Rainbow Mountain Range (Palccoyo) and Q'eswachaka Bridge

Overview

A private tour off the beaten path to Palccoyo's rainbow-colored mountain range and Q'eswachaka, the last Inca rope bridge, which you can walk across.

Go off the beaten path with this private tour into Cusco's southern valley to Palccoyo, a lesser-known alternative to the main Rainbow Mountain, hiking across the multi-colored range and seeing bridges from Inca, colonial, and modern eras — including Q'eswachaka, the last traditional Inca rope bridge, still rebuilt each year by local communities using centuries-old techniques, which you're able to walk across.

Highlights

• Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain A quieter multi-colored mountain range in Cusco's southern valley.
• Q'eswachaka Bridge The last surviving Inca rope bridge, rebuilt annually by local communities.
• Bridges through the ages A rare chance to see Inca, colonial, and modern bridge-building side by side.

What Stops Does This Tour Make?

A popular starting point — every Voyzo itinerary is fully customizable, so we'll shape the order and stops around your group.

Important Information

Frequently Asked Questions

About This Tour

A private tour off the beaten path to Palccoyo's rainbow-colored mountain range and Q'eswachaka, the last Inca rope bridge, which you can walk across. Go off the beaten path with this private tour into Cusco's southern valley to Palccoyo, a lesser-known alternative to the main Rainbow Mountain, hiking across the multi-colored range and seeing bridges from Inca, colonial, and modern eras — including Q'eswachaka, the last traditional Inca rope bridge, still rebuilt each year by local communities using centuries-old techniques, which you're able to walk across.

This tour heads into Cusco's southern valley to Palccoyo, a real and separate site from the more famous Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain, sitting at an altitude of roughly 4,900 meters (about 16,070 feet) — some 300 meters lower than Vinicunca's summit. Rather than a single peak, Palccoyo is made up of three distinct hills striped in reds, golds, greens, and whites, the result of the same kind of layered mineral deposits found at Vinicunca, reached by a short, mostly flat walk of around 30 to 45 minutes rather than a long, steep climb.

The second half of the day reaches something genuinely rare: Q'eswachaka, the last surviving traditional Inca rope bridge still in regular use. Woven from ichu, a tough native grass, the bridge is roughly 30 meters long and 1.2 meters wide, spanning a gorge about 28 meters deep over the Apurímac River. First built an estimated 600 years ago, it's entirely rebuilt from scratch every June by around 1,000 people from four local Quechua-speaking communities — women braid the grass into cords by hand, which men then weave into thick ropes under the direction of a chakaruhac, a traditional Inca-style bridge engineer, before the whole structure is rebuilt in a matter of days. In 2013, UNESCO formally recognized the knowledge, skills, and rituals behind this annual rebuilding as part of its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity — a real, internationally recognized distinction, not a marketing claim. Visitors are able to walk across the finished bridge themselves.

Because the route heads further south than most standard Rainbow Mountain itineraries, it's a genuinely quieter corner of the Cusco region — fewer other tour groups, and a rare chance to see a living piece of Inca-era engineering and craftsmanship still maintained by the same kind of communities that have kept it going for centuries.