Colca Canyon & Arequipa
Condors & Canyons!
Colca Canyon
The Colca Canyon: much deeper than the Grand Canyon!
The Colca Canyon has the world´s deepest canyons with an overwhelming panorama and ditto nature. It is also the best place in the world to see the condor in its natural habitat. The condor is the world´s largest flying bird. A grown male can weigh up to 12 kilos, measure around 1.3 meters and reach a span width of about 3.5 meters. The condor can fly at an altitude of around 7000 meters with a velocity of 55 kilometers per hour and can get about a 100 years old. From Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego, the condor flies at an unreachable altitude above our heads. But near the Cruz del Condor in the Colca Canyon, condors often pass by at a distance of only a few meters!
Colca Canyon condor tour
We will pick you up from your hotel in Arequipa and drive in about 4,5 hours to our hotel in the Colca Canyon. The journey is beautiful: we climb up to a pass of 4800 meters with a panorama on the source of the Amazon River and descend towards the Colca Valley. On the way we will see herds of domesticated llamas and alpacas and also the rare vicuña. We recover a moment from the altitude in our hotel or you can do an optional hike. And then we end the day in a delightful hot spring.
The next day we drive early in the morning to the Cruz del Condor. This is the place where you can spot the condors really well. Afterwards, we return to Arequipa. But we make some interesting stops along the way and plenty of opportunities for photos!
- Departure: around 7:30am
- Group tour or private tour
- Included: transport and transfers, breakfast day 2, English-speaking guide, overnight stay in a hotel (you can choose between different hotel types)
- Not included: entrance fees to the National Park and hot springs
Please contact us for prices, reservations and different hotel options.
Also possible:
- leaving from and returning to Cusco, includes bus and 2 extra nights in Arequipa
- 3-days tour to the Colca Canyon
- instead of returning, continue your trip to Puno
Trekking in the Colca Canyon
Another possibility is to do a 2-day hike and descend into the Colca Canyon. Also included in this program is a visit to the Cruz del Condor.
Arequipa
After Cusco, Arequipa is without any doubt the most attractive city in the South of Peru. Arequipa is beautiful, clean, vibrant and the sun is almost always shining. Arequipa lies in the shadow of the volcanoes El Misti (5825 meters) and Chachani (6075). Arequipa also has a shady side: it is very likely that volcano El Misti will erupt one day.
For now you will have a very pleasant stay in this proud city, whose inhabitants tried to separate from the rest of Peru in the past. They created for example their own currency and passport. A visit to the museum of ‘Juanita, the ice princess’ or the monastery of Santa Catalina is for many one of the highlights of this trip. You do not need to do an organized city tour in Arequipa. You can visit the most important spots easily by yourself. Arequipa is also the best starting place for a visit to the nearby Colca Canyon with its condors!
Please ask us for more information about Arequipa or the Colca Canyon condor tour!
