountain, but a mountain right next to it). If you book a tour to a different Rainbow Mountain, such as Palccoyo or Pallay Punchu, your day may look different than mine.
Pick Up & Driving to Vinicunca
Like all day trips from Cusco, pick up is early. Between 4:00 and 4:30 am, the streets of Cusco are covered with white passenger vans picking up tourists for their day trips. Rainbow Mountain is no exception and you’ll be picked up early. Once all the tourists are collected, it’s a two hour drive to breakfast. I recommend trying to get a little more sleep during this time.
Breakfast
Like with most tours from Cusco, breakfast is included with your tour but you need to know that it’s a very basic breakfast. It’s a buffet and you can have as much as you’d like. It wasn’t a spectacular breakfast, but I do think it was better than the breakfast I had on my day trip to the Ausungate 7 Lakes.
After breakfast, you’ll have another two hours of driving until you reach the trailhead. A day trip to Rainbow Mountain has a ton of driving and there’s no way to get around that.
Hiking to Vinicunca & The Red Valley
Everyone will arrive at the trailhead and then you have a choice to make. Do you want to hike? Do you want to take an ATV? Do you want to take a horse? Hiking is free, but if you choose to take a horse or ATV, you’ll need to pay extra for this (sometimes this is as much as you’ve paid for the tour).
I chose to hike since this was another one of my day trips that I used as practice for the Inca Trail. This entire trail is higher than the Inca Trail, so even though I was out of breath for most of the hike, I felt like if I could handle this, I could handle the Inca Trail.
Since I chose to hike, that’s what this blog post will focus on.
From the trailhead, it’s a very steady uphill hike for nearly 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) until you reach the summit of Vinicunca. It’s not so much steep (though you do gain nearly 1000 feet over this hike), but it is high. I was consistently out of breath during this hike, which makes sense because it was the highest I had been on any of my day hikes from Cusco (and the highest I’d been since a day trip from La Paz to Charquini). Go slow and take your time. Take breaks as you need them.
As you get closer to Vinicunca, the crowds will increase. There’s a main viewpoint at the base of Vinicunca and it blew my mind just how many people were here. I thought that the trail to Huamantay Lake was busy, but that was nothing compared to the trail to Rainbow Mountain.
With those people comes lines for photos. I skipped the photo at the base of Vinicunca. This line arguably gives you the best view of Rainbow Mountain and that perfect social media picture. However, I just didn’t want to wait in that line, so I kept climbing all the way to the top of Vinicunca. Here, I waited in the line for a photo. I don’t mind waiting, but the line moves so slowly as people feel the need to do multiple poses despite the line of people waiting behind them.
The good news is that the view from the top is pretty good, so if you can avoid looking directly at the crowds, it’s a great view. Enjoy it because you’ve earned it.
On the way back down, we passed our guide who told us we could either go back the way we came or we could hike to an overlook of Red Valley. I chose to go to Red Valley because it’s unlikely that I’ll ever be back here. So, we started working our way back, but turned right to get on the trail to the overlook. Here you’ll have to pay an additional fee of 30 soles. This view is not included in your day trip.
Note that when you’re on the top of Vinicunca, you’ll see what looks like a Red Valley to the right (if you’re facing Rainbow Mountain). This is Red Valley, but this is not the route you’ll take. According to our guide, this adds loads of extra miles and time to the day that you don’t have. Instead, you’ll hike to a different view.
The good news is that the view is great. The bad news is that to reach the view, you need to climb up another mountain. So as you descend Vinicunca, you’ll lose about 250 feet of elevation, but on the hike up to the overlook, you’ll gain all of that elevation right back. In my opinion though, the view is worth it. Fewer people visit this viewpoint compared to the view on Vinicunca so enjoy it. Take your photos before starting the long descent done.
While it’s not a long descent and it’s only about a mile, but it is a very steep descent. My toes were constantly hitting the front of my shoes and the hike was tough on my legs. I don’t regret visiting Red Valley, but I wish the hike down wasn’t as hard on the legs as it was. In some ways, I hated this downhill more than I hated panting up the mountain.
Before you know it, you’ll be back at the trailhead. Find your van (hopefully you took a photo of the license plate when you arrived!) and wait for the rest of your group to finish before you start your journey back to Cusco.
Lunch
Lunch is also included in your tour and you’ll go back to the same restaurant you visited this morning. So, you’ll have nearly two hours of driving between finishing the trail and arriving at lunch. Like with breakfast, it wasn’t the best meal I’ve ever had, but it was included, so I’m not going to complain.
Back to Cusco
After lunch, it’s time to head back to Cusco. It’s another long drive, but out of the guided three day trips that I did from Cusco, this was the day trip where we arrived back in Cusco the earliest. I’m not sure if it’s just because my group finished so quickly or if it’s standard for tours to Vinicunca, but we were back at the Plaza de Armas in Cusco before 4:00 pm (typically we were back around 6:00 pm). That was wonderful!
Stats for Hiking Rainbow Mountain & Red Valley
It’s about 3.3 total miles for the day. Here’s how that breaks down.
Trailhead to Vinicunca: 1.4 miles, 1000 feet elevation gain
Vinicunca to Red Valley Overlook: 1 mile, 250 feet elevation loss, 250 feet elevation gain
Red Valley Overlook to Trailhead: 0.9 miles, 1000 feet elevation loss
Elevation Gain: 1,345 feet (410 meters)
Starting Elevation: 15,516 feet (4730 meters)
Highest Elevation: 16,558 feet (5046 meters)
Is a Day Trip to Rainbow Mountain Worth It?
In my opinion, yes, a day trip to Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca) is worth it. The views were great, even if they were very crowded. It was clear to me that this was the most popular day trip from Cusco. I think as long as you are aware that it’s going to be packed with tourists, you can set your expectations appropriately and enjoy your day.
Final Thoughts
Rainbow Mountain just seems to be growing in popularity every year. Whether you visit Vinicunca or one of the other Rainbow Mountains near Cusco, you’re sure to have a great view.
