Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain might be the smaller and lesser known neighbour of Vinicunca (aka the original Rainbow Mountain), but it’s no slouch in the looks department. What’s more, there are actually three rainbow coloured mountains along the walk, as well as countless other red peaks.
The walk at Palccoyo is breathtaking, taking you past llama filled valleys and under the shadow of looming jagged rocks. It was my favourite walk in the area due to the beauty, and the fact it was so much easier than others, allowing you to really enjoy all the scenery, rather than panting your way along as we did at Vinicunca and Humantay Lake.
Here’s everything you need to know about the alternative Rainbow Mountain hike.
The Palccoyo Mountain hike
The stats
Distance: 3km return or 3.9km partial loop
Elevation gain: 104m or 175m if visiting the stone forest
Difficulty: Moderate (because of the altitude)
Summary: The walk at Palccoyo is all on a well graded path. It’s either gravel or stone track, however you can still get the odd bit of mud where the gravel is thin (this is more likely during and just after the rainy season, when the snow melts). Although there is a steady climb required to reach the main viewpoint, it’s very gradual and you can break it up with other lookouts along the way.
The only thing that stops the walk being a breeze is the altitude - more on combating that at the end of the post.
If you want to do the side trail to the stone forest (Bosque de Piedras) then the path is steeper and narrower, with some loose gravel. This is not required to simply enjoy the rainbow mountain though.
Starting the trail
From the parking area the walk heads up a few stones steps to a large lookout platform (100m from the car park). This was still under construction on our visit, but didn’t look far off being finished.
It’s here that you’ll get the best view of the first rainbow mountain. There are some fabulous colourful stripes on this mountain, although you can sadly no longer get very close to it.
The trail then bears left up a few more steps before you’ll reach the main track, which is no longer stepped, but a gradual incline on a well maintained path.
The views are simply staggering right from the off, but they only get better! During our visit in May, many of the peaks were still snow-capped, which gave it an even more dramatic feel.
Continuing under the shadow of mountains
As you continue along the path you will feel it going steadily uphill, but it’s gentle, and even at this altitude, very manageable - providing you’re well acclimatised.
The scenery was far beyond my expectations, I came to see the rainbow mountains and had no idea the whole setting would be so spectacular.
Its endless layers of mountains and the soaring rocky crags of the stone forest made me feel like I’d just strolled into the wilds of Patagonia.
Add in dozens of alpacas and llamas grazing the fields and I would have wanted to do this walk with or without the presence of rainbow mountains.
After 700m (from the car park) you arrive at mirador one, or the first lookout (I guess it’s now technically the second as they’ve built a new platform, but the sign still says one).
This is a good spot to sit on the stone wall, take a breather and admire the incredible mountain range. The first rainbow mountain will be somewhat distant from here, but there are plenty of other red mountains which are closer and incredible in their own right.
You’ll see a path heading uphill away from the main trail, but that leads up a mountain and is not the path to Palccoyo.
To Palccoyo
You’ll now pass under the stone forest as you continue to the second lookout, which is 550m away (1.25km from the car park).
The scenery gets even more colourful and you’ll spot the next rainbow mountain ahead. You don’t feel as close to the mountains as you will be at the third and final viewpoint, but it’s still amazing.
From here you’ll traverse a short narrow section of track, which had really phenomenal views of the rainbow mountain and felt like you were heading into another planet.
It wasn’t slippery for us, but I imagine in the wet season it may get muddy, and you’d want to tread a little carefully here.
Just 250m after leaving lookout two, you’ll reach the third and final viewpoint, the one that sits directly at the foot of Palccoyo.
Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain
When you reach this spot, you’ve gone up a further 104m in elevation and are standing at an altitude of 4,900m.
To put it into context, that’s less than 500m below Everest Base Camp (at the foot of Mount Everest), which is really quite something when you think about it.
This is your closest view of Palccoyo and a fantastic spot. However, we think the photos from the crag above the main lookout offer a bit of perspective and are more dramatic.
Even if you’re not planning to add on the stone forest side track, it’s worth heading a few minutes uphill to the craggy edge behind the viewpoint.
It’s a rocky gravel path and steepish, but it does only take a few minutes, so it’s 100% worth it.
The very best perspective of course comes from a drone, which we were lucky enough to fly as there wasn’t a soul at Palccoyo on our visit (more on exactly how to achieve that after the trail notes).
The Bosque de Piedras, stone forest side trail
If you don’t want to visit the stone forest, at this point you would simply retrace your steps back to the car park.
However, if you fancy heading up into those jagged rocks then you’ll continue uphill, past the crag we mentioned that sits behind the main viewpoint - you’ll see the footsteps heading up the gravel hill, so you can’t go wrong.
Roughly 150m from this unofficial upper viewpoint you’ll see a trail junction. Left would take you back down onto the main trail to return to the car park and right will take you to the stone forest.
After 100m you’ll begin climbing up the narrow zig zag track. On the way up this is steep but easy enough, however on the way down there is one short, but in my opinion, slightly sketchy patch.
The vast majority of the descent was easy, but there are a few metres which are very narrow, full of loose gravel and close to a steep drop off.
Just go carefully, but don’t grab the cliff wall for security like I did - it crumbles rather alarmingly and was probably more risky, as when it came off in my hand I lost some balance.
I don’t want to make this bit sound scarier than it was (as I tend to find these things scarier than most), but if you know you’re a bit like me, then proceed with caution.
You’ll reach the top of the zigzags after 150m and there’s a stone seat here if you need a break. The official top is another 150m away, still uphill and it’s actually this section that has that little sketchy bit I mentioned.
You’ll arrive at the top and be able to walk beneath and right up to some of those incredible jagged rocks you’ve been staring up at most of the way to Palccoyo.
The views are great, not predominantly of the rainbow mountains, but of the rocks themselves and the surrounding peaks - so don’t climb up if you’re only interested in more rainbow mountain views.
After a bit of time exploring the stone forest, you’ll descend the zigzags and then take the right fork, which leads you back onto the main trail to the car park.
The views are great all the way back and it’s really easy because you’re going downhill all the way on a good path.
Palccoyo vs Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca)
I’m not going to go into too much detail here because we have a whole guide dedicated to it, but here’s a quick overview: Palccoyo Mountain is less dramatic than the original Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca). Vinicunca is very steep which does make quite a difference, it’s also a bit more colourful - but you do need direct sunlight or the colour can appear dull and faded.
Palccoyo is a much easier, and for me, more enjoyable walk, it’s also less crowded and less developed. If you want more detail then check out our Palccoyo vs Rainbow Mountain guide.
Palccoyo tours vs taxi
If you want to see Palccoyo Mountain at its absolute best, then take a taxi. You can avoid all the crowds (although granted this is no Rainbow Mountain when it comes to crowds) and there is nothing like walking through this otherworldly scenery on your own.
It was one of my favourite experiences in Peru by far. It was so relaxed and wonderful, and the lack of other people around (we literally didn’t see a soul) made it a dream come true.
A taxi is more expensive of course, unless you can fill it up, but for us it was totally worth it.
If you want to take a private taxi from Cusco, we’d recommend organising it through Roxana from Vibrant Peru tours. We used this company for our taxi to Rainbow Mountain and Arturo was a brilliant driver and had a good car with working seatbelts. He was so sweet, always opening the car door for us and telling us we could take as long as we liked and still smiling when we took waaaaaay longer than your average person!
The standard price is 400 soles return (approx USD $109) although we were told that our readers could ask for a little discount - and just to be clear we don’t profit from this and we paid full price for our trip - so you don’t need to worry about bias. You can get in touch with Roxana on Whatsapp, her number is +51 984 260 053.
We didn’t book with Roxana for Palccoyo (only for Rainbow Mountain) because we drove ourselves to a nearer town to spend the night and took a taxi from there. We don’t necessarily recommend this as you don’t get any choice with the taxi’s (as it is so rural) and we got a very beaten up car with no seatbelts, which I didn’t feel good about on those windy mountain roads.
The drivers in Cusco have better cars and that’s why we chose to do Rainbow Mountain from Cusco, instead of our original plan to do it from the nearer town.
If you decide to take a tour it is much more economical and you’ll get some background info from your guide, but the trade off is not being alone or in control of your itinerary, or the time you leave Cusco (generally between 3am - 5am).
Getting to Palccoyo - the road condition/driving yourself
Another alternative is hiring a car from Cusco (we paid less than USD $30 a day) and driving yourself. You may be wondering if we had a hire car, then why didn’t we just drive ourselves? Well we’d read online the road was crazy, so we drove to a nearer town and took a taxi from there. In reality the road is gravel and narrow in places, but it’s not too crazy.
However, it is steep in places and there are no crash barriers at any point, so only attempt it if you feel confident with that. It took our driver roughly 1 hour to complete the gravel road section, however, only around 20 minutes of this in total was on mountainous terrain, as the majority of the gravel road is through a valley or villages. Still, as we mentioned, it is steep in parts.
Any car can do it, though you would be more comfortable in a car with some clearance (4WD definitely not necessary in the dry season). I would be wary in the rainy season as the road might become challenging.
Drive slowly and cautiously and never against the flow of traffic, ie, if you’re planning to go in the afternoon, do not attempt at the times that the tour groups drive out. It’s just not worth the risk of having to pass people on narrow sections.
The best time to visit Palccoyo Mountain
In terms of conditions you ideally want a sunny day, this will bring out the colours on the mountains. As we wanted to get the best photos possible, we were worried about shadows. However, all the views at Palccoyo Mountain are southward, so you always have the sun behind you (and you don’t get much lens flare). Also, as this is the top of the mountain, you don’t need to worry about shadows as you do in the valleys in Peru. For photos, you don’t need to worry about the time you visit as long as it’s not too early in the morning (the mountain closes in the late afternoon, so going late is currently not an option).
Weather forecasts in the mountains are notoriously unpredictable, but we did find our usual go to website to be accurate for every walk we did in the area. We use this website - the closest location we could find was Cerro Chupica, a nearish mountain.
You will then want to go to the details tab and check for the percentage of cloud cover.
You want as little cloud cover in all categories as possible, so you get maximum colour. If you can’t get a clear time period, then you want as little cloud cover in the low and middle categories as possible to make sure the mountain tops are visible (high cloud should sit above the mountain peaks).
In terms of crowds, at time of writing all tour groups visit in the morning. Unless this changes, the afternoons will only see independent travellers.
We started the hike at 1pm and didn’t see a soul on the entire walk and we were there almost until closing time. It was perfect. Note that the wind can pick up in the afternoons, but it wasn’t too bad and we picked lack of crowds over a still morning.
Palccoyo entry fee and opening hours
The entry fee for foreigners is 15 soles (approx USD $4.15). If you want to fly a drone you need to buy a ticket which costs 50 soles (approx USD $13.70). The use of the toilet, which you can find at the ticket station (20 minutes before the car park) and the car park, is 1 sol. You get a little toilet paper for this price. There was no running water on our visit, but it was a western toilet.
The mountain is open from 5am to 5pm at time of writing. How strictly this is enforced I don’t know, but that’s what we were told.
Facilities at Palccoyo
There are toilets and also a few kiosks selling snacks and coca tea. Coca tea costs 3 soles (approx USD $0.80) and it’s worth it for a little extra help with that altitude!
Tips for handling the altitude at Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain
The first and most important tip is to give yourself an absolute minimum of 48 hours in Cusco before attempting Palccoyo - and the more time the better. A good rule of thumb is to not advance more than 500m each day, but that’s virtually impossible in this area as Cusco is 3,500m, and Palccoyo is 4,900m.
However by spending some time in Cusco it will help. Humantay Lake sits at 4,200m, so do that one first if you’re planning on it. Similarly, some of the ruins around Cusco city are up at around 3,700m (Sacsayhuaman) so that’s another little helping hand.
I would then recommend sipping some coca tea when you get to the trailhead, you could also bring coca leaves to chew, but we preferred the tea and had several cups.
Take the walk slow and steady, so you don’t get too breathless.
Remember some level of breathlessness and maybe even a headache is normal, but anything more than this could be a sign of altitude sickness and it’s best to proceed with caution and descend.
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