Two days and one night in one of the deepest canyons on Earth: condors at the Cruz del Cóndor, canyon villages, and a night under the stars at the Sangalle oasis.
The Colca Canyon doesn't reveal itself from a bus window. Over two days and one night you'll earn it step by step, down switchback trails threaded between pre-Inca terraces, to the Sangalle oasis waiting at the very bottom of the gorge.
This is trekking the way we love it: slow, human and full of small wonders. Condors circling overhead at dawn. Cactus flowers blooming out of bare rock. A farmer greeting you from a field his family has worked for generations. Villages where mules are still the only traffic.
And through it all, the canyon itself, one of the deepest on Earth, quietly reminds you how small and how lucky you are to be walking through it.
What you'll love
Andean condors, wings wider than you are tall, ride the morning thermals, sometimes close enough that you can hear the air move over their feathers.
Colca is one of the deepest canyons on the planet, and you don't stand at a railing and look at it. You walk down into it, and it changes with every hour of light.
Tiny villages cling to the canyon walls among terraces older than the Incas, still farmed by hand, still living to the rhythm of the seasons.
No city glow for miles. The Milky Way spills across the sky, and the silence of the Andes is something you'll carry home with you.
Down into the canyon
It begins at the rim, in the cold gold light of early morning, watching for the first condors to lift off the cliffs and spiral up on the warming air. Then the trail tips over the edge, and the world becomes vertical: layer after layer of rock, terrace and sky, with the river glinting impossibly far below.
As you descend, the canyon changes around you: high grassland gives way to cactus and wildflowers, the air grows warmer and sweeter, and green pockets of orchards and small fields appear where springs break out of the rock.
Down in the canyon, life is beautifully simple. You'll pass through tiny villages of stone and adobe, cross paths with farmers and their mules, and rest under fruit trees in places most visitors to Peru never see.
And when night falls, the canyon puts on its second show: a sky absolutely packed with southern stars, framed by black canyon walls, and a silence so complete you can hear your own heartbeat. The pre-dawn climb back out is the part you'll be proudest of, and the 38°C pools of the La Calera hot springs are waiting on the way home.
Moments you'll remember
Two days, place by place
In our catalog this trek is option 1 of 2 for the Colca Canyon. A second, easier version, with no demanding hike, also exists. Write to us and we will tell you everything about both of them.
Ask us anythingThe Colca region sits high in the Andes, so it pays to arrive a little early and take things slowly at first. Our travel tips cover altitude, weather and packing: honest advice from people who live here.
Read travel tipsNot sure about the difficulty, or what to pack? Tell us how you like to hike and we will answer personally, usually within a few hours.
Talk to a localBooking, the human way
Booking is personal: message us on WhatsApp, we plan the details together and confirm everything in writing.
Tell us when you're dreaming of coming, and we'll shape the trek around you: pace, season and all.
