Colca Canyon Route (258 km)
Arequipa to Cabanaconde · one way, about 258 km back to the start
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Why this ride
A one-way ride of 258 km, Arequipa to Cabanaconde - roughly 3 h 33 in the saddle. The stops in between: Patapampa Pass, Chivay and Cruz del Condor. The highest point is about 4,900 m. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Roadbook
- Arequipa
start
Arequipa announces itself from a distance with a volcano. El Misti, a near-perfect cone of about 5,800 metres, stands behind the city, flanked by the broader mass of Chachani and the older, eroded Pichu Pichu, and on a clear morning the three seem to hang above the rooftops. Arequipa is Peru's second city, home to well over eight hundred thousand people, sitting in a dry valley at roughly 2,300 metres, so you arrive here after a long climb from the coast with your lungs and your engine both a little short of breath.
The city is called the White City because so much of the old centre is built from sillar, a pale volcanic tuff quarried nearby. Carved into arches and domes, it gives the Plaza de Armas its glow, especially at sunset when the stone turns peach. The city was founded by the Spanish in 1540, and the old colonial architecture survived many earthquakes, though not all of it. Santa Catalina Monastery, a walled town within the town, with narrow alleys painted blue and orange, is the sight everyone mentions, and for good reason. Plan a half day.
Riding in is simple enough, but the traffic is busy and chaotic, with minibuses cutting across lanes, so keep alert on the approach roads. The city has fuel at every turn, plenty of mechanics, and a thriving food scene built around local dishes like rocoto relleno, a stuffed hot pepper, and adobo, a pork stew traditionally eaten for breakfast. Sit down for a plate of either and you will understand the pride.
From Arequipa the road toward Colca Canyon leads up and over a high pass, close to 5,000 metres on the way, across a barren altiplano where vicuñas graze and the air is thin and cold. Prepare for altitude properly: spend a day acclimatising in the city before climbing, carry layers, and watch the weather, as snow is possible at the top even in what feels like summer.
The south coastal Panamericana, by contrast, lies far below in desert and fog. Arequipa is the natural pause between the two, a bed, a hot shower and a good meal before the next stage.
- Patapampa Pass
scenic · 4910 m
Patapampa is the high point of the road between Arequipa and the Colca valley, at 4,910 metres, and it is one of the highest passes in Peru that you can reach on a paved road. The landscape is a bare, windswept plateau of tawny grass and volcanic rock, with a ring of snow-capped volcanoes standing around it. Ampato and Sabancaya are among them, and Sabancaya is active, sometimes sending a plume of ash into the sky. It is a lonely, startling place, and the thin air makes it feel as if you are standing on the roof of the world.
At the pass, travellers have built apachetas, small piles of stones, each placed as an offering to the mountain spirits, the apus, in the Andean tradition. Add your own stone, and ask for safe passage. A few stalls sell souvenirs and hot coca tea, which helps with the altitude. Vicuñas, the wild, slender relatives of the llama, graze on the plateau, and you may see them in small groups, golden in the sun. They were nearly hunted to extinction for their wool, which is the finest in the world, and they have recovered under protection. The reserve here, known as Salinas and Aguada Blanca, covers a huge area of high steppe.
The road to the pass climbs from Arequipa, at about 2,300 metres, over a long, steady ascent, and the change in the landscape is dramatic, from desert to high steppe. The bends are long and open, the surface is good, and the road is wide, but at this altitude the engine struggles, and the air is thin. The danger is the altitude and the weather. Cold, wind and sudden snow are common, and you should have warm clothing, gloves and a waterproof. Altitude sickness is a risk, so spend a day or two in Arequipa or Chivay first, drink water and do not stay long at the top.
Arequipa has plenty, and Chivay, on the far side, has stations, shops and restaurants. Fill the tank in Arequipa and carry a reserve if you can. Morning is the best time to be here, when the sky is clear and the volcanoes stand sharp against the blue. A cup of coca tea and a few minutes at the cairns are all you need.
- Chivay
scenic
You will feel Chivay before you see it, in the lungs. The town stands at about 3,600 metres in the Colca Valley, and anyone who rode up from Arequipa at near sea level on the same day tends to arrive a little dizzy, thick-headed and surprisingly hungry. The road does it to you in stages: out of the desert suburbs, up past the cones of Misti and Chachani, across a bleak plateau of alpaca pasture and vicuña at something close to 4,900 metres, and then down again into a green valley that looks like another country entirely.
Chivay is the valley's working capital rather than a showpiece, a market town of four and a half thousand people with a plaza, a handful of simple hotels and the sort of stalls where women in embroidered hats sell potatoes in a dozen colours. The Collagua people terraced these slopes long before the Incas arrived, and the Spanish later gathered the scattered villages into the neat grid towns you still see, each with a whitewashed church of stone and a Spanish name. The terraces are still farmed. Just outside town are hot springs where you can lower yourself into steaming water with the mountains going pink above you, and that is the right way to spend an evening after the altitude.
The ride is the real subject. The tarmac is generally good, but the pass is long and exposed, with fierce cold, sudden hail and thin air that starves a carburetted engine, so give the bike a moment and yourself more. Further along the valley the road follows the canyon rim toward Cabanaconde, passing the Cruz del Cóndor lookout, where Andean condors ride the morning thermals. Be there early, since the big birds tend to show between about eight and ten.
For practical matters, treat the fuel tank in Arequipa as your main supply and top up whatever you can in Chivay, where small stations serve the valley. Drink plenty of water, go easy on the first night, and try the coca tea, which locals swear by and which at least gives you something warm to hold. Evenings drop close to freezing even in the dry season.
- Cruz del Condor
scenic
The Cruz del Cóndor is a viewpoint on the rim of the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world, which reaches more than three thousand metres at its deepest, with the river more than a kilometre below the rail, and it is the best place in Peru to see the Andean condor in flight. The birds, with wingspans of up to three metres, rise on the warm air currents that build as the sun heats the canyon walls, usually between about eight and ten in the morning. They glide past at eye level, often only a few metres from the rail, and the silence of their flight is eerie. Arrive early, since the show is over by late morning, and the crowd of visitors is smaller if you are there at first light.
The canyon is also a landscape shaped by people. Terraces, built before the Incas, step down the slopes, and the villages, with their churches and fields, preserve the traditions of the Collagua and Cabana peoples, who still wear embroidered hats and clothing. The Colca river runs at the bottom, a thin line of white water, and the walls are a patchwork of green terraces and brown rock. The sky is large, the air thin and the sun fierce, and a cold wind blows in the morning.
The ride along the canyon is a fine one, though it has its challenges. The road from Chivay follows the canyon rim through villages, with bends, bumps, and a mix of paved and gravel sections. Altitude is the main issue, since Chivay sits at about 3,600 metres, and the viewpoint is higher still, so give yourself time to adjust, and do not hurry. Keep an eye on the weather, and carry warm clothing. Livestock and children may be on the road in the villages, so slow down.
Chivay, about an hour away, is the nearest town, with fuel, shops, restaurants and hot springs, and it is the best place to base yourself. Women in traditional dress sell handicrafts and snacks near the rail, and a small tip for a photograph is customary. Respect the birds by staying behind the barriers and keeping quiet, and the condors may give you a show you will not forget.
- Cabanaconde
finish
Cabanaconde sits right on the lip of the Colca Canyon, at a height of about 3,300 metres, and at the end of the road you simply look down into one of the deepest valleys on the planet. The canyon plunges more than three thousand metres in places, though people argue about the measurement, and the Colca River is a thin silver thread at the bottom. Terraces carved by pre-Inca peoples climb the walls in neat steps, and are still farmed with maize and potatoes, as they have been for centuries.
The village itself is small and unfussy, a collection of stone and adobe houses, a plaza with a church and a few simple guesthouses used by trekkers. Women wear embroidered hats and layered skirts, in the traditions of the Cabana and Collagua peoples, and the streets smell of woodsmoke and llama dung. A trail drops from the edge of the village to Sangalle, a green oasis of palms and pools at the canyon bottom, which takes a couple of hours down and a good deal longer coming back up.
The best-known sight is the Cruz del Cóndor, a viewpoint a short distance away, where Andean condors ride the morning thermals rising from the canyon. With a wingspan of up to three metres, they pass so close that you can hear the air in their feathers. Go early, because the birds fly best in the first hours after sunrise, and the crowds build quickly.
For a rider the road from Chivay is a journey in itself. It follows the canyon's rim, with sections of good tarmac and sections of rough surface, rockfall and the occasional landslide, and the views of the terraces and the volcano peaks are superb. The altitude is serious, and a motorbike loses power in thin air. Nights are cold, mornings can be frosty, and in the rainy season, from December to March, storms make the road greasy. Altitude sickness is a real risk, so ascend gradually and drink water.
Fuel is a point to plan for. Cabanaconde is tiny, and the dependable stop is Chivay, so fill up there before riding on, and carry a spare if you can. Warm clothes matter more than you expect, even at midday.
Spend the evening with a coca tea and watch the canyon turn purple in the dusk.