Best Day Trips from Cusco
Are you looking for the best day trips from Cusco, Peru?
Cusco is a large city in the Peruvian Andes in the southern part of the country. It was once the capital of the illustrious Incan Empire, and it has a fascinating blend of Incan and Spanish colonial influences.
Because of its location at the heart of the Sacred Valley, Cusco is a popular jumping-off point for exploring nearby towns and Incan ruins, including the most famous of them all — Machu Picchu.
Although I personally enjoyed Cusco a lot, I also liked staying in other places in the Sacred Valley overnight, including Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes (AKA Machu Picchu Town.) However, I know that not everyone has time for that and you might prefer to base yourself in Cusco and take day trips instead.
That’s totally fine too! There’s a wider variety of hotels in Cusco, ranging from ultra-luxury to very budget-friendly, and more options for restaurants, bars, shopping, and things to do since it’s a large city.
Note: I wrote a whole guide on the best places to stay in Cusco.
So let’s talk about the best day trips you can take using Cusco as your base!
⭐ Short on time? These are the top tours and activities I recommend. If you book directly through a link on this page, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Stay to Wander!
Best Day Trips from Cusco, Peru:
Moray and Maras
One of the top day trips from Cusco is visiting Moray and Maras. Moray is an ancient Incan archaeological site, and Maras is a large salt mine with an otherworldly landscape (pictured at the top of this post.)
And one of the coolest ways to do this day trip? By ATV!
This is the tour I did and I would highly recommend it. It’s a good value for money and the guides who accompanied us were great. I LOVED getting to see the Sacred Valley by ATV. It’s so fun zipping through the countryside on your ATV getting a whole new perspective on the scenery.
You actually only visit Moray on your ATV, then you return to the base camp and get in a van to make the drive to Maras, before returning by van to Cusco at the end. The entry fees to both sites are not included in the cost of the tour. Moray is 70 soles (about $18.50) and Maras is 10 soles (about $2.65.)
If you don’t want to ride ATVs, this tour is a good alternative.
Rainbow Mountain
Vinicunca, also known as Rainbow Mountain, is one of the most popular hiking excursions from Cusco. As the name suggests, this mountain has a multicolored rainbow appearance which is a huge draw.
I personally didn’t do this day trip because I did an alternative Rainbow Mountain, which I’ll talk about below. But Vinicunca is definitely the classic Rainbow Mountain that is the best-known day trip.
It’s a long day from Cusco and you’ll probably get a very early start, but it’s worth it if you’re up for the challenge! The reason I didn’t do Vinicunca is because I was concerned it would be too intense for me. It’s a challenging hike and you reach an altitude of 17,100 feet (almost the height of Everest Base Camp!)
If you’re up for it, this is an affordable tour that includes transportation from Cusco, breakfast and lunch, and a guide. You’ll leave at around 4 AM and be back in Cusco by around 4 PM.
For an option that doesn’t require such an early wake-up call, this tour leaves at 8 AM from Cusco. You’ll miss all the crowds at Vinicunca since most tour groups get there early in the morning.
Alternative Rainbow Mountain
If you’re like me and you’re not confident about hiking for three to four hours at extremely high altitudes, you might consider doing to alternative Rainbow Mountain instead: Palcoyo.
Palcoyo is a lesser-known mountain that has some of the same “rainbow” features as Vinicunca. I didn’t visit on the best day, because I went in late March and it had actually just snowed there so most of the mountain was covered in white powder… but you can get a slight idea of how it looks in the photo below.
Although Palcoyo is still at a very high altitude (16,070 feet), it’s not quite as high as Vinicunca. And the real benefit is that you can drive almost all the way to the top and then just walk around at your leisure.
My small group ended up walking around for a couple of hours, but we weren’t gaining much more altitude since we were already at the top of the mountain and it wasn’t as difficult as I expected.
This tour from Cusco includes transportation to Palcoyo, a guide, and breakfast and lunch.
Sacred Valley
Cusco is the ancient Incan capital at the heart of the Sacred Valley. Even if you’re staying in Cusco, you should definitely take some time to explore the small towns and Incan ruins in the Sacred Valley.
This is the perfect full-day Sacred Valley tour. It includes pickup and dropoff in Cusco, with an optional dropoff in Ollantaytambo if you’d like to stay there overnight and take the train to Machu Picchu Town the next morning. You begin the day by visiting the Incan ruins at Pisac, followed by Pisac Market.
Then you’ll have an included buffet lunch in Urubamba before heading to Ollantaytambo, where you’ll explore the Incan ruins before having free time to wander around this ancient Incan town.
Another option is this full-day tour which includes Moray and Maras instead of Pisac. You’ll also enjoy lunch in Urubamba before finishing the day in Ollantaytambo seeing the town and the ruins.
Humantay Lake
One of the best day trips from Cusco that I did not have a chance to do is Humantay Lake. This clear blue lake in the midst of the Andes looks incredibly picturesque, but it’s definitely a challenging hike.
That’s ultimately why I avoided this day trip, although I may try it one day if I’m feeling braver. The hike to Humantay Lake takes about 1.5 hours and it’s incredibly steep. You reach an altitude of nearly 14,000 feet and have an altitude gain of about 1,500 from the starting point, so it’s pretty challenging.
However, if you’re up for it and you don’t mind the early morning start time, this looks like a really great day trip! This affordable tour is one of the top-rated Humantay Lake hiking tours from Cusco.
It includes transportation from Cusco, a guide, as well as breakfast and lunch.
Machu Picchu
Finally, one last day trip you can take from Cusco is Machu Picchu.
I’m including this last because it’s actually my least recommended day trip from Cusco. Visiting Machu Picchu in just one day from Cusco is going to be a LONG day and it’s a better experience if you spend the night before in Aguas Calientes (the town right by Machu Picchu) or do a multi-night trekking tour.
You don’t want to feel rushed while experiencing this wonder of the world!
However, if you’re really short on time, you can see Machu Picchu in a day from Cusco. This tour is the best option, including just about everything except for meals and snacks on your day trip.
You’ll be picked up at your hotel in Cusco and transported to the town of Ollantaytambo with your guide, where you’ll board the train to go to Aguas Calientes. From there, you’ll take a short bus ride to Machu Picchu and enjoy a tour with your guide, before returning back to Cusco late that evening.
Best Day Trips from Cusco
This guide showed you the best day trips from Cusco, Peru.
My favorite day trip I took from Cusco was this ATV tour to Moray and Maras.
I’d also definitely recommend exploring the Sacred Valley on a tour like this or if you’re up for something more active, go hiking at the Rainbow Mountain Vinicunca (or the alternative Palcoyo.)
While it’s possible to visit Machu Picchu on a day trip from Cusco, I do recommend staying in Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Town) the night before so you aren’t rushed and have more time to enjoy it.
Enjoy your trip to Cusco!
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