There are certain places in the Andean region where the land lives and breathes. A place where the silence has weight and colors have meaning. This short Rainbow Mountain and Ausangate Trek is all about entering a high-altitude world that is shaped by glaciers, wind, and ancestral worship for the Apus, the sacred mountain Gods. In just two days, you will hike through a mountainscape that feels far older than time itself. Snow-covered peaks that are reflected in the glacial lagoons, herds of alpacas roam freely, and Andean families continue a way of life that has been unaffected by the outside world for centuries. This 2 day Rainbow Mountain Ausangate adventure is intense, beautiful, yet surprisingly intimate.
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Valencia Travel
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Bright and early at around 04:30, we leave Cusco behind. The city fades into the background as the road climbs into the center of Andean territory. A short stop in Quiquijana allows us time to organize our trekking gear before we carry on to the highland community of Queshuni. Our breakfast is served in the fresh open air, with the Ausangate watching silently from above. From here, the Ausangate Short Trekking begins with a steady 3–4 hour walk to the Pukacocha Pass. The air is thin, the colors are sharp. Rust-red earth, turquoise waters, and white ice clinging to the mountain peaks are your backdrop. The wind reminds you exactly where you are.
After crossing the pass, we will descend gently to Ananta, where lunch is prepared by our private mountain chef. This small detail often stands out in any review Rainbow Mountain and Ausangate short trek. The afternoon is relaxed with time to rest, walk, or simply sit and absorb the immensity that surrounds you. Dinner is shared beneath an Andean night sky, crowded with stars.
Overnight camping at Ananta
The day begins early in typical Andean fashion. We wil set out before most visitors arrive, toward Vinicunca, allowing the Rainbow Mountain to come into view. The climb is challenging, due to the altitude, but is manageable, and your guide keeps a gentle pace, attentive to your needs and the difficulty Rainbow Mountain and Ausangate Short Trek at altitude.
By the mid-morning, you will stand before Rainbow Mountain. Its bands of color are vivid and almost unreal. Those who wish can continue to the Red Valley, a quieter, surreal terrain that feels completely untouched and profoundly elemental.
Our warm buffet lunch is served before we begin the journey back to Cusco. By late afternoon, you will return to your hotel…. physically tired and mentally still. Many travelers often describe this as the best Rainbow Mountain and Ausangate Short Trek because it feels authentic and real.
Contact us for more information about Departure dates for this package


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Real experiences from fellow travelers who hiked, explored, and shared moments with us. Honest voices to inspire and prepare your own journey.
¡Viajar con Valencia fue una experiencia fantástica! Aldo también fue un guía turístico increíble. Conocía muy bien la región y fue muy amable. ¡Los chaskis también fueron increíbles! ¡Recomiendo este lugar sin dudarlo!
As you’d expect with a four-day trek, there were highlights—and a few lowlights—with our Valencia Travel experience. The positives far outweighed the negatives, which is why I still give it 4 stars and would recommend Valencia. But they (and you) can learn from the communication issues we faced.
The Trip
We booked the 4-day/3-night Classic Inca Trail with Valencia Travel about 9 months in advance. We opted for a 7-person private tour, which was a modest upgrade and well worth it. Arriving in Cusco 3 days before the trek helped us adjust to the altitude—highly recommended.
The Positives
Ultimately, you are there for the four-day hike. All the equipment (except for the hiking pole) was great – they supplied the tents, hiking poles, sleeping bags, and air mattresses (the last three were extra, but well worth it and good quality). The food was fantastic. Hats off to our cook. Our porters were great—friendly and top notch in their support of our trek. Our guide, Leevo was FANTASTIC. He was a font of knowledge and a source of fun. And, he played the flute, often bringing it out while we hiked. This bonus made the trip seem all the more magical.
The Negatives
The biggest issue was poor communication, especially at key moments.
What to Know as a Traveler:
• Expect a pre-trek meeting the night before.
• They may randomly drop off duffle bags at your lodging.
• They stop at a restaurant the morning of the trek (no need to prep breakfast).
• If you damage equipment—even accidentally—they may try to charge high replacement fees.
What Valencia Should Know:
As a marketing professor, I share these details to help improve customer experience.
• We didn’t hear about the pre-trek meeting until the morning of the day before, forcing us to cancel dinner plans.
• Duffle bags were dropped off without notice—luckily, we were home.
• They failed to prepare for our extra luggage storage, despite prior emails. We were blamed for not explicitly confirming, which caused unnecessary stress.
• We bought breakfast ahead of time based on their written policy, only to find out they stop at a restaurant.
• One of our rented hiking poles broke mid-trek (not due to misuse). Afterward, they demanded $125 for it, later reduced to $50, and finally accepted $10. It wasn’t the money—it was how poorly the situation was handled, which left a bad final impression.
Valencia Travel was amazing to work with, and I would highly recommend them for any new travelers. Special thanks again to Andes (guide) , Maria (agent/coordinator) , and Washington (driver) . Thank you for making this a trip to remember for a lifetime.
We truly had an incredle experience from booking with Maria, to meeting Miguel upon arrival at the airport, and of course trekking with our incredible guide Aldo and the amazing porters who helped make trekking much more comfortable and luxurious than we're used to. We couldn't believe the 3 course meals they cooked up. Truly blew us away.
The trek itself is incredible as you're able to see so many Inca sites along the way before arriving to Macchupicchu. The mountain range was beautiful.
Aldo our guide was the best! He was very information and taught us so much about the incas and knew so much about all the trees, wildlife, and fauna we saw along the trek. He's been guiding for many years and thanks to his experience and forethought we managed to catch amazing views away from the other groups of trekkers and were the first to arrive to Macchupicchu making for an even more private experience. I highly recommend Aldo!
Valencia travel is a local company that supports all the locals they employ. I highly recommend them for any bookings!
**tip: definitely give yourself 3 days in Cusco before hiking in order to acclimate to the altitude. We saw a couple turn around due to issues with altitude.
The Porters and Chef Filex were exceptional and went above and beyond with all our needs.
I was surprised with a Birthday Cake on our hike, and I had no idea someone could make and decorate a cake in a tent.
It was incredibly mind-blowing.
I highly recommend them to anyone looking to do the Inca Trail.
We are extremely pleased with the service we received.
I give them A++++++
Un’altro aspetto importante è stata la guida per Macchu Picchu, Washington! Super appassionato del posto e della storia, vi coninvolgerà con i suoi racconti e le sue spiegazioni. E’ davvero una guida molto esperta e professionale!
Thank you for such a brilliant trek!
Our chef, Gregorio, "Goyo", had the best food of all of our Peru!! the culinary expertise of this guy whom planned a menu according to our hike plan, carbs and proteins, and we had plenty.. .I mean plenty to eat. The porters (all 10), with leads from Climico, and special mention to Fortunato who would met us at the end of the trail to help carry our personal packs to our porters applauding our days hard accomplishment. Along the entire trail, Wilbur encouraging the porter of other competitors as his "little brother" to continue to be strong as they quickly passed us on the trail. My respect to the team of Valencia Travel, the porters, head chef and his assistant and mostly to Wilbur for delivering an experience that I encourage anyone to participate in. Thank you Wilbur. we the 7 women from California, USA will forever be your "Flowers".
There were some challenges communicating with the office staff with some questions we had before the trek and booking it, though once we had our meeting with Guillermo it was all sorted out.
After a lot of research, Valencia Travel appeared as the most qualitative and professional agency organizing the excursions we wanted to take part in. We signed in for day trip to the rainbow mountain and had an amazing experience. The guide spoke English and shared a lot of interesting facts with us, the food was delicious and the general activity was perfectly organisez.
Thanks to this very positive experience, we decided to do the 4 days Lares Trail to Machu Picchu with Valencia Travel. Waouw. We spent the 4 days talking about how impressed we were about the professionalism of the agency. The trek was wonderful, the nature breathtaking but the most impressive part was the service, the kindness of the staff, their organisation,… Everything is in the details, the camp are very confortable, they even bring you tea in your tent to wake you up in the morning!
The food was beyond expectations. At every meal, we had a salad, a soup, a main dish and once we even had a cake that they baked in the tents! Being vegan, we are always a bit scared that it could be a problem for trekkings, but with Valencia it is not at all! We had some of the best foods of our trip during our trekking!
I am so happy that we did the Lares trekking with Valencia as there is no better way to reach the sacred site of Machu Picchu than by doing a trekking in the nature. It is a very special place and trekking to reach it definitely add some magic to the experience!
To conclude, I would highly recommend Valencia for any activities in Peru, it will make your experience unforgettable!!
At 55 and with a helpful dose of camaraderie from my younger trek-mates, including my 16 year-old niece who managed the ascents and descents with aplomb, I felt a sense of accomplishment in completing the trek, which is more vertical than horizontal and ranges from about 9,000 to 12,000 feet over three days. Hiking the trail does require above-average fitness for the middle-aged. No unmanageable parts but a walking stick, reliable shoes, dependable leg muscles and accommodating joints, a relatively light backpack of essentials, and stops along the way to gulp down the thin air, take in the jaw-dropping vistas, pause for passing porters, and make way for grazing llamas—all are required to push through. So is a large reserve of self-deprecation. Alex and other minders were more than indulgent while keeping us all on the move.
Reaching Machu Picchu at the end was paradoxically awe-inspiring and anti-climatic given the splendor of the journey to get there. At the end of it, getting on the train that deposits and returns the vast majority of visitors in the space of a day, I simply couldn’t imagine seeing Machu Picchu without doing the trek.
If you are hiking the Inca Trail I highly recommend to go through Valencia Travel. Ask to have Elistan as your guide. The porters are treated very well. They have good hiking shoes, and attire to wear. (though if they could get backpacks that include waist straps I think that would be great!). Ask for Luis to be your cook. I have never eaten so well on a vacation. Luis is amazing at what he can cook up on the trail, we are talking three course meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the food is presented as if it was at a 5 star hotel. Incredible!!!
My only other desire is if Valencia offered a Recipe Book of the meals eaten on the trail. I would totally purchase such a piece of "gold".
Have questions about your tour? You’re not alone. Here we cover the most common topics — from packing tips and safety to transportation and accommodations. Whether you’re heading to Machu Picchu, the Amazon, or beyond, this section will help you feel prepared and confident.
No special trekking permit is required. Entrance tickets to Rainbow Mountain are included in your trek cost.
Yes. All meals listed and round-trip transportation from Cusco are included.
Smaller groups, early access, private chef service, and deeper immersion beyond Vinicunca alone.
This is a family friendly Rainbow Mountain and Ausangate Short Trek for active families. The altitude makes it better suited to travelers with good fitness levels.
Absolutely! Private departures, pacing, and personal preferences can be arranged in advance.
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