- Day tripCusco 3:00–4:30 am · 2.5–3 h drive to Cusipata (3,300 m) · 1 h track to the trailhead (4,600–4,800 m) · 3.5 km, 1.5–2 h to the ridge 5,036 m · 1 h at the top · 1.5 h down · lunch · 2.5 h back · Cusco 4–6 pm
- Red Valley+ 2 km and 1 h from the ridge, 5,050 m, 30 soles separate entrance; fixed with 6 products, optional with 4
- Two-day toursQesuno or Quesiuno (4,300 m) → Anata camp 5,000 m or Surineqocha 4,700 m · 14–15 km · day 2: 2 h to Vinicunca, 10–18 km out
- Three-day toursUpis 4,250 m → Arapa pass 4,800 → Pucacocha → Puca pass 4,870 → Warmisaya 4,985 → Surinecocha → Vinicunca · 30–40 km · four-day tour with an extra day by the glacier
- Altitude profileCusco 3,400 · Cusipata 3,300 · trailhead 4,600–4,800 · ridge 5,036 · highest trek pass 5,100 (Apacheta, Andean Great Treks)
The day trip: twelve hours for two hours of trail
The standard day is built the same with all 22 day products; only the times shift. Pickup between three (Rainbow Mountain Travels), four (Chullos, MC Peru, Inka Altitude) and half past four (TreXperience, Machu Picchu Tours); if you do not stay in the centre, you walk to the meeting point. Two hours of sleep in the bus down the South Valley, breakfast in Cusipata around half past six – buffet with Chullos and Rainbow Mountain Travels, “light, because of the altitude” with Kantu, at the Lupita restaurant with VIPAC. Then another hour of track uphill, the last kilometres in hairpins, to the car park at 4,600 to 4,800 m. Briefing, poles, horses for those who want one. The trail: a wide cart track up the valley, flat, with alpacas, then the last 500 m steep in bends to the ridge. One and a half to two hours, everyone says; Peru Private Tours reckons one hour with the horse. An hour at the top – photos, the Red Valley for those given the time –, then an hour and a half down, lunch in Cusipata around one, two to three hours back. Arrival in Cusco between four and six, later with VIPAC (16 hours).
The 8 am day by Peru Private Tours turns that around: pickup at eight, snacks on the way, start at the car park around eleven when the first groups are already descending, ridge around one, lunch at three, Cusco at six. Andina offers the same at eight (group, USD 172 for two) and at nine (private). It is the dearer day, but the one with the empty viewpoint.
The stages: Cusco, the trail, the Red Valley, Palccoyo, the trek
Six sections, from pickup to the last tent night before the ridge. The altitudes come from operator texts and vary there by up to 200 m; we give the most common figure. Below each section it says which products walk it.
Everything begins in Cusco, and at night: the groups pick up between three and half past four so as to be at the top before the crowds.
If you want Vinicunca, sleep at least two nights in Cusco first – Salkantay Trekking, exploor and Andina Expeditions say so explicitly, and the altitude proves them right: Cusco sits at 3,400 m, the trail begins at 4,600 to 4,800 and ends above 5,000. The bus heads down the South Valley via Urcos and Checacupe, either to Cusipata (breakfast with Chullos, Rainbow Mountain Travels, VIPAC) or via Pitumarca (Rainbow Mountain Travels private, Bamba). Two approaches, two communities, two ticket booths – more below. The 8 am departures by Peru Private Tours and Andina turn the logic around: be at the top when the others are already at lunch.
The trail is wide, never exposed and would be a stroll at sea level. At 4,800 m it is not.
From the car park (MC Peru calls it Pulawasipata, Rainbow Mountain Travels Hanchipata–Llama Chimpana, Chullos “4,326 m” – the figures vary) a cart track leads up the valley, flat at first, the last 500 m steep to the ridge. Alpacas and stalls on the left, horses on the right: 80 soles uphill, 120 return (Peru Private Tours), 90 soles (Andina), USD 25 to 35 (Inka Altitude, Crossover). A horse takes you to twenty minutes below the ridge; the final stretch everyone walks. The guides carry oxygen; anyone with a headache, nausea or dizziness says so at once and turns back. At the top at 5,036 m (Viator texts say 5,200, that is the ridge behind) you stand before the striped mountain and, when it is clear, with Ausangate at your back.
From the ridge an hour across to the Red Valley: red slopes, hardly anyone, a second ticket booth.
The junction is at the viewpoint. The Red Valley belongs to the neighbouring community and has its own entrance, 30 soles in cash (Rainbow Mountain Travels gives the figure, Chullos the exclusion). The trail crosses the slope at a good 5,000 m and then looks into a valley that really is red in the afternoon sun, with alpacas in the green on the floor. Only TreXperience and the two- and three-day tours by Salkantay Trekking, Peru Hike, Andean Great Treks and Apu Ausangate have the detour fixed in the programme; with Chullos, Rainbow Mountain Travels and Vidal it is an option. The groups that left at four and want to be at lunch by one lack the time – if you want the Red Valley, ask at the briefing, not on the ridge.
Palccoyo is the rainbow mountain for those who do not want to climb for two hours at 4,900 m: three coloured ridges, a stone forest, almost empty.
An hour further south, via Checacupe with its three bridges (Inca, colonial, republican) and up a bumpy track: Palccoyo. From the car park at 4,800 m it is a flat 40-minute walk to the viewpoint, from which you see three striped mountains at once, plus the stone forest and, in clear weather, Ausangate. The colours are paler than at Vinicunca, the view wider, the people fewer. Entrance 20 soles (Palcoyo Tours), included with Inca Highlands and Machu Picchu Peru Tours. For children, older travellers and anyone who has had altitude sickness before, Palccoyo is the better choice; if you want the photo of the striped mountain everyone knows, you have to go to Vinicunca.
The three-day tours begin in Upis, at the foot of Ausangate, with hot springs and the first night by the glacier.
Three hours' drive to Tinqui and Upis at 4,250 m, breakfast, load the horses. Day one crosses the pampa to the Arapa pass (4,800 m) and descends to Pucacocha or Hatun Pucacocha lake, where the tent stands right beneath the ice wall of Ausangate (Salkantay Trekking, Peru Hike, Apu Ausangate). Peru Hike and Andean Path stay at Upis by the hot springs on day one and cross the pass on day two. At 6,384 m Ausangate is the highest mountain in the region and the apu to whom the guides offer coca leaves at departure – if you want the full circuit, Vidal Expeditions sells it as a five-day tour, without Vinicunca.
Two passes, then the camp from which it is only one or two hours to Vinicunca in the morning – without a single bus.
The day before Vinicunca is the long one: over the Puca pass (4,870) and the Warmisaya (4,985, Apu Ausangate says 5,050, Andean Great Treks names the Apacheta at 5,100) to Surinecocha lake, where Salkantay Trekking, Peru Hike and Apu Ausangate camp. From the Warmisaya you see the striped mountain for the first time. The two-day tours by FlashpackerConnect and FLY Cusco instead drive to Qesuno and walk 14 km along the glacier side to Anata camp at 5,000 m; Bamba camps lower, at Llamachimpana at 4,200. All have a cook, dining tent and horses for five to eight kilos of luggage; sleeping bag and mat are included with Salkantay Trekking 2 days, FlashpackerConnect, FLY Cusco and Peru Hike, not with Andean Path, Andean Great Treks, Apu Ausangate and Bamba. In the morning the groups rise at four, are on the ridge at six and alone.
The route in stages: altitudes and itineraries from the operator data, photos illustrate the places. The boxes show where the four compared offers differ at the same spot.
Itineraries of the products
Five itineraries as they appear on Viator: the standard trip by Chullos, the late day by Peru Private Tours, the two-day tour by Salkantay Trekking, the three-day tour by Peru Hike, the four-day tour by Apu Ausangate. Times are operator figures and apply in good weather.
Chullos Travel · day trip 4:30 am, Red Valley optional 1 day · 0 nights
Hotel pickup, two hours through the South Valley to Cusipata, buffet breakfast; on to the trailhead, two hours moderately uphill to the viewpoint, Red Valley optional; back, lunch in Cusipata, drop-off at the plaza.
Peru Private Tours · 8 am, maximum 12, door to door 1 day · 0 nights
Pickup at eight, just under two hours to the rest stop with snacks, briefing at the trailhead, poles, horses for those who want them; at the top as the early groups leave; lunch at their own restaurant in Cusipata, two hours back, drop-off at the hotel.
Salkantay Trekking · 2 days, three entrances included 2 days · 1 nights
Breakfast in Quesiuno, ascent through alpaca valleys with views of Ausangate to the Puka pass (4,870), lunch at Anantapata, in the afternoon the Warmisaya pass (4,985) with the first view of Vinicunca, descent to camp, dinner.
☾ Zelt am Surineqocha-SeeCoca tea and breakfast, two hours to Vinicunca (5,100), on into the Red Valley (5,050), descent to Llacto, lunch, private bus to Cusco.
Peru Hike · 3 days, truly all-inclusive, USD 399 3 days · 2 nights
Pickup at the hotel or Plaza de Armas, drive through villages to Upis (4,250), breakfast, short walk to the hot springs, lunch and night at the camp with a view of Ausangate.
☾ Zelt in UpisAscent to the Arapa pass (4,800) with views of ice peaks and turquoise lagoons, past Hatun Pucacocha lake, lunch, on to Anantapata below the foothills of Vinicunca.
☾ Zelt in AnantapataWake at four, breakfast, Warmisaya pass (4,985) and Vinicunca ahead of the day groups, Red Valley, descent to the bus, lunch, drive back to Cusco.
Apu Ausangate Trek · 4 days, local guides, porter 8 kg 4 days · 3 nights
Three hours to the Pukutuni school, breakfast, cook and horsemen join; across the pampa to Upis, lunch, in the afternoon to the lake, hot springs, night.
☾ Zelt am Upis-LagerWake-up tea, ascent close to the Ausangate glacier to the Arapa pass, lunch, two hours to the camp on the shore of Pucacocha beneath the summit.
☾ Zelt am Pucacocha (Roter See)The pass day: in the morning the Pucca pass with views of the highest Vilcanota peaks, lunch at Ananta, an hour and a half to the Warmisaya (5,050), twenty minutes down to camp.
☾ Zelt am SurinecochaBreakfast at five, an hour to the Vinicunca pass for sunrise, Red Valley, an hour and a half down to Hanchipata near Cusipata (3,800), lunch, bus to Cusco.
Stops and walking times from the operator's Viator product data, edited for length. Maps and figures illustrate the route and are not for navigation.
