Is Rainbow Mountain Worth It? What I’d Do Differently After Visiting

Rainbow Mountain is now one of the most popular day trips from Cusco with its colourful striped hills appearing all over Instagram and TikTok. After years of wanting to visit, I finally hiked Rainbow Mountain myself and quickly realised there are a lot of things people don’t tell you before booking the trek.

Between the extreme altitude, early wake-up call, crowds and our honestly pretty disappointing tour experience, visiting Rainbow Mountain ended up being a lot more challenging than we expected. That being said… the scenery really is incredible and I still think it can absolutely be worth doing if you go in with the right expectations and choose the right tour.

In this guide, I’m sharing my honest experience visiting Rainbow Mountain, whether I think it’s worth it, what I’d personally do differently next time and the Rainbow Mountain tour I’d recommend booking instead.

Rainbow Mountain Peru: Is It Worth It? What I’d Do Differently After Visiting

Top Tour for Visiting Rainbow Mountain

See Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley

• Includes pick up from Cusco, breakfast and lunch
• Be among the first to reach Rainbow Mountain before the crowds
• First aid kit and oxygen mask available

Book your Rainbow Mountain Tour!

Rainbow Mountain at a Glance

Is Rainbow Mountain Worth It?

Rainbow Mountain, also known as Vinicunca is a colourful mountain in the Peruvian Andes near Cusco, famous for its unique rainbow colours which are created from the minerals in the soil.

Over the past few years, Rainbow Mountain has become one of the most popular day trips from Cusco and you’ve probably seen the vibrant photos all over Instagram and TikTok. But I actually first heard about Rainbow Mountain back when Dave and I were travelling through Peru in 2017, before it completely exploded on social media. At the time, hardly anyone was talking about it online yet and it still felt like a relatively hidden gem compared to places like Machu Picchu.

I have mixed feelings about my Rainbow Mountain experience. Unfortunately, I chose a tour company which turned out to be extremely unprofessional and are actually no longer in business. But the actual experience and beauty of the landscapes at Rainbow Mountain and the Red Valley, far outweighed my negative experience with the tour company. So yes, I say it is extremely worth it, but before you book there are a few things to consider.

The beauty

Rainbow Mountain is one of the most beautiful places I visited in Peru so I would say that the landscapes make the trip out there very worth it. There were llamas and alpacas absolutely everywhere and the rolling hills felt so incredibly wild.

Then once you reach the top, you can see snow capped mountains in the distance. If you choose to do Red Valley as part of your tour (which I highly recommend doing), you will be blown away by the beauty a second time. I actually found Red Valley to be even more stunning than Rainbow Mountain.

Altitude struggles

This is the highest I’ve ever been and I’m not going to lie, even though the stats of the trail were not even close to the hardest trail I’ve done, it was the hardest hike I’ve ever done purely because of the altitude.

I hiked the slowest I’ve ever hiked and still I was out of breath but I was so worried about feeling nauseous so I was very careful with pacing myself.

Even with the altitude struggles, I still absolutely say it was worth it. In fact, hiking in high altitude is an experience that I’ll never forget. For ways to help tackle the altitude, read the section on altitude further down in this guide.

The crowds

This is probably the worst part of Rainbow Mountain (or so I’ve heard). I did a sunrise tour so we were one of the first people up at the viewpoint. We didn’t experience the crazy crowds that I’ve seen all over social media at all. As we were hiking back down, we noticed more and more people coming up but it still didn’t seem too insane.

I did also go in November though, so I’m wondering if the crowds were much less bad because it was heading into the rainy season. According to my research from other people’s experiences, the busiest time on Rainbow Mountain is from around 10am – 11am which fits with what we saw when hiking back down.

Who Rainbow Mountain is best suited for

If you are into adventure travel, photography, hiking, or just getting out of the city to see some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, then Rainbow Mountain is definitely for you.

It might not be so well suited, if you prefer city strolls over hiking and pushing yourself physically. If you are desperate to see Rainbow Mountain but don’t want to hike or are super worried about the altitude, I highly recommend doing a Horseback Riding Tour instead of hiking.

As a photographer and avid hiker, I absolutely loved my entire Rainbow Mountain experience, from hiking up in the dark for sunrise, to catching first light in the middle of the Peruvian Mountains.

My Honest Experience Visiting Rainbow Mountain

My friends and I specifically booked a sunrise tour because we wanted to get sunrise photos at Rainbow Mountain. There was only 1 that we could find so naturally we booked that one. This tour company has now gone out of business which I’m not surprised about because everything was handled terribly.

I have to say though, even though the tour itself was pretty terrible, the experience of visiting Rainbow Mountain and the Red Valley was still completely worth it and we had a great time. You just need to pick a better tour company than we did. 😉

The early wake up

We were picked up from our hotel in Cusco at 2am by a very cool looking man wearing a Peruvian poncho, a hat with a feather and a pan flute around his neck (at least this part of the tour went smoothly). The driver and tour guide then picked up a bunch of odd trekking poles from a stop off and some paper bags which we assumed was our breakfast.

The tour description had said that we would be given blankets on the ride and would be stopping for breakfast along the way but we got neither. The other girls and I slept in the car while we started to wonder if we had picked a dodgy tour…

Starting the hike and peeing in the dark

Finally after almost 3 hours, we arrived at the trailhead. It was still pitch black and the stars were incredible. We weren’t given any breakfast so we were all pretty hungry by the time we started hiking and I needed to pee. I tried to ask the guide if there was a bathroom we could use before starting the hike, but he didn’t seem to understand what I was asking and just start hiking in the dark up the mountain beckoning us to follow.

My friends and I decided to just pee in a dark corner of the trail because we were desperate and then we hurried along after our guide. He began playing the pan flute which was really cool at first, but we quickly realised he was playing the same little tune on repeat over and over again. I can still hear it in my head now.

The trail started out pretty flat but soon started gradually inclining. I began to really start feeling the effects of not much sleep coupled with the high elevation and while a couple of my friends went on ahead with the guide, I lagged behind with another of the girls. The last thing I wanted was to feel nauseous so I made sure to stop and catch my breath frequently and I hiked very slowly.

Our tour guide had completely left me and my friend to fend for ourselves. He practically skipped and danced up the mountain while playing his pan flute. The whole experience didn’t really feel real. As it started getting lighter, we could make out herds of alpacas and llamas scattered around on the hills.

Making it to the viewpoints. Yes, there’s more than 1!

Finally, I made it to the viewpoint just after sunrise where I found my guide burning incense. The light was still gorgeous and I immediately snapped into photography mode. This was when I realised that there was an extra viewpoint higher up which was where the rest of our group had gone. I felt pretty exhausted but I had come all this way to see Rainbow Mountain so up I went and honestly, SO WORTH IT.

As tired as you will feel, make sure you don’t miss the upper viewpoint!

I liked the view from this part of the trail much more than the lower down one. Not only could you see Rainbow Mountain, but you could also see some of the mountains in the distance from the Ausangate Trek.

I cannot emphasise enough how incredibly stunning the scenery was surrounding us. We were also almost the only people at the viewpoint, I’m guessing because of how early it still was. While we soaked up the scenery and took some photos, we caught a glimpse of a couple of Peruvian women with a small herd of alpacas approaching the viewpoint. Some of the alpacas even ventured up to the higher viewpoint that we were at to say hi.

Alpaca photos

I had my photo taken with some friendly and very cute alpacas for a about 3 soles and then we were off to the Red Valley. Because our guide couldn’t speak a word of English, he didn’t teach us anything about the area or tell us where we were going next to we kind of just had to guess. We honestly could have just been there by ourselves and it wouldn’t have made any difference.

Red Valley

Getting to the Red Valley gates from Rainbow Mountain didn’t take long. We all had to pay a cash entry fee of 30 soles as this wasn’t included in our tour price and then we were waved through. There were some toilets that you could pay to use here which was a relief because we had all been drinking tons of water.

I was not ready for the views at Red Valley at all. I had thought it was just an extra little add on but I was surprised to find that I loved the views here even more than the Rainbow Mountain views. We spent a while here gawking at the landscape and then we continued on.

The worst part of the trail

This is where things got a little dicey. Our tour guide continued dancing on ahead. The weather started getting a little stormy and the trail was much less manicured. We were hiking on scree on a very narrow path which got pretty steep in sections. Up and up and up we went, until finally, we reached the top and on the other side we could see down to the original trail where we had began the hike.

One of my friends who had gone on ahead had started feeling quite sick at this point and I knew it must have been the altitude so I tried to ask our guide for oxygen (which was another thing advertised in the description). He said no oxygen but to my relief, pulled out some tonic which we had all used quite a bit when hiking the Salkantay Trail a few days before. You breathe it in an it helps open up your lungs and breathing passages.

My friend felt so sick that she didn’t want to breathe it in but eventually she tried it and started to feel a bit better. I swear that stuff is magical!

It was then time to hike back down to the parking lot. We hiked on a narrow scree trail on the side of the mountain until we reached the main trail which we had started on. After this, the rest of the trail was much easier and we were even allowed to use the bathrooms on the way back down which were now open. You just need to pay 2 soles to the bathroom attendants.

Back at the van

Finally, we made it back to the van, all completely exhausted and starving. We were handed brown paper bags with breakfast in (which honestly wasn’t very pleasant). We started questioning the guide and the driver about the buffet lunch that we were supposed to now be going to and they told us there would be no lunch which was confusing because it said lunch was included when we booked.

We argued for a bit and then ended up giving up because we were all just too damn exhausted. And I have to say, time in the van on the way back to Cusco was incredible. We arrived back in Cusco at around 1pm.

What I’d Do Differently

I genuinely loved Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley and would go back in a heartbeat but obviously not with the same tour company. Next time, I wouldn’t be so desperate to find a sunrise tour and instead just book one with great reviews like this one.

I would also bring more of my own snacks to cover the early start and spend longer at the very top viewpoint (it was absolutely incredible from up there) and less time at the bottom viewpoint.

I would however, still consider visiting again during the shoulder season because although the weather was a little risky, having almost the entire place to ourselves was amazing!

The Rainbow Mountain Tour I’d Recommend

Although I definitely wouldn’t recommend the tour we booked, I would absolutely recommend this Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley tour instead.

One of my friends booked this tour the day before and had a completely different experience. Her guides were knowledgeable, professional and well-prepared, with oxygen and first aid equipment available if needed. Unlike our tour, breakfast and lunch were both provided and everything ran exactly as advertised.

After comparing dozens of Rainbow Mountain tours and reading hundreds of reviews, this is the one I would personally book if I returned to Rainbow Mountain. It includes both Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley, has consistently excellent reviews and leaves early enough to avoid the worst of the crowds.

Why I’d book this tour:

• Visits both Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley
• Breakfast and lunch included
• Oxygen and first aid equipment available
• Excellent reviews from previous travellers
• Early departure to beat the crowds

How Difficult Is the Rainbow Mountain Hike?

If you just look at the stats of the Rainbow Mountain hike, you would think that it isn’t too hard. It’s 446m / 1,463 ft elevation gain and 7.7km / 4.8 miles but in reality, the altitude is what makes it so challenging. I live in Vancouver Canada and hike pretty frequently but I really felt my cardio fitness on this one. The air feels so thin that it is a bit like breathing through a straw.

It takes about 1.5 hours to hike up to the Rainbow Mountain viewpoint and then the remainder of the hike through the Red Valley takes another 1.5 to 2 hours.

Rainbow Mountain Altitude: What You Need to Know

When I knew I wanted to visit Rainbow Mountain, my main concern was the extremely high altitude. Here’s what you need to know:

• At the Rainbow Mountain viewpoint, you get up to 5,200m elevation.
• Make sure you acclimatize in Cusco for 2 – 3 days before hiking Rainbow Mountain.
• Symptoms of altitude sickness including nausea, headaches, diarrhoea and vomiting.
• Make sure you drink plenty of water / electrolytes to stay hydrated both before hiking and during your hike.
• Coca tea can help you acclimatise while you are in Cusco. I drank sooo much on my 2 separate trips to Cusco and I don’t know if it actually helped or if it was just a placebo effect but I’ll take it either way.

Best Time to Visit Rainbow Mountain

I recommend doing Rainbow Mountain early in the morning (this means leaving your hotel in Cusco at 3 or 4am) or later afternoon to try to avoid any mid day crowds.

The best time of the year to avoid the crowds on Rainbow Mountain is November because this is on the very cusp of the rainy season. However, if you decide to hike during this season, you risk getting snow covering Rainbow Mountain or rain.

If you are looking for the most reliable weather and care less about the number of people up there at the same time as you, you should go during the dry season which is from May to September.

What to Pack for Rainbow Mountain

For hiking Rainbow Mountain you are going to want layers, including gloves, a beanie, a rain jacket, a fleece and / or puffer jacket, as well as hiking shoes or boots, sunscreen, water and snacks. You will be hiking high up in the mountains so the weather can change suddenly and it tends to be much colder up there than in Cusco.

Can You Visit Rainbow Mountain Without a Tour?

You can visit Rainbow Mountain without a tour and this is actually something that we looked into but in the end we realised that it would cost us just as much and wouldn’t be as relaxing as a tour.

If you want to do Rainbow Mountain without a tour, you will need to hire a local taxi to get to the trailhead and back. Personally I would hire a taxi the entire way to try to get there as early as possible, but you could also catch the bus from Cusco to Cusipata and then a taxi from there.

This blog has good instructions on how to get to Rainbow Mountain from Cusco without a tour.

Vinicunca vs Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain

Another thing to think about is that the Rainbow Mountain that I visited (Vinicunca) is not the only Rainbow Mountain but it is the one with the classic Rainbow Mountain Viewpoint. There’s also Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain which is still much less popular than Vinicunca but growing in popularity.

The walk to Palcoyo is said to be much more beautiful than the Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain hike but the Red Valley section of Vinicunca outweighs the beauty of Palcoyo.

Vinicunca is also a harder hike but you do have the option of horses which you don’t have at Palcoyo.

I had trouble choosing which one to do when I was booking my trip, but in the end, I knew I want to see that “classic” Rainbow Mountain Viewpoint so chose Vinicunca, but honestly I don’t think you could go wrong with either!

Don’t plan your trip to Peru without reading these:

• How to Spend a Magical 3 Days in Cusco
• Best Day Trips From Cusco, Peru
• Things to do in Cusco for First-Timers
• Unique Places to Stay in Cusco
• An Incredible Lima 1 Day Itinerary
• Best Things to do in Lima Peru
• Where to Stay in Lima (I found the best place ever)!
• Is Lima Worth Visiting: My Honest Review
• Is Cusco Worth Visiting?
• Bucket List Things to Do in Peru
• Is Huacachina Worth Visiting: My Honest Option
• Where to Stay in Huacachina
• The Best Sacred Valley Tour from Cusco & Why I Think it is Worth it
• How to Get to Huacachina from Lima

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