Ausangate Trek: 3 Days and 2 Nights from Cusco
- 3 days, 2 nights
- Hotel pick-up in Cusco
- Seven glacial lagoons at 4,600–4,800 m
- Ausangate, 6,384 m — the highest peak in Cusco
What's Included on the Ausangate Route from Cusco
General Information
Duration
3 days, 2 nights
Location
Ausangate, Cusco
Languages
Spanish, English
What's Included
- Hotel pick-up and return to Cusco
- Round-trip tourist transport
- Guided high mountain experienceA licensed guide and a cook with you for the whole circuit
- Three breakfasts, three lunches and two dinnersCooked on the mountain, vegetarian on request
- Camping tents
- Sleeping bag rated to −5 °C
- Pack horsesSeven kilos per person carried between camps
- Emergency horseOn departures of more than five travellers
- Oxygen tank and first-aid kit
What's Not Included
- Pacchanta community entrance: S/ 20
- Upis community entrance: S/ 20
- Anantapata entrance: S/ 20
- Rainbow Mountain entrance: S/ 25
- Red Valley entrance: S/ 30 (optional)
- Trekking poles
- Tips for the crew, the guide and the cook
- Private expenses — extra drinks, snacks and souvenirs
- Travel insurance
What to Bring
- A soft duffel of up to 7 kg for the pack horses
- A daypack for water, camera and the day's layers
- Broken-in trekking boots with ankle support
- Down jacket, fleece, thermal base layers, gloves and wool hat
- Waterproof jacket and trousers
- Head torch with spare batteries — the camps have no electricity
- Sunscreen, UV sunglasses, sun hat and lip balm
- Personal medication and any altitude tablets you use
- Passport or ID, and cash in soles for the community entrances
- Swimwear and a towel for the hot springs
Things to Know
What to know about walking Ausangate above 4,300 m
- Difficulty: Moderate for the one-day tour, demanding for the treks — not because of the terrain, which is a walking trail throughout, but because of the altitude and the consecutive days. Trek stages run 6 to 16 km, five to seven hours each.
- Altitude: Pacchanta, where every route starts, sits at 4,300 m. The lagoons are between 4,600 and 4,800 m and the passes reach 4,750, 4,870, 5,070 and 5,096 m. Ausangate itself is 6,384 m, the highest peak in the Cusco region.
- Acclimatisation: Two days in Cusco (3,399 m) before the one-day tour, three before any of the treks. Arriving from sea level and walking straight into a camp at 4,400 m is how altitude sickness happens.
- Duration: One day, two days, or three to five days out. The day tour leaves Cusco at 4:30 AM and returns in the evening; the treks come back to the city between 5:00 and 6:00 PM on the last day.
- Best season: April to October is the dry season, with the clearest skies and the most reliable colour on the lagoons. From November to March expect rain, and snow above 4,500 m.
- Nights on the trek: Tents at Upis, Surapata, Anantapata or the Ausangate lagoon, all above 4,400 m. A −5 °C sleeping bag is included; there is no electricity and no phone signal, so bring a head torch.
- Luggage: Pack horses carry seven kilos per person between camps, in a soft duffel. Everything else stays in your hotel in Cusco, and you walk with a daypack.
- Horses: An emergency horse comes along on any departure of more than five travellers. A riding horse for the whole trek can be arranged in advance if you want the option of riding a stretch.
About the Ausangate Route from Cusco
WhatsApp Us!Ausangate: the Apu of the Cusco Region
Ausangate rises to 6,384 m about 100 km southeast of Cusco, the highest peak in the region and the apu the communities beneath it still answer to. The routes all start from Pacchanta, a village at 4,300 m at the foot of the glacier, roughly three hours by road from the city — which is why every day out here begins before dawn and ends with a hot meal in the same village.
Why the Ausangate Route from Cusco Is Worth It
The seven lagoons — Otorongo Macho, Otorongo Hembra, Puca Cocha, Alqa Cocha, Ccomer Cocha, Azul Cocha and Pata Cocha — lie strung along the glacier's runoff between about 4,600 and 4,800 m, each a different colour depending on the mineral load of the slope that feeds it. Around them the high puna holds alpacas, vizcachas and, if the day is good, condors working the thermals over the ridge. Behind the southern flank of the massif sits the striped ridge of Rainbow Mountain, which the longer routes reach on foot at first light.
What to Expect on the Ausangate Route from Cusco
Three long days on foot — 14 to 16 km on the first, 15 to 16 km on the second and 6 to 8 km on the last — never dropping below 4,300 m. You camp at Upis, which has hot springs, and at Anantapata, which looks straight across at the striped ridge, and you reach Rainbow Mountain at dawn, hours before the day-trip buses. Horses carry seven kilos of your kit, so you walk with a daypack.
The walking itself is never technical — wide trails, no scrambling, no exposure — but everything happens above 4,300 m, where each breath carries roughly half the oxygen you are used to. Guides set a deliberately slow rhythm and stop often, oxygen and a first-aid kit travel with the group, and on the camping routes horses carry seven kilos per person so you only ever walk with a daypack.
At the Lagoons
The trail comes over a rise and the first of the lagoons opens below, with the glacier hanging directly above it. There is about an hour up in the high sector to photograph each basin from the rim, and the light matters more than the hour of day: in sun the water goes an improbable turquoise, and when a cloud comes over the whole valley turns to slate in a minute. Bring layers — it is often near freezing up here even in bright sun, and if it rains at this altitude it usually falls as snow.
Why Book This Ausangate Route With Us
Plenty of operators run these routes; the differences show up above 4,500 m, on day three, in the cold. Our guides are licensed for high mountain, bilingual, and carry an oxygen tank and a first-aid kit on every departure. Meals are cooked for you rather than improvised, the camping routes come with tents, −5 °C sleeping bags and a pack-horse team, and an emergency horse joins any group larger than five. Community entrance fees are paid in cash on the route — we tell you the exact amounts in advance so there are no surprises.
Highlights
- The seven lagoons and the Arapa pass at 4,750 m
- Rainbow Mountain at dawn, before the day trips arrive
- Sunset over the striped ridge from the Anantapata camp
- Tents, −5 °C sleeping bags and pack horses included
Your Route
Ausangate Trek: 3 Days and 2 Nights from Cusco
The short circuit, and the one that packs the most into the fewest days: the seven lagoons on day one, the Arapa pass at 4,750 m on day two, and Rainbow Mountain at first light on day three, hours before the day-trip buses arrive. Two nights under canvas at Upis and Anantapata, with tents, a −5 °C sleeping bag and pack horses all included.
A camping trek at altitude: you sleep in tents above 4,400 m in a −5 °C sleeping bag, and pack horses carry 7 kg of your kit between camps. Two or three days acclimatising in Cusco beforehand are not optional. Community entrances are paid in cash on the route.
USD $300
per person
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Ausangate Itinerary from Cusco
Day by Day · 3-day trek
Day 1 · Cusco – Pacchanta – 7 Lakes – Upis
Very early pick-up and the drive to Pacchanta, with the sun coming up over the Andes. Breakfast at 4,300 m with the glacier straight ahead, then the hike through the seven lagoons: 14 to 16 km, five to six hours, among alpacas and water that changes colour from one lagoon to the next. Lunch on the road, a few kilometres more, and camp at Upis at about 4,400 m — hot springs, hot dinner and a sky with nothing in the way of it.
Day 2 · Upis – Arapa pass – Anantapata
The biggest day of the three: 15 to 16 km and six to seven hours, climbing steadily to the Arapa pass at about 4,750 m with the whole range in view. The ground turns reddish and mineral as you descend towards Anantapata at about 4,730 m, where the camp looks straight across at Rainbow Mountain — and where the sunset over it is the reason people book this route rather than the day trip.
Day 3 · Anantapata – Rainbow Mountain – Red Valley – Cusco
Away before dawn for the last stretch: 6 to 8 km and four to five hours to Rainbow Mountain, arriving as the sun lifts over the ridge and lights the colours with almost nobody there. Time for photographs, then the optional walk on to the Red Valley, lunch, and the descent to the transport. Back in Cusco around 5:00 to 6:00 PM.
Ausangate FAQ
The trail is never technical — no scrambling, no exposure, no equipment beyond boots and poles. What makes it demanding is the altitude and the repetition: five to seven hours of walking a day, for three to five days, never below 4,300 m and crossing passes up to 5,096 m. The one-day tour to the seven lakes is much gentler, a few hours out and back from Pacchanta, and most reasonably fit travellers manage it.
Two days in Cusco (3,399 m) before the one-day tour, and three before any of the camping treks. Coming straight from the coast or from Lima and walking into a camp at 4,400 m is the single most common cause of a trip that goes wrong. An extra night in Pacchanta beforehand is the best acclimatisation you can buy.
All three walk the seven lagoons and finish at Rainbow Mountain, but they take different amounts of the mountain. Three days is the compact circuit along the eastern flank. Four days adds the Ausangate pass at 4,870 m and a camp beside the Ausangate lagoon, with shorter daily stages. Five days is the complete loop, with Palomani at 5,096 m and Q'ampa at 5,070 m, and nothing on the route repeated.
On the treks you sleep in tents the crew pitches for you, at Upis, Surapata, Anantapata or beside the Ausangate lagoon — all above 4,400 m. A sleeping bag rated to −5 °C is included, and nights regularly drop below freezing in the dry season. On the two-day Rainbow Mountain and 7 Lakes route you sleep in a guest house in Pacchanta instead, with beds and blankets.
No. Pack horses carry seven kilos per person between the camps, packed in a soft duffel, and you walk with a daypack holding water, camera and the day's layers. Anything you do not need on the mountain stays in your hotel in Cusco.
No — the community entrances are paid in cash on the route, and each community charges its own: S/ 20 for Pacchanta, Upis, Surapata and Anantapata, S/ 25 for Rainbow Mountain and S/ 30 for the Red Valley, which is optional. Bring it in small notes; there is nowhere to pay by card. The exact list for your route is on its tour page.
An oxygen tank and a first-aid kit travel with every departure and the guide is trained to use both. The standard response is to stop, give oxygen and lose altitude — descent resolves almost every case quickly, and on the treks an emergency horse is there on groups of more than five. Tell your guide early rather than pushing on quietly.
April through October is the dry season: clear skies, the strongest colour on the lagoons and the most reliable camping. Between November and March it rains frequently, the passes can hold fresh snow, and cloud sits on the range for days at a time. June to August are the coldest nights and the clearest days.
Ausangate Trek Reviews
Private Departures, Horse Support and Extra Nights
The five routes on this page are the standard ones. If your group, your pace or your dates need something else, the mountain can be arranged around you — message us and we will put it together.
Private Ausangate departures
Your group alone, at your own pace, on the dates that suit you — families, couples and photographers who would rather not share the trail.
Ask on WhatsAppRiding horse for the whole trek
Beyond the pack horses, a riding horse with its own handler for anyone who wants the option of riding a stretch on the long days.
Ask on WhatsAppAn extra night at Pacchanta
Arrive the day before, sleep at 4,300 m beside the hot springs and start the circuit already acclimatised. The single best thing you can add.
Ask on WhatsAppPhotography-paced departures
Sunrise at the passes, sunset over the striped ridge, shorter stages and time to stop. Built for people carrying more than a phone.
Ask on WhatsApp