As you hear it, there are 2 routes but first let’s start with a brief introduction. The Mountain of Colors is a natural geological attraction located 100 km south of Cusco, its fame began at the beginning of 2015, although it is known that the first visitors were trekking lovers who made the route. The Ausangate route attracted by its magnificent beauty They did their best to reach it since 2002, but it was not until 2016 that thanks to social networks, it became famous worldwide thanks to the posts of visitors who were amazed at such a spectacular view.
The first tours to the Rainbow Mountain (A bit of history)
The first visitors to reach the mountain of colors have to travel 3 hours from Cusco and then complete the journey with a 4-5 hour walk, which was very exhausting (South Entrance).
At the beginning of 2018, a new route was opened to get to the mountain, on this route you had to walk 3 hours, which was still exhausted.
By 2023 we are left with 2 well-marked used routes, both used by tourism as each of them have improved their access, making the walk much shorter.
Route 01: Cusco – Cusipata – Chillihuani – Pullawasipata (North Entrance)
The Classic of the classics, 90% of the travelers arrive by this route,
Currently it is the commercial route of entry, the trip takes 3 hours from Cusco to the point of the Walk (Pullawasipata) and then complete the journey with a walk of approximately 1.30 km, a route of 4 km, this is the popular one used by travel agencies. The advantage is the short travel distance compared to the second one, but also as it is the most used route, there is a great congestion of passengers along the route, which could influence the final experience. On this route, you can rent only horses if you do not want to walk.
The tours take a whole day, on average between 10 – 12 you can see herds of llamas and alpacas, the environment of the Peruvian Andes, the snowy Ausangate and local towns among others.
Route 02: Cusco – Cusipata – Pitumarca – Japura – Rainbow Mountain (South Entrance)
We will call the old route 10% of travelers enjoy this section
It is the pioneer route to enter the mountain of colors, the travel time in tourist transport is 3.30 hours and the walk can take between 40-50 minutes, it is 2.3 km away.
It is the least used route due to the distance that must be traveled, however the walking time is much less, in addition the road is much quieter than the Cusipata route (North Entrance) as it is known by travel agents, currently only 10 % of the total number of travelers take this path, it is not easy to find tours along this route, these are private groups who want to enjoy a route without many tourists, also a detail on this route, you can take a tour with ATVs towards the mountains, which is an experience unique for adventure lovers.
Which one do we recommend?
Which route to choose is not an easy choice, if you want to do a group tour Route 01 is definitely the best option, value for money because you will not find tours for the second option, if you have the option of doing a private tour Route 2 is a super option to enjoy all the scenic beauty spending less energy on hiking and if you hire an ATV tour they will definitely take you along this route!
Written by JorgeCuscoTravel Expert, Do not forget to subscribe to find out about our new blogs