Vinicunca or Rainbow Mountain is part of the Andes mountains in Peru and sits at 5,200 meters (17,060 feet) above sea level, which is only 400 meters lower then Everest base camp! Pictures of this uniquely colored mountain blew up on social media in 2015 after decades of Andean snow and ice melted away (thanks global warming) to reveal the striped colors of the mountain. Rainbow Mountain boasts seven different colors, these colors are caused by its mineralogical composition: pink from red clay, fangolitas (mud) and arilitas (sand), white from quartzose, sandstone and marls, red from claystones (high in iron), and clays from the upper Tertiary period, green from phyllites, brown from fanglomerate and rocks from the Quarternary period, yellow from calcareous which is high in sulfur. Despite being wildly popular with instagramars and influencers, it's actually quite a trek to reach the viewing point for Rainbow Mountain (it's actually prohibited to be on Rainbow Mountain) and we definitely saw people who were not prepared for trek, let alone a trek during rainy season (I'm looking at you sir, in the yeezys and the lady in the white dress and shoes). If you're dead set on taking pictures at the top in a nice outfit, I'd highly recommend bringing it with you and changing, although there is no real privacy to change...so plan accordingly.
Due to it's remote location, the trail head at Qesoyuno (the long trek) or Lama Chimpana
(short trek) are about 2-4 hours from Cusco depending on your driver, traffic, and weather. While it's easiest to take a group tour, if you have the budget for it you can hire a driver to take you to the trail head and back. If you choose to hire a driver and forego the guide, make sure your acclimatized to altitude, have experience hiking, and are properly prepared for altitude issues. There are multiple trek options to reach Rainbow Mountain, the original trek from when travelers first started visiting the mountain in 2015 involved a 15km round trip trek after a long bus ride from Cusco. While it's still possible to do this trek for those who are so inclined, very few tours take this route so you will most likely need to hire a driver and possibly a guide as well. As the mountain gained popularity with visitors, a new road was built to accommodate the tour buses, there is very little other traffic on this road and it wasn't the best road I've been on in Peru (also not the worst), which has significantly shortened the trek to 7km round trip, however the long bus ride is still part of the experience. You can book tours online or in person, often a day or two days before you want to visit the mountain and they range in price from $25 - $100 USD. If you're booking online, you'll find the most options via Viator and Get Your Guide, I'd recommend checking reviews before dropping a hefty amount on this tour, most of the tours offer the same basic itinerary and amenities, so the difference in price is sometimes unwarranted. You can book the same tour in person at one of the many agencies in Cusco for much less, in addition most of the hotels and hostels will usually have a tour provider that they work with and can arrange the tour for you for what you would pay at an agency in Cusco or less.
Since we would be embarking on the Inca Trail the next day, Ashley and I chose the shorter trek option and booked our tour with Rainbow Mountain Travels, which was a very budget friendly $25 per person, this tour does have one of the earliest departure times at 3:00am, but it is highly recommended as the view point can get very crowded around 10-11am when most of the tours arrive. The cost of the tour included the entrance fee for the mountain along with two meals: breakfast and lunch (the meals were surprisingly good and vegetarian friendly). Our guide was extremely friendly and knowledgeable, we had a lot of questions about the geology and the communities living around the mountain. The tour stopped for breakfast in Cusipata after about two hours of driving for breakfast which was a pretty standard Peruvian restaurant/hostel breakfast (coffee, quinoa bread, eggs). This was followed by another hour and a half of driving to reach the Lama Chimpana to start our trek up to the viewing point. This is your last chance to use the bathroom and there was an area where a few stalls were set up selling snacks and souvenirs.
The trek up to the viewing point takes on average one and a half - two hours, it is also
possible to rent a horse to take you up the mountain, or round trip for around 190 soles. The trek starts at 4,000 meters and climbs up to 5,200 meters at the viewing point, so if you have not adjusted to being at altitude yet, you may need to fall back on the rent a horse option. The majority of the trek is not too hard, it's a pretty gentle incline for most of the trek, with the only steep section the climb up to the viewing point right at the base of Rainbow Mountain, but just because most o f the trek is fairly easy doesn't mean you should underestimate the effects of altitude, even if you're in decent shape.
The scenery on the trek up is quite breath taking with towering mountains and valleys dotted with farms and small communities. On the day we went many of the mountainsides were covered in snow and there was fog rolling down the valley, this wasn't super surprising as it was rainy season. Despite the cloudy conditions our guide was optimistic on our chances of seeing rainbow mountain, as it would take an hour and a half to reach the viewing point...and you never know what the weather is like at the view point (altitude gain) so with our fingers crossed we enjoyed the scenery on our trek up to the view point. During rainy season it's especially important to check the weather before booking, but given our time restraints, scheduling for a different day wasn't possible, the best weather for viewing Rainbow Mountain is April - October when the weather is usually sunny and clear. Despite the foggy weather and snow, once we reached the view
point we were pleasantly surprised by a fog free view of Rainbow Mountain and that part of the mountain was snow free and we could see some of the colorful stripes. We could see a fairly heavy fog quickly rolling up the valley, and ended up with about 10 minutes of clear view before the mountain was obscured by fog. Once the fog rolled in, we headed back towards the bus, because the descent is so easy, it only took us about 45 minutes to make it back. At the base of Rainbow Mountain there was a woman selling coca tea, coffee, and snacks and for 2 soles you can stamp your passport with a stamp for Vinicunca (this is also available at Machu Picchu), there was a gentleman with a some Alpacas at the top, and for a few soles you could have your picture taken with one over looking rainbow mountain.
FYIs
Dress Appropriately
While Rainbow Mountain is arguably one of the most popular attractions in Peru, it is still an actual hike to reach it and you should dress accordingly i.e. proper footwear and weather appropriate clothing. Like I mentioned early, if you'd like that influencer-esque shot in an outfit you'll want to carry it up the mountain and change once you reach the view point, but there's no real privacy to change so keep that in mind and plan accordingly.
Crowds
Your definition of crowded might be different from mine, but due to it's popularity it is one of the more crowded locations you can visit (if you've ever traveled in China, you probably won't think anything in South America is crowded). I recommend booking a tour that leaves at 3am, as there are fewer tours that leave at this time aka less people on the view point. As we were coming back down from the view point there were tons of people making the trek up towards Rainbow Mountain, so if you do choose a later trek be aware that it will be more crowded.
Those Colors
The colors of Rainbow Mountain are truly a spectacular display of what nature can do, but be
aware that most of the pictures you see floating around on the internet and Instagram have a fair amount of color grading (think saturation), I've met a lot of people who were disappointed that the actual colors of Rainbow Mountain didn't live up to their instagram expectations in terms of vibrancy and brightness. The reality is that the colors are much more muted than in real life, but that doesn't make them any less fascinating or worth seeing. The day of our outing to Rainbow Mountain was cloudy and snowy so the colors were even more muted, but they were still beautiful and contrasted with the snow.
Is Rainbow Mountain worth the hype and the effort? Absolutely, while it can be crowded and the vibrancy of the colors will vary depending on the weather, it's still a super cool sight and a nice warm up trek before you hit the Inca Trail.
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