Epic Travel → Central and South America → Peru → Choquequirao

♦ Intrepid Top Pick!

Location: Santa Teresa, La Convención Province, Cusco Region

Time Required: 3 – 5 days (3 days is aggressive, but feasible; 4 days is comfortable; 5 days is leisurely to the point of being boring)

Red Tape/Notes: It costs $16 per person to enter the Choquequirao Archaeological Park currently; there is a plan moving forward to build a tramway to Choquequirao – if you want to see this site before it’s easily accessible to the masses, go soon! Most people will hire a support team with a guide to do the trek, but it’s totally possible to do the trek on your own and there are no permits required. I would highly recommend starting at Capuliyoc Lookout – it saves 13 km of hiking uphill along a road. My recommendation for doing this hike in 3 days would be to hike from Capuliyoc to Santa Rosa Alta (12 km), getting you over halfway up the mountain to Choquequirao. Then leave your overnight gear at Santa Rosa and take a day pack, leaving early and hiking to Choquequirao – it’ll be only 3 km of steep uphill, and then 5 km of relatively flat terrain with some uphill stretches to reach the site. You should be able to do this in about 3 hours, after which you’ll have most of the day to explore the site before returning to Santa Rosa; it shouldn’t take more than 2 hours on the return, being largely downhill. Return to Capuliyoc from Santa Rosa on the third day. Depending on the time of year, the bugs can be nearly unbearable. We went in the spring and were absolutely eaten alive; it was enormously uncomfortable. Bring bug spray and lots of it. On the plus side, it’s beautiful and green in the spring. This post from Travel Outlandish has a nice summary of options for hiking the route and other helpful details.

What’s Nearby?: Limatambo Canyoning

If you want the joy of Machu Picchu with even better views and far, far fewer tourists, plus the reward of working much harder, Choquequirao is the spot for you! This adventure was as much about the journey for us as the destination – it’ll take you at least three days getting to and from the site, but along the way you’ll get to enjoy some spectacular scenery. You first descend 1500 meters from Capuliyoc Lookout to the bottom of a valley, then climb 1800 meters up to Choquequirao, for a total of 23 km – then you do it in reverse to get back. I feel like this hike would be worthwhile to many people even if there weren’t such a fabulous archaeological site at the end of it, but I’m certainly not going to complain. In some ways, Choquequirao lacks the grandeur of Machu Picchu, because it’s less densely packed with ruins and it lacks some of the more spectacular stone work and temples of its more famous neighbor. But it has a different kind of appeal; there’s something more complex and organic about the site. You don’t see everything she has to offer right away (actually, only 30% of the site has been excavated, so you definitely won’t see all she has to offer for a long time!); the main plaza and terraces are obvious enough, but there’s a whole other plaza and group of buildings higher up the mountain, and you’ll pass canals, water features, and store houses before you reach them. You’ll have to climb a different set of stairs from the main plaza to stand atop the usnu, a hill that’s been artificially leveled and offers 360 degree views.  If you follow stairs descending from the usnu and hike some muddy side trails that seem to be leading nowhere, you’ll eventually emerge onto hillsides with great views and structures like Piki Wasi (flea house) and Wasi Kancha (house yard). And you don’t want to miss Sector 8, often called the Llama Terraces – you won’t be able to see them unless you make the hike, but there are 80 terraces divided into plots by water canals and the walls of the terraces are inlaid with contrasting color stones depicting people and llamas. There’s a viewing platform you can reach if you hike down to the terraces, then cross over them and hike up the mountain slightly. Keep an eye out for adorable chinchillas – you can see them around if you go quietly and they’re so cute!

Epic Travel → Central and South America → Peru → Choquequirao