Hikes around Huaraz

Laguna Paron

Huaraz is known for the beautiful trekkings you can do. In only one day you can visit with tours the beautiful Laguna Parón, Laguna 69 and Chavín de Huántar, but also Laguna Churup all alone. Here are the details of each hike we did.


Laguna Parón

Parón is the biggest lake of the White Cordillera. Its fantastic color comes from the minerals and microorganisms present in the water. We took a tour to go there, as there is no public transport to go up there.

  • 8h: Meeting point at the office
  • 8h30: Leaving Huaraz from an other office
  • 9h30: Ice-cream break in Carhuaz (30min)
  • 10h45: Caraz – shitty road
  • 11h15: Community entrance (S/5)
  • 12h20: Laguna Paron 4176m
  • 12h40: Mirador 4200m 25min
  • 14h30: Leaving
  • 18h: Back to Huaraz (they left us on calle Jr San Martin, in front of Cesars Tours)
Note: We took a tour (40 soles) and paid the entrance 5 soles.

-> 4h

45min

4200m

S/45


Laguna Churup

We took a colectivo from avenida Agustin Gamata, in front of Ursa gaz station (S/10 one way). It left us at Pitec to start our trek.

  • 9h: Colectivo
  • 10h: Pitec (3856m)
  • 10h40: Entrance of the parc (S/30, or S/60 for 3 days)
  • 12h20: Mirador (4500m)
  • 14h: Leaving the laguna
  • 15h30: Back to Pitec where a colectivo was waiting other persons to go back to Huaraz
  • 16h: Back to Huaraz
Difficulty: This trek is not one for practice as mentioned sometimes. You need to have a certain condition as it’s 2h climbing 600m+. You have 2 ways to go up there: we started by the Mirador and ended by the second one following the side of the waterfall where you have chains to help you going down.

-> 1h

4h

4500m

S/50


Laguna 69

Laguna 69 is one of the most beautiful of the region. You will cross a beautiful valley and will see there Huascaran Sur, the highest mountain of Peru, with 6768m high.

  • 5h: Must be ready
  • 5h25: Bus arrive at the hotel
  • 6h30: Shitty road from Yungay
  • 7h30: 30min breakfast break (15soles)
  • 8h10: Parc entrance (S/30, or S/60 for 3 days)
  • 8h40: 5min break in Laguna Chinchan Cocha (3850m)
  • 9h: Start of the trek (3895m)
  • 11h45: Arrival at Lake 69
  • 12h50: Start the way back
  • 15h: Back at the bus
  • 18h30: Back to Huaraz
Difficulty: This 7km trek was to me easier than Churup.
Note: We took a tour from Huaraz (S/40) as it’s complicated to go there by bus or colectivo.
Lima-pyramid-pachacamac

-> 3h

5h

4604m

S/70


Chavín de Huántar

Chavin has been a ceremonial center from 1500 to 200 BC. You can visit there only one galery of the 26 built for initiation purpose. In the same tour you will also do a quick stop to Laguna Qerococha and visit Chavin museum.

  • 8h45: Meeting at the agency
  • 9h15: Leaving Huaraz
  • 10h: 20min break
  • 11h: 10min at Querococha lake
  • 12h30: Arriving in Chavin (S/15)
  • 14h20: End of site
  • 14h45: Museum
  • 15h20: End of museum
  • 15h30: Lunch break
  • 17h: Departure
  • 19h30: Arrival at Huaraz
Note: The entrance of the site is 15 soles per person, and we paid the tour 40 soles.

-> 3h

2h visit

3160m

S/55


Looking back:
– April is the end of the rainy season and we were very lucky with the weather, but the best time to visit the region is from May to September, to avoid the damages on the roads due to the rain. We couldn’t visit Pastoruri Glaciar because of landslides.
– We paid 45 soles by night for a double room with private bathroom, and we could use the kitchen (but the owner wasn’t friendly so I won’t recommend it).
– Always take your own food and water during the tour, as there are no restaurant or they are kind of expensive.
– We came from the coast and took only one day to get used to the altitude. As we passed almost 2 months at more than 3000m high I guess our body was still trained! Coca leaves may also have helped me.
– The tours we took were mixing various agencies in the same bus, so it will be difficult to recommend you one particularly.

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