As well as the city itself, the other reason to visit Arequipa is to do a Colca Canyon tour. This is one of the deepest canyons in the world at 3,270 meters or 10,730 feet. As well as the stunning scenery, these tours provide an opportunity to see the increasingly rare Andean condor.

Colca Canyon Tour Options

There are two main decisions to be made when deciding which Colca Canyon tour to take from Arequipa. First, you need to decide whether you want to hike down into the canyon (and back up). You can do a 2 day or 3 day trek, both of which involve a hideously early (like, 3am) pickup time on the first day of the tour.

With neither the fitness or the desire for such a trek, we opted for a tour that included viewpoints along the canyon rim. You can do this in one day, but the pickup time is also ridiculously early as it’s a long way to the canyon. We chose a 2 day tour which included an overnight stay in the nearby town of Chivay before visiting the canyon. This allowed for a more reasonable departure time and also more stops to see things along the way.

This chart does a good job of comparing the various tour options if you’re considering a Colca Canyon tour.

Leaving Arequipa

We had time to grab some breakfast at the hostel before our 8:30am pick up for our tour. After some driving around town to circle back to pick up some passports that one of the other passengers had left at their hotel room, we headed out of Arequipa towards Colca Canyon.

Not too far out of town, our guide (the fabulously named Victor Hugo) suggested we keep an eye out for vicuña. These are the wild relatives of llamas and alpacas that produce an even finer wool than either of their domesticated cousins. Soon enough we came across a group close enough to the road for us to get a good look.

As we pulled away after our photo op, Victor told us about the annual ceremony where they are rounded up and brushed (not sheared) to retrieve the incredibly valuable wool.

The scenery surrounding the vicuna was a barren desert landscape.

There were some interesting rock formations, and some stunning views of Misti, the volcano that towers over Arequipa.

We also came across a group of llamas with a photogenic mix of colors.

We made a brief stop at the Patapampa Pass. This was the highest elevation we would encounter on our Colca Canyon tour, at 4,910 meters (16,109 feet). As it’s located on a high plateau, looking out from the viewpoint doesn’t really give a sense of the altitude, but trying to walk around and breathe up there definitely did.

Chivay

Around midday we approached the town of Chivay where we would spend the night. Before our final approach we stopped at an overlook looking down on the town.

We arrived in Chivay and headed straight to a restaurant for a buffet lunch. The deck of the restaurant offered a nice view of the town and a volcano in the distance spewing ash into the sky. The local populace seemed unconcerned by this sight, so we followed their lead and didn’t worry too much about the possibility of being buried under tons of volcanic ash while we slept.

After lunch our guide took us on a walk through the town. We saw the market, a series of statues commemorating traditional dances from the area and the Plaza de Armas.

In the Plaza we saw a tree that had been carved with a crucifixion scene.

After our walk we checked into the hotel and had a brief rest before heading to the thermal baths.It was a bit cold getting in and out of the hot pool, but it felt good to soak after the miles we had covered on bumpy roads in the preceding weeks.

As we left the baths, we saw a nice sunset sky.

When we returned we had some free time before dinner. We chose to nap rather than do any more exploring, as we were feeling the altitude (about 3,600 meters or 12,000 feet) and the effects of our overnight bus ride from Nazca.

Dinner was a very touristy affair with local music and dances (with the obligatory audience participation).

Colca Canyon

Even though we were close to the canyon, we had an early start the next morning, setting the alarm for 5:00 am to make it to breakfast at 5:30 am. The early start allowed us to beat the crowds traveling from Arequipa on one day Colca Canyon tours. It also meant that we could make a few stops on the way to the canyon.

We stopped at a couple of villages, including one where the local folks had set up an early morning market with souvenirs for sale, alpacas to take pictures with (for a fee) and traditional dancing. It was all a bit much this early in the morning.

One of the villages had a church that had been badly damaged in an earthquake. The passing tourist trade provides some income for the rebuilding fund, but it seems like restoration will be a slow process.

After a while we came to the beginning of the Colca Canyon. We stopped at a viewpoint to look over some agricultural terraces as the rising sun lit the peaks in the distance.

Condors

Our guide was very careful to manage our expectations about whether we would see any condors. As with any wild creature, there is always the chance that they won’t turn up. Nevertheless, we were hoping that we wouldn’t be spending a few hours staring into the canyon at nothing.

Before we got to the main condor viewpoint, we stopped at a site where condors are known to roost on the rocks. Sure enough there were a couple of juvenile condors posing nicely for us in the morning sun.

After this photo stop, we moved on to the main viewing point for condors, Cruz del Condor.

We piled out of the bus and were confronted with an amazing view deep into the canyon.

Soon, however, we were distracted from the scenery by the arrival of a couple of condors.

We decided to move down to the lower viewpoint to see a different angle into the canyon.

As the morning warmed up, more condors appears, flying closer to us.

Looking back towards the higher viewpoint we could see multiple condors riding the thermals coming up from the canyon.

Canyon Rim Walk

Because we saw so many condors so quickly, we didn’t need to spend as long as the tour allowed for at the viewpoint. This allowed us to make an extra stop for a walk along a nearby canyon rim trail. Looking down at the trails walked by participants in the the trekking tours reinforced our decision to take the non-trek option. Our guide told us that he used to lead these treks but had to give it up due to problems with his knees caused by the many descents and climbs to and from the canyon.

Our guide knew the perfect spot for the obligatory “standing on the edge of the canyon” pic.

As we walked back to the bus we took one last look back at the canyon. Despite the early mornings and the altitude, our Colca Canyon tour was a great experience. We were fortunate to experience some great weather and see a lot of condors. This was one of the highlights of our Peru adventures.

We made one last stop in a village we had skipped on the way to the canyon. This was mainly for a bathroom break, but of course there was a village church to check out.

This one featured an impressive carved wooden alter, so was well worth a quick visit.

We then headed back to Chivay for lunch, before hitting the road back to Arequipa. This was a long drive, with only one bathroom stop and we dozed most of the way.

We arrived back in Arequipa before 5:00 pm, then headed out for a quick dinner. We were in bed before 9:00pm to be ready for our 5:00 am pick up the next morning for our bus to Cusco.