Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley

This is the second most visited tourist site in Peru after Machu Picchu and therefore you can expect a lot of people here. Next to all this bustle you're offered a beautiful range of colours. Even more than the seven colors that Rainbow Mountain's name suggests.

The vast majority of tourists - myself included - do this trip organized from Cusco and that means there is only a limited time to do this trip. In my case, that means we leave at 8:30 am and we have to be back at noon. The best tip I can give you right away: ignore the Rainbow Mountain and immediately ask your guide for directions to the Red Valley. It is so much more beautiful than the Rainbow Mountain and only a few people come here. Trust me when I say you want to spend most of your time at the Red Valley and whatever time is left you can spend at Rainbow Mountain. Keep in mind that you will come across two checkpoints where you have to pay ten soles each (so twenty in total).

You start at an altitude of over 4600 meters, so drink coca tea or something else in order to adjust to the altitude. Go up in a slow but steady way and you should normally get to the top without any problems. Only the last twenty minutes the slopes are a bit tougher, but in the meantime you're also adapted to the altitude, now over five thousand meters high.

The Rainbow Mountain is indeed a spectacle and can be admired from two different perspectives: once just in front of the mountain and another time from the top. Both perspectives are equally beautiful, with only hundreds of would-be Instagrammers in your way. As said before, try to spend as little time as possible here (ten minutes is really enough) and invest all your available time at the Red Valley.

The trip down is of course a lot faster, but it will probably take another hour to get back to the parking lot. Keep in mind that there are a lot of horses that carry people and these horses have their own path. So stay on the pedestrian path, both when you go up and down.

The real attraction of this route is the Red Valley, which I consider to be one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen. Moreover, there is almost no living soul here, so you can enjoy this natural beauty in peace. The Rainbow Mountain is of course also beautiful, but it is so busy here that you only want to take the obligatory photos because unfortunately there is no enjoyment in this sea of people.