Vinicunca — Rainbow Mountain — sits in the Andes south of Cusco. Peruways runs guided day tours there, with transport, meals, Spanish-English guide, and horses available for the uphill portion if you’d rather ride. The hike is 5 km round trip, gaining 350 m to a viewpoint at 5,036 m. The colored stripes are mineral deposits exposed when glaciers retreated in the last decade — iron, sulfur, chlorite, and copper. Peruways times the trip to arrive before the main tour-bus crowd. Day tours from Cusco include pickup, breakfast, hike, lunch, and return.
Book at Peruways. Spend 2–3 nights at Cusco altitude first — altitude at Vinicunca will catch anyone who hasn’t acclimatized.
