Cordillera Blanca Popular - 5 Days

We leave Huaraz and drive southwards along the main road. Around 10 minutes later, we reach the trailhead at Chiwipampa. Almost immediately, the trail starts ascending steeply towards the village of Santa Cruz. We walk on upwards past traditional Quechua homes and fields where the local people cultivate potatoes, wheat, beans and corn. After two hours of hiking, we reach the picturesque lake and are granted magnificent views of the Cordillera Blanca. A rapid descent brings us back to the main road from where we catch our transport back to Huaraz.

We pick you up in your hotel in Huaraz and drive to the town of Chavin, located 109 km away. On the way we stop at beautiful Querococha Lake (3980m). It is not uncommon to see llamas and alpacas grazing around the lake. From here the road climbs steeply to the Kawish Tunnel (4516m), which cuts through the solid rock of a mountain to emerge in the Conchucos Valley. We arrive in the small town of Chavin and explore the ruins. Our guided visit lasts around 1.5 hours. After lunch we visit the excellent Chavin National Museum, which houses numerous intricately carved tenons, as well as the magnifidient Tello Obelisk. Then we make our way back to Huaraz.

You are picked up in your hotel and we drive north following the course of the Rio Santa that divides the Cordillera Blanca in the east and the Cordillera Negra in the west. We pass traditional Andean towns and enjoy the magnificent view of the high peaks of the Cordillera Blanca range including Huascaran (6768m), Peru’s highest mountain. As we enter the Huascaran National Park, we continue our drive up this beautiful valley. Our first stop is at Llanganuco lake where we have breakfast. After another 20 minutes of driving our bus stops and we start hiking up to the Laguna 69. This hike will take about 3 hours of steep ascending. After having lunch at the lake we hike back down the same trail. Our bus brings us back to Huaraz.

You are picked up in your hotel and we drive towards the southern section of the Huascaran National Park. Once we enter the park we have our first views of some of the Cordillera Blanca’s stunning mountains. We stop at Lake Patococha to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Further on we stop again at some unusual mineral springs. From here, we can clearly see the imposing snow-capped peak of Mururaju, which dominates this part of the valley. Later on, we stop to see the gigantic Puya Raimondi plants. The road now climbs steeply towards the glacier and we pass beautiful mountains with cascading glaciers. It takes around 1 hour on foot to reach the glacier. After spending some time at the glacier we hike down to the bus and drive back to Huaraz.

You are picked up in your hotel in Huaraz. First, we drive 67 km to the small town of Caraz and then another 32km to the lake. The drive to the lake is through a spectacular canyon with 1000m high granite walls. Once at the lake, you can take a hike along a path around the side of the lake and finally hike up to another small but beautiful lake named Artesoncocha. We take the same path back to our transportation and drive back to Huaraz.