Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley ATV Tour from Cusco — Minimal Walking

Two famous lookouts, almost no walking. The ATV carries you up to Vinicunca for the photo you came all this way for, then keeps going into the Red Valley — a second landscape of rust-red hillsides, reached on a quieter route than the main track. Walking is minimal at both.

Rainbow Mountain and the Red Valley in One Morning

Most people come to Cusco for one photograph — the striped ridge of Vinicunca. This day gives you that one, and then keeps going, over to a valley of deep red hills that looks like it belongs on a different planet.

Two landscapes that have nothing in common, in the same morning. The ATV is the reason both of them fit.

• 3:30 AM pick-up at your hotel, with breakfast in Cusipata on the way

• About 25 minutes riding up to Vinicunca, then a full hour at the viewpoint

• 40 minutes riding across to the Red Valley, then half an hour there

• Buffet lunch on the way back, and you are in Cusco by 3:30 to 4:00 PM

The Red Valley: Peru's Other Colored Landscape, Reached by ATV

It is easy to assume the Red Valley is just a different angle on Vinicunca. It is not, and that surprises almost everybody who rides over the last rise and sees it open up.

Vinicunca is a ridge. Bands of color across one slope, seen from one spot, with a line of people waiting for the same frame.

The Red Valley is a whole valley. Rust-red hills, rounded and bare, rolling away below you in every direction — far closer to a desert than to a striped mountain. It is a completely different photograph, and plenty of travelers end up showing that one first when they get home.

The ATV reaches it about forty minutes on from Vinicunca, on a track that carries much less traffic than the main route.

Why Both Mountains Are Colored

Same story, two endings.

Millions of years ago, layers of sediment rich in iron, copper, sulfur and clay settled flat, one on top of the next. Then the Andes rose and tipped the whole stack on its side.

At Vinicunca that tilt left the layers facing you edge-on. That is why you see stripes.

In the Red Valley the iron-rich rock won out, and it did what iron does — it rusted. That deep red is oxidation, on the scale of a landscape.

Glacial ice hid all of it until recent warming melted the cover back. Vinicunca only reached the guidebooks around 2015, which means your grandparents could not have taken this photograph.

What the ATV Changes, and What It Doesn't

Worth being straight with you about this part.

What it changes: the walking route to Vinicunca is 3.5 km of steady uphill, and most people need an hour and a half to two hours to get up it. This tour takes that away completely. You ride to both lookouts and spend only a few minutes on your feet at each one.

What it does not change: the altitude. Peru's tourism ministry puts the viewpoint at 5,036 m, which is also what the sign at the top says. Cusco is 3,399 m.

The ATV saves your legs. It does not hand you more oxygen. Give Cusco two full days before you come up here, whichever tour you end up choosing.

Who This Tour Is For

This is your day if you:

• Want to see two beautiful viewpoints in one day, without having to choose between them

• Want the classic Vinicunca photo, but not the two-hour climb it usually costs

• Like your adventure with an engine in it

• Cannot walk far — because of an injury, your knees, your weight or your fitness

• Simply do not want to spend a day of your vacation exhausted

• Have only a few days in Cusco and cannot afford to lose one recovering

• Are traveling with people at different fitness levels and need a day that works for everyone

Choose a different tour if you:

• Came for the walk itself — the Classic Rainbow Mountain Hike reaches the same viewpoint on foot, and costs a good deal less

• Would rather not drive anything — on the motorcycle departure, a local driver takes you up

• Have not acclimatized yet. No tour solves that one for you

Itinerary

• 03:30 AM — Hotel pick-up in Cusco

• 05:00 AM — Andean breakfast in Cusipata (about 45 minutes)

• 05:45 AM — Continue by van toward the mountain (about 1 hour 45)

• 07:30 AM — Arrive at the ATV base — helmet, gear and a briefing on the controls

• 07:45 AM — Ride up to Rainbow Mountain (about 25 minutes)

• 08:15 AM — Vinicunca viewpoint — about an hour at the top

• 09:15 AM — Ride on to the Red Valley (about 40 minutes)

• 10:00 AM — Red Valley — at least 30 minutes for photographs and the view

• 10:30 AM — Ride back to the ATV base (about 25 minutes)

• 11:00 AM — Van back down to Cusipata (about 1 hour 30)

• 12:30 PM — Buffet lunch in Cusipata (about 1 hour)

• 01:30 PM — Van back to Cusco (about 2 hours)

• 03:30 PM — Drop-off near the Plaza de Armas

What's included

• ATV to Rainbow Mountain — About 25 minutes from the base up to the Vinicunca viewpoint

• ATV from Rainbow Mountain to the Red Valley — About 40 minutes across to the Red Valley, and 25 minutes back to base

• ATV with fuel — Single or double, with a briefing before you set off

• Helmet

• Hotel pick-up in Cusco

• Round-trip tourist transport — Van to the ATV base and back, stopping in Cusipata for both meals

• Live guide, Spanish and English

• Andean breakfast and buffet lunch in Cusipata — About 45 minutes for breakfast on the way out, an hour for lunch on the way back

Not included

• Entrance fees for Rainbow Mountain and the Red Valley — S/ 40 per person (about USD 13), paid in cash on site

• Extra drinks, snacks and souvenirs

• Personal clothing for the ride — warm layers, gloves, sunglasses

• Gratuities

• Travel insurance

What to bring

• Gloves — the one thing people regret leaving behind on this tour

• Warm layers — jacket, thermal top and a wool hat

• A buff or neck gaiter — recommended for the wind and dust

• Shoes with good grip

• Sunscreen, UV sunglasses, sun hat and lip balm

• A charged phone or camera — there is no power and no signal at either lookout

• Cash in soles for the entrance and extras — in small notes and coins, as nobody up there has change for a S/ 100 note

• Passport or ID

• At least 1 liter of water and some energy snacks

Good to know

• Difficulty: The ATV reaches both lookouts, so there is no trek and no climb. Walking is minimal — a few minutes on foot at the top, at your own pace.

• Altitude: The viewpoint is 5,036 m — the official MINCETUR figure, and the one on the sign at the top. Cusco is 3,399 m. Riding instead of walking saves you the effort, not the altitude.

• Acclimatization: Spend two full days in Cusco first, and use at least one of them walking — the ruins just above the city are ideal. You barely walk here, but the altitude still affects you.

• Duration: 12 to 13 hours. Pick-up at 3:30 AM, back in Cusco between 3:30 and 4:00 PM.

• Best season: May to September is the driest and clearest. From November to April expect afternoon rain, and snow that can hide the colors.

• Weather: Changeable, and nobody can guarantee it. It can be sunny at breakfast and sleeting at the viewpoint. Come prepared for cold, wind and rain.

• Gloves: Essential. You ride with your hands in near-freezing wind and it genuinely hurts without them. Buy a pair in Cusco rather than at the base.

• Drop-off: Everyone is dropped near the Plaza de Armas, not at individual hotels.