Colca Valley Hiking and Trekking

Located in the department of Arequipa, the Colca Valley covers a series of beautiful trekking circuits which have been recently discovered for adventure tourism. The area features a network of practically endless trails that wind through the mountains, linking lovely colonial villages.

The area is also studded with beautiful lakes, bizarre stone formations formed by wind erosion and unique flora and fauna such as Andean condors, vicuñas, queñual forests and clumps of yareta plants. The main attraction of the area is without a doubt the chain of snow-capped volcanoes, some of them active: Mount Hualca Hualca (6,025 masl), Sabancaya (5,976 meters) and Ampato (6,288 meters), among others.

Since the time immemorial, the Colca has been home to the Collagua and Cabana tribes, descendants of the Pucará people of the southern highland plains and from the Quechua people of Cuzco, who proved to be skillful hydraulic engineers and master builders.

One of the most popular trekking routes in the Colca is the trail that links the town of Cabanaconde and Tapay in a circuit that takes two to three days and gives hikers views of impressive landscapes, Cabana towns such as Cosnihua and Malata, and many pre-Hispanic ruins.