Even if you were unaware of its location until now, you have likely already seen images of Peru’s Rainbow Mountain floating around the internet. The multicolored peak, which is near the Andean city of Cusco, is often filtered by photographers to brighten its magnificent hues. However, as my video above illustrates, Rainbow Mountain needs no editing app to deliver a world-class wow factor on a cloudless day.
The variations of red, yellow, brown, purple, and green that make up Rainbow Mountain’s palette are courtesy of its incredibly unique sediment and mineral mixture. The colorful spectacle has made the mountain one of the premier attractions in the Cusco area, even though it was only recently discovered: Hikers stumbled upon Vinikunka, as the peak is called in the native Quechua language, around a decade ago after it emerged from under a melting glacier.
Rainbow Mountain is normally toured via a guided day trip leaving from Cusco. The hike from the parking area to where I filmed my video is a strenuous three-mile (5 kms) uphill trek in thin air; the mountain measures at 16,522 feet above sea level (5,036 meters). For more information on touring the site, check out my article “7 Questions and Answers About Rainbow Mountain.” It’s part of my travel guides section on the Cusco area.
Related Content
– Click to view my high-resolution photo collection from Rainbow Mountain.
– Click to view my high-resolution photo collection from Cusco, Peru.
– Click to read my travel guide “How to Tour Cusco Without Going to Machu Picchu” to learn where I went, ate, and stayed in and around the Andean city.