Cusipata, the village where the Rainbow Mountain day begins
Nobody books a tour to Cusipata. It is the place your day actually happens in, though — the breakfast, the briefing, the machines and the people who run all three are here, about ninety minutes south of Cusco in the Vilcanota valley.
Where it is
Cusipata is a small district on the main road between Cusco and Sicuani, at roughly 3,400 m — about the same altitude as Cusco itself, which is why it works as the breakfast stop. The Vilcanota river runs past it, and the road up towards Vinicunca turns off just beyond the village.
From Cusco it is about ninety minutes of good tarmac. From Cusipata to the ATV starting point is another half hour, and from there you are on the machines.
What happens there on tour day
- Around 7:45: breakfast in a community comedor — hot drinks, bread, eggs, fruit, quinoa porridge. Eat something even if you are not hungry; it is a long morning.
- Around 8:45: you meet your machine, get fitted for a helmet and gloves, and the 20-minute briefing starts.
- Around 9:30: the practice loop, then the group leaves.
- Around 14:30: back down for a hot lunch in the same village before the drive to Cusco.
Who owns the mountain
This is the part most tour pages skip. Vinicunca and the Red Valley are not a national park and they are not state land. They belong to the campesino communities who have grazed alpacas on those slopes for generations — principally Pampachiri and Chillihuani.
They control access, they staff the gate, they set the entrance tariff and they decide when the route is open. Every operator on that mountain, including us, is working inside a permission that those communities grant.
Where your 30 soles go
Straight to the community, in cash, at the gate. Not through us, not through an agency in Cusco, and not as a margin on a dollar price quoted six months earlier.
That is the real reason we stopped bundling the entrance fee into the tour price. When the tariff changes — and it does — a bundled price forces an operator to either absorb it quietly or re-quote travelers who have already paid. Quoting it separately keeps the money where it belongs and keeps our number honest.
Bring it in soles
The gate takes Peruvian soles and nothing else. No cards, no dollars, no exceptions. 30 soles per person, and have it in your pocket rather than in the van.
The day starts here at about 7:45
Breakfast in Cusipata, the 20-minute briefing, then the ride up.
From $60 per person
Check availability Ask on WhatsAppIf you have time to look around
You will not have much — the day is built around the mountain, not the village. But the half hour over breakfast is a genuine glimpse of the Vilcanota valley: alpaca grazing on the slopes above, the river below, and a village that was here long before anybody came to photograph coloured rock.
The food is cooked by people who live there. If you want to do one small thing that helps, eat it, tip the kitchen, and buy your gloves and buffs from the stalls at the trailhead rather than in Cusco.
Questions travelers ask us
How far is Cusipata from Cusco?
About 90 minutes by road, roughly 100 km south along the Vilcanota valley on the Sicuani road.
Is breakfast included?
Yes, in Cusipata, around 7:45. Lunch is in the same village on the way back. Both are included in the tour price; the entrance fee at the gate is not.
Can I do the ATV tour without going through Cusipata?
No. The machines, the briefing and the kitchen are all there, and the route to Vinicunca starts from the valley above it.
Who do I pay the entrance fee to?
The community staff at the gate, in cash, in soles. 30 soles per person, covering both Vinicunca and the Red Valley.
