Rainbow Mountain and 7 Lakes of Ausangate: 2-Day Trek
- 2 days, 1 night
- 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
2 days, 1 night
Location
Ausangate, Cusco
Languages
Spanish, English
What's Included
- Hotel pick-up and return to Cusco
- Round-trip tourist transportAbout three hours each way between Cusco and Pacchanta
- Professional guideSpanish and English, licensed for high mountain routes
- Two breakfasts, two lunches and one dinnerBuffet breakfast in Cusipata and in Pacchanta, vegetarian on request
- One night in a Pacchanta guest houseBeds and blankets, a few steps from the thermal baths
- Oxygen tank and first-aid kit
- Permanent assistanceSomeone with the group from the pick-up to the drop-off
What's Not Included
- Community entrance tickets, including Rainbow Mountain — paid in cash
- Entry to the Pacchanta hot springs
- Trekking poles
- Tips for the crew, the guide and the cook
- Private expenses — extra drinks, snacks and souvenirs
- Travel insurance
What to Bring
- Warm layers — jacket, thermal top, gloves, wool hat and buff
- A rain layer — the weather above 4,300 m turns without warning
- Trekking shoes with anti-slip soles
- Sunscreen, UV sunglasses, sun hat and lip balm
- Passport or ID
- Cash in soles for the community entrances and the hot springs
- Swimwear and a towel for the hot springs
- At least 1.5 litres of water and some energy snacks
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
The first day is the harder one: pick-up between 4:00 and 5:00 AM, breakfast in Cusipata, and then about an hour of climbing from the Chillihuani community to the Rainbow Mountain viewpoint at 5,100 m. The second day is gentler — a walk from Pacchanta to the lagoons and back.
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
- Rainbow Mountain at 5,100 m with an hour for photographs
- A night in Pacchanta beside the thermal baths
- The seven lagoons on the second morning, without the day-trip rush
- Two breakfasts, two lunches and a hot dinner included
Your Route
Rainbow Mountain and 7 Lakes of Ausangate: 2-Day Trek
The striped ridge on the first day and the seven lagoons on the second, with a night in a Pacchanta guest house between them — no tent, and the hot springs a few steps from the door. It is the shortest way to see both sides of the massif, and the only one of these routes that gives you Rainbow Mountain in the morning light and the lakes without a rush.
You sleep in a guest house in Pacchanta, not a tent. Both days run above 4,300 m, so arrive in Cusco with at least two days of acclimatisation behind you.
USD $129
per person
100% secure transactions
100% refund guaranteed when you cancel 48 hours before the tour
Have more days, or fewer? Switch route:
Ausangate Itinerary from Cusco
Day by Day · Rainbow Mountain + 7 Lakes
Day 1 · Cusco – Rainbow Mountain – Pacchanta
Pick-up between 4:00 and 5:00 AM and an Andean buffet breakfast in Cusipata, then on to the Chillihuani community and forty minutes more to the trailhead. The climb to Rainbow Mountain takes about an hour, with Ausangate in view the whole way; at the top there are fifteen to twenty minutes of explanation from the guide and up to an hour for photographs at 5,100 m. An hour back down to the minivan, buffet lunch, and a three-hour drive to Pacchanta, where you sleep in a guest house beside the thermal baths. Dinner is served there.
Day 2 · The 7 Lakes of Ausangate – Cusco
Buffet breakfast in Pacchanta and then the walk to the seven lagoons at the foot of the glacier, with about an hour among them and time to photograph each one from the upper sector. Back down to the village for buffet lunch and, if you did not use them the night before, the thermal baths. The drive back to Cusco follows.
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