How to book a Rainbow Mountain ATV tour — and what to avoid

There are three ways to end up on a quad bike at Vinicunca: book online before you fly, book with an agency in Cusco, or be sold something on the Plaza de Armas the night before. They produce very different days.

This is how booking works with us, and what we would check if we were buying this from somebody else.

Book direct or book on the street?

Almost every ATV tour advertised on the Plaza is resold. The person selling it has a commission and will not be on the mountain with you; the operator who actually runs the day gets what is left of your money after that commission, and has to build the day down to it.

Booking direct is not about loyalty — it is about knowing whose machines you are getting on. Ask for the RUC (the Peruvian tax ID), ask who operates the departure, and look that company up. Ours is 20527595011, trading as Inka's Network Adventure E.I.R.L. from Jose Olaya 343, Cusco — Peru, registered with DIRCETUR and MINCETUR. You can verify all of that before paying us anything.

How far ahead you need to book

Bookings close 24 hours before departure, but availability runs out long before the cut-off in the busy months.

What the booking actually asks you for

Short, because the form only asks for what the day genuinely needs.

1. A date. One departure a day, leaving Cusco at 06:00.
2. Your machines. How many quads, and for each one whether it carries one rider or two.
3. Your name as it appears on your passport, because the community entrance ticket is issued against your document.
4. Your passport or DNI number, for the same reason.
5. A hotel or pickup address in Cusco, and a WhatsApp number so the driver can reach you at six in the morning.

How the deposit and balance work

You pay 20% online to hold the date and the machines. The remaining 80% is cash on the day, handed over when we collect you, in soles or US dollars.

The reason is not cash flow — it is that a quad held with nothing behind it is a quad that does not go out. A small deposit keeps the no-show rate low enough that we can run small groups at all.

Keep the 30 soles per person for the entrance gate separate from the balance. That money goes to the communities, not to us, and it has to be in soles.

Cancelling and rescheduling

• 30 or more days before departure: cancel for a full refund of the deposit. No questions, no fee.
• Inside 30 days: we will always try a free reschedule first, because an empty seat helps nobody.
• If we cancel for weather or a closed road, you choose between a free reschedule and a full refund — and we decide early enough to tell you before pickup, not at your hotel door.

Five warning signs

If you book this anywhere, run the quote past this list first.

• No RUC on the website, the invoice or the voucher.
• A price far below $60 per person. Something has been removed, and it is usually the safety equipment or the group size.
• Nobody mentions a safety briefing, or the briefing is “five minutes at the trailhead”.
• The entrance fee is described as included without a figure. The communities change that tariff; a bundled price either absorbs it or re-quotes you later.
• You are asked to pay in full, in cash, to somebody in the street.

What happens after you book

1. You get a confirmation email with a voucher and the exact balance.
2. We message you on WhatsApp the evening before with your pickup time and the driver’s name.
3. Pickup is at 06:00 at your hotel door. Breakfast is in Cusipata, not in Cusco — do not get up early to eat.
4. You are back in Cusco around dinner time, roughly 12 hours after you left.

Questions travelers ask us

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