Palcoyo Mountain: How to See Three Rainbow Mountains in a Day
A guide to the epic Palcoyo rainbow mountain, Peru.
Palcoyo mountain is still a bit of a hidden gem in Peru. The alternating colours of this majestic mountain top blaze like an enormous circus tent at the end of the world. The high altitude and stunning scenery have started to attract attention from visitors but this natural wonder is still delightfully off the beaten path compared to its famous neighbour, Vinicunca rainbow mountain.
The technicolour wonder of Palcoyo mountain’s three striped peaks promises an unforgettable day out for those who are intrepid enough to try this alternative rainbow mountain. I visited Palcoyo this year and whilst the trek is short, the effort and rush of emotion standing on top of the mountain is huge.
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Where is Palcoyo Mountain?
Palcoyo mountain is located in the Cusco region, towards the south of Peru, in the Andes mountain range. It’s been promoted as a tourist attraction since around 2018, which is more recent than its more well-known neighbour, Vinicunca rainbow mountain. Palcoyo rainbow mountain is alternatively written as Palccoyo rainbow mountain on maps.
Should You Visit Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain or Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain (Montaña de 7 Colores)?
There are multiple reasons to visit Palcoyo as an alternative rainbow mountain to the more Insta-famous Vinicunca mountain.
3 Mountains for the Price of 1
First and foremost, a trip to Palcoyo means you get to see three rainbow mountains rather than one. Considering how long the trip takes whichever rainbow mountain you choose, getting to see more mountains for your money is a huge bonus.
Level of Difficulty
The physical effort required to get to Vinicunca and Palcoyo rainbow mountain is due to how blooming high you’ll be and for many people that’s all part of the challenge. That being said, why make your life more complicated than it needs to be? The actual trek part of a trip to Palcoyo is shorter than at Vinicunca, at around 40 minutes instead of two hours, which at this altitude is another one in the plus column for me.
Many people have to resort to getting a horse to carry them up to the summit of Vinicunca once there, whereas there aren’t any horses at Palcoyo’s alternative rainbow mountain, which might tell you all you need to know. Don’t underestimate the impact of walking any kind of distance at altitude.
Scenery
The beautiful rural scenery that you’ll see on a trip to Palcoyo is part of the experience. As you ascend the mountain range, you’ll see locals working the land, clothes swaying as they dry in the breeze, and hundreds of alpacas roaming around with cheery abandon. If you’re going during wet season, you’ll also see the red river, which runs red due to the transportation by the rains of red coloured sediment down from the mountains and along the river.
Crowdedness
Finally, one of the major reasons for visiting Palcoyo instead of Vinicunca is the amount of tourism at each rainbow mountain. Estimates put the daily number of visitors to Vinicunca at several thousand but less than a couple of hundred for Palcoyo, so Palcoyo is much less crowded.
Palcoyo Mountain Elevation
A trip to the epic Palcoyo mountain involves you reaching an elevation of around 5000 metres, which to put in to perspective is not far off the elevation of Everest Base Camp (which is 5364 m). So, experiencing the dizzy heights of the Palcoyo mountain altitude is an adventure you’ll want to tell your friends and family about when you’ve completed it.
Remember that the Palcoyo mountain altitude is much higher than the altitude at the peak of the iconic Huayna Picchu mountain at Machu Picchu. Check out my article for all the details of how to get to Machu Picchu from Cusco.
How to Get to Palcoyo Mountain from Cusco
It’s possible to get to Palcoyo mountain from Cusco on an organised day trip or with a private guide. Don’t bother trying to travel independently to Palcoyo, the road is not good and you do not want to be trying it by yourself. The very experienced driver on my tour, who had driven the route hundreds of times still clearly respected the difficulty of the journey.
Another benefit of going on an organised tour and having a guide is that they will most likely take oxygen with them (check individual tour details for any safety measures) and you’ll be with someone else, just in case anything untoward happens.
The route to get to Palcoyo is long, at around four hours each way. Although tours will break the trip up with a stop to eat on the way there and back.
Once you reach the parking area, the Palcoyo mountain hike takes around 40 minutes. This is much less time than it takes to complete the trek to Vinicunca rainbow mountain (around two to three hours).
The walk at Palcoyo mountain is along a marked trail and after an initial slight incline is pretty flat. However, don’t be fooled, that tiny slope at the start is significantly harder than it looks, due to your body reminding you with every step that you’re unnaturally high up. Like really flipping high.
Is Palcoyo Mountain Worth it?
If you could see the smile on my face when I consider the question of is it worth visiting Palcoyo rainbow mountain you’d know the answer is a resounding yes.
I found it a surprisingly emotional experience. Who knows if it was the altitude, the sacred status of the mountain or just the result of having got up so stupidly early to make the trip. Whatever the cause, the privilege of being able to experience such a stunning and remote part of the natural world brought a frozen tear to my eye.
As much of my small group ascended to the stone forest, I had the unique experience of walking back along Palcoyo mountain by myself, which was an opportunity to really take time to appreciate the whole landscape and wonder at what seismic changes this mountain has seen over the centuries.
Palcoyo is a special place, so embrace your inner adventurer if you’re physically up to it, and prepare for an experience of a lifetime. The chance to visit this still relatively under the radar mountain is one I wouldn’t pass up when in Peru.
For those looking to explore more of Peru’s amazing landscapes, consider a trip to the impressive Paracas National Reserve near Lima.
Top Palcoyo Mountain Tours
These Palcoyo mountain tours (or Palccoyo mountain tours) are also known as the alternative rainbow mountain tours and are highy rated tours for visiting Palcoyo.
Excursion to Rainbow Mountain Palcoyo from Cusco
This five-star rated tour provides a great value way to see the beauty of Palcoyo rainbow mountain. This is a small group tour so participants are limited to 15. Breakfast and lunch are included, as is pick up from your accommodation.
PRIVATE Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain tour
If you’d like to experience Palcoyo mountain without the crowds of a group then this is the tour for you. The PRIVATE Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain tour will be exclusively for you, meaning you’ll get a personalised trip and plenty of time to go at your own pace. A lovely local lunch is included.
What’s the Journey Like to Get to Palcoyo?
There must be some kind of catch with getting to witness such an amazing place, right? Well, yes, there is. The bad news is that in order to get to Palcoyo you will have to get up very early. Most tours pick you up from your accommodation at around 4.30 am. Yes, that is horrendously early, especially if like me, you are not a morning person. However, one upside of such a long journey to get to the mountain is that you can either get a few more hours sleep on the way or at least have eased yourself into the day by the time you arrive.
The first part of the journey takes place on well-surfaced main roads. However, after about an hour this luxury is soon replaced by very bumpy loose tracks which get seemingly endlessly higher and began to remind me somewhat of the Huacachina dune buggy trip I’d just done on the opposite side of Peru.
As you reach the Palcoyo village the track flattens out and you’ll gaze out on to bucolic mountain scenery and Peruvian families going about their daily lives on the mountainside. Alpacas abound due to government schemes to propagate the alpaca population in the area. These are beautiful scenes to focus on as your minivan lurches and growls ever onwards.
One of the reasons that Palcoyo is still more off the main tourist radar than Vinicunca is the difficulty in getting there. The road to Palcoyo is more dangerous so fewer drivers are willing to make the journey and especially not when the rains come down. Tours are not as common, and some companies don’t even run a tour to Palcoyo at all.
How Did Palcoyo Mountain Get its Colours?
I’m no geologist but the basic explanation of how Palcoyo mountain got its vibrant colours is that the different colours are created by the range of minerals and sediments of the mountain. The mountain tops became exposed as the climate changed and snow melted, revealing the appealing colours that can now be seen more frequently as there are longer periods without snow.
The prominent colours you’ll see are reds, greens, ochre and yellows. The stripey pattern really creates an intriguing natural phenomenon.
Does Palcoyo Look Like the Photos on Insta?
The answer to whether the images you see on Insta of the rainbow mountains are like the reality is both yes and no, depending on which images you’re looking at.
Palcoyo images are often edited to emphasise the beautiful colours and make them pop even more than they do in person. However, as the light can change in a moment at Palcoyo, as the sun comes out, or the clouds descend, you’re likely to get different impressions of the colours yourself during your own trip to Palcoyo.
Once you’ve got your photos, get inspiration for your Instagram Hiking Captions.
The number of people visiting Palcoyo mountain in 2023 is much smaller than the number of people visiting the more Insta-famous Vinicunca rainbow mountain. As a result, the experience at Palcoyo is much more conducive to finding your own moment of solitude and it’s far easier to get photos without other people in them, as there are much fewer visitors. If you go on a weekday, you’re even more likely to have a less crowded experience than at Vinicunca.
Views at Palcoyo Mountain
At Palcoyo mountain you’ll be able to take in views of not just one but three rainbow mountains. The harmonious flashes of colour of each mountain reveal themselves in an enchanting pattern as you wander along the pathway.
Several marked viewpoints have been constructed which, apart from offering impressive views of Palcoyo, are also a good reminder to stop and take a break.
The view you get will depend on the time of year you visit and the weather. You may be fortunate enough to see the crisp blinding white of snow on the surrounding mountain peaks contrasting with the kaleidoscope of colour of majestic Palcoyo.
Along with the immense vista there are also opportunities to have your photo taken with cute llamas, or should that be alpacas? Having seen literally hundreds of these amusing-looking animals I’m still not convinced I know the difference. Something about alpacas only surviving at higher altitudes. Forgive me if this is not 100% accurate, as my oxygen-deprived brain may not have taken in the full lesson on how to spot the difference between an alpaca and a llama at the time.
If you’re looking for more incredible places with views in Peru, check out my guide to a day trip to the Pisac ruins.
What’s it Like Climbing Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain?
I’ll start by confessing that saying I’ve climbed Palcoyo mountain feels a little cheeky, as the climbing part was clearly not for the whole 5000 metres height. That being said, the crazy hard impact on your heart and lungs to climb just the small section at the top still feels massive, like a ‘one of the best things I’ve ever done’ level achievement. So, whilst you might not get to trek the whole of Palcoyo, you’ll still feel like you’ve made a supreme effort.
The headache I had in the evening certainly told my body it had been working overtime to keep me going so high above sea level.
Altitude sickness concerns were the main reason I didn’t climb the extra section at Palcoyo, which consists of a switchback path up to the ‘stone forest’. The cluster of stone shards is an impressive sight, but I was more than happy not to push my body harder to see it up close.
I decided to leave the ‘stone forest’ to Mi Amor to enjoy. This turned out to be a great choice, as it meant I had the walk back along the mountain pretty much to myself, which was an absolute treat.
Entrance Fee at Palcoyo
In addition to the price of your Palcoyo tour, you will also have to pay a small separate fee to the local guardians of Palcoyo mountain at the entrance. You’ll need to pay in cash so make sure you remember to take it with you. The cost in 2023 is 15 soles per person.
Can you Get Altitude Sickness at Palcoyo?
The risk of altitude sickness is not to be taken lightly and the UK National Health Service states that symptoms “usually develop between 6 and 24 hours after reaching altitudes more than 2,500m above sea level”. As Palcoyo involves a height of almost 5000 m, altitude sickness is a real possibility.
It would be wise to make sure that you’re in a physical condition to take on the altitude and that you listen to your body and understand your own limits.
Drinking lots more water than I usually do was one of the things I did to try to stave off altitude sickness. You don’t realise how dehydrated you’re getting at high altitude.
Other local recommendations included drinking coca tea (made from coca leaves) or chewing coca leaves. I have to say I didn’t do either, mainly because I don’t like tea.
My tour guide also had a bottle of liquid which he jokingly referred to as condor pee and never did tell us what it actually was. His explanation as to why it was helpful for altitude sickness was that you put some on your hands and inhale it which gives a jolt to your senses. For me it smelt like alcohol or solvent and I have to confess that I wasn’t keen on snorting a mysterious liquid up my hooter so I left it out.
A Few Do’s and Don’ts at Palcoyo Mountain
- Don’t walk beyond the marked off point to get a photo of you actually on the colourful part of the mountain. Palcoyo mountain is sacred and run by the local community, respect their wishes and keep to the marked areas.
- Don’t take anything away from the mountain on your visit.
- Don’t bring a drone, they’re not allowed at Palcoyo.
- Do bring a few soles change to pay to use the toilets.
- Do listen to your guide and to your own body. Take it slowly, don’t attempt to race ahead at this elevation. If you feel unwell, let someone else know.
- Do enjoy the opportunity to slow right down and take in the natural surroundings.
Palcoyo Mountain Weather
The high altitude at Palcoyo mountain means that even when it’s warmer down in Cusco it’s likely to be chilly weather on the mountain top. Although your time on the mountain will be around two hours or less, the weather can change, and the clouds and snow can come in rapidly. Be sure to listen to any instructions from your guide and bring layers so that you can adjust to the weather.
The rainy season in Cusco region is from November to March and the best time to visit Palcoyo mountain is during the the dry season from April to October. However, keep in mind that the weather is not guaranteed. The week before my trip in May 2023 the snow in Peru had been so heavy that tours of Palcoyo were suspended and the colours of the mountain couldn’t be seen, as they were hidden by the snow.
What to Wear at Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain
- Sunglasses – the glare from the sun at altitude can be very strong.
- Warm layers – the weather may change whilst you’re at Palcoyo
- Gloves
- Hat
- Scarf
- Waterproof jacket
- Warm socks
- Comfortable trainers or walking boots – I use Nike Trail shoes
What to Take on a Trip to Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain
- Phone thermal cover – your battery will die very quickly at altitude and this temperature. Protect it with a thermal cover (that can also be used in high temperatures, so equally useful for warm weather holidays).
- Phone power bank – if your battery dies you don’t want to be stuck without being able to take photos.
- Water
- Sun lotion
- Snacks
- Camera