If you have one week in Cusco, Peru, and follow the jam-packed itinerary I did with my best friend, you will have just enough time to do everything we did AND have one layday in Cusco. These two trips are offered by countless tour operators but be warned it does come with a 4:30 AM pick up from your hostel, and you generally return around 6PM, so it's not easy on the body/sleep! That being said, both these full, full day trips were only $15-20 WITH a buffet breakfast and lunch included, so for the price alone it is beyond worth it to go, and obviously the views that take your breath away!
If you can ONLY fit in one of these Lake Humantay or Rainbow Mountain, I would go with the blue lagoon because it was a slightly more enjoyable time for me, and a little less altitude, but both are worth it if you have the time!
We first decided to go to Palcoyo, Perú, which everyone calls the "backside of Rainbow Mountain." The famous colorful mountain was only really discovered as a tourist destination back in 2015 because climate change unearthed all the pretty colored rocks under what used to be snowcapped peaks :( for better or for worse, the warming of the environment has given this community another way to profit for tourism, but it actually became toxic and Rainbow Mountain's main entrance closed down due to a dispute between the government and the original landowners. For now, Palcoyo is the best way to see the colors from a different angle and do so legally :)
If you climbed to the tippy tippy top of this spot, you would technically be at 5,000 meters, which is most likely the highest you will be in your life if you haven't yet done any high altitude mountain treks (yes, that's higher than Mt Whitney, folks!) The altitude is extremely important to keep in mind and somehow I seemed to be the only person in my tour group concerned about the safety of the tour group. Driving from Cusco's altitude to 5000 m in one day is a lot of elevation very fast, so if you are prone to altitude sickness or EVEN IF you're not, I beg you as your safety person to please have lots of water, electrolytes, and ibuprofen on hand because you never know how your body will respond! Additionally, the walk around Palcoyo when you arrive is around 3km, so you will be slightly exerting your body, just remember to walk slow because your breath is a lot thinner up there. And last thing! Layers for the cold and sun protection is an absolute must! Ok I'm done now ;)
Alright all safety aside, this place is ridiculously easy to enjoy once you arrive, with a very mellow walking trail taking you to different vantage points, past touristic llama/alpaca photos, and with the option to scale up a higher mountain peak if your body is feeling alright. Expect to see many influencers in the wild ™ trying to get their quirky instagram shot in traditional Peruvian outfits, but take the time to put down your phone and appreciate the beauty around you! When the clouds come and go, you can see the massive snowy mountain peaks around you, and the colors of the mountain keep changing as the sun comes and goes.
lowkey the drive might have been the most beautiful part... how is that baby alpaca real!?
After an early 7 AM buffet breakfast, visiting the site, and one of the most beautiful van rides of my life past green, green steppes and thousands of baby alpacas :,) we finally got a late 2:30 PM buffet lunch and rounded back in Cusco with JUST enough time to eat, sleep, and get up at 4AM the next day for the next site!
Laguna Humantay is the bluest lake I've ever seen in my life! Peru is known for many blue lagoons at high altitude, and this might be the most popular/accessible one around. Like the Rainbow Mountain, it became a tourist hotspot more recently as they developed the tourism around here, and now it's really easy to visit, with services/food all along the way. It is a more involved hike, taking about an hour of huffing and puffing at 4,200 m (13,800 ft) to get to the view. It is pretty hard even for fit people, so if you wanna skip out on the hike at any point, there are horses that give rides to the top (I think it is around $15). I wasn't in the best shape but was pretty winded and sweaty by the time we finally arrived, so I was stoked to buy a coffee for a buck from an older Peruvian man that said he carries up all his concessions to the Lagoon just on his back!
We enjoyed the blue AF water for an hour, again appreciating how the water changed tint with the angle and the sun coming and going. This Lagoon is actually a small excursion from the multi-day Salkantay trek, so it is right under the stunning mountain peak which serves as the most epic backdrop. Our tour guide entertained us with cutesy photos of us and our plushy stuffed animals and we trekked back down the steep mountain.
I will mention that there are lots of other bright blue lagoons in Peru, especially around the hiking paradise of Huaraz. Because I think I got my hiking and mountain fix in Cusco, I didn't end up at Huaraz on this trip but in the future I hope to go to even higher mountains and longer treks in this paradise!
Although we arranged these directly through our hostel, we really enjoyed the tour company and they gave us a GREAT price, so check out Arnold Adventures if you aren't already sold on the trip by one of the dozens of tour operators in Cusco. My general advice in Cusco is not to plan too far ahead of time because we literally booked these tours with 12 hours notice and it was like half the price than having booked online with Trip Advisor or Viator. I normally like to plan a bit, but here you have so many options it makes last minute planning a piece of cake!
After some long, long, long days on these 14 hour daytrips, we were able to finally sleep in Cusco and chill until my bestie was back home and I was on my way back to the coast of Peru.. but first, we found a tasty little hot chocolate spot with empanadas, which was quite a hidden gem among Cusco's touristy cuisine. All in all, these spots were definitely very touristic and also super stunning, so I would say entertain the cheesy tour for a day and make the visit. It's close to impossible (and would be like, 3 times more expensive) to see these on your own, so this is the way to go!
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