Huaraz, Peru🥾

Huaraz is in Northern Peru and is an incredible place for hiking. If you have some more hikes in you, this is the place to go to. From day hikes to multi day treks, this region has it all! We were only here for three full days, but we wish we had looked into it more and spent at least a week here. Everyone we spoke to stayed for seven days or more!

Known for its world-class trekking, some key hikes in Huaraz are the acclimatisation treks Laguna 69 and Laguna Churup, to glacier views at Pastoruri and multi-day treks, such as the 4 day Santa Cruz trek or the 8-12 day Huayhuash Circuit. As we were here for three days, we could only fit in day hikes, which I will go into detail later!

Best Time To Go

The best time to visit Huaraz is between May and September, for clearer skies and little rain. We went in the middle of April, so it was shoulder season with a couple of rainy moments. Our first two days had a mixture of rain and sunshine but our third day was incredible, so it can really depend on the day!

Hiking in Huaraz, you will need to spend at least one or two days to acclimatise first before going on any high-altitude hikes. You do not want to be getting altitude sickness at the beginning of your trip! Even though we had recently finished the five day trek to Machu Picchu, we had three days in Lima in between, which is back at sea level. So going straight from Lima to Huaraz, wasn’t easy for me, I surprisingly really struggled on our first day and it was a pretty standard hike!

Hostels

We stayed at Tony’s House Hostel, which is a dog hostel. If you are not a dog lover, this place is not for you. There are two dogs, Milo and Canela that live there and even though they are the cutest dogs, they are definitely not properly trained. One likes to scratch quite aggressively and the other nips. If you are worried about this, I would look at another hostel!

Aside from the doggos, we had a lovely private hut for two nights, which worked out cheaper than two dorm beds. There was a kitchen for us to use, a nice social area to relax in and a huge garden with hammocks and swing chairs. We were sad that we couldn’t spend more time lounging in the hostel, as all three days included early wake up calls for the hikes.

Another hostel, which was recommended to us was Aldo’s Guesthouse. It’s not luxury, but very sociable with a lot of backpackers staying there. They are also great at organising sociable hiking groups for different treks!

Laguna Churup (4,500m)

Our first hike in Huaraz was Laguna Churup, which is part of Peru’s Cordillera Blanca within the Huascarán National Park.

After coming straight off a nine hour overnight bus, that got us in at 6am, we dropped our things off at our hostel and freshened up. After doing some life admin, we caught a taxi to the starting point of Laguna Churup in Pitec. There are ‘collectivos’, which are shared taxis, that go from the city centre to different trailheads, however they stop running at around 9am. We didn’t want to rush to try and catch one, so we got our own InDrive taxi, which cost 40 SOLS and took around fifty minutes to get to the starting point.

As an overall 6km hike, it had a mixture of flat and steep parts, with a majority of it being a steady incline! As mentioned before, I struggled quite a bit on this hike because of the altitude. The first 1km was pretty steep before it levelled out and then the last 1km involved a final rock scramble, where you have to use ropes to help pull yourself up and over (right photo below). By the time we got the top, I was nearly out of breath, but it was so worth it! To visit Laguna Chrurp, it cost us 30 SOLS each to enter the National Park, but you can buy a two or three day pass, which ever works best for you!

Once you are at the top, you can see the incredible view of Laguna Churup, which is a stunning green glacial lake (below). On a clearer day, you can imagine how blue the lake could be if the sun was shining directly onto it. We also had moments in between the clouds where we could see the dramatic views of the surrounding, snow-capped mountains.

We made ourselves at home on one of the rocks where we relaxed, took in the scenery and had some lunch. The weather at the top was pretty cold, so definitely bring extra layers to wrap yourself in whilst you are relaxing. We spent around forty minutes here, before we started our return. We used AllTrails to follow the route and the return took us a different way past Mirador Churup and up through the mountains on the other side. It then joint back up to the original route taking us back down to the car park.

Make sure to be back in the car park before 4pm. The collectivos which take you to the start also take you back to Huaraz, so there are a few share taxis waiting at the bottom. If you don’t want to wait for a share taxi, you can prebook an Uber to collect you at a certain time, we met someone who had done this prior to hiking, so had a taxi coming to collect her as soon as she was finished. She kindly let us jump in with her instead of having to wait an extra forty minutes for the next collectivo.

Laguna 513 (4,451m)

Laguna 513 is near Nevado Hualcán in Peru's Cordillera Blanca and was also recommended to us. It is a 14km round trip and is a more dramatic and strenuous, but less crowded hike compared to Laguna 69. To get to the starting point you have to arrange transport to take you there and pick you up. We arranged this through our hostel and it cost us 60 SOLS each, which is quite expensive, but bear in mind, the driver had to wait all day for us to finish the hike, which took nearly seven hours!

From the carpark, the first 1km is flat, however, with it being the end of rainy season, the main path was quite bogged, making it harder to walk across smoothly. After the first 1km, this is where it starts to get pretty steep, zig-zagging across the mountains, the gradual steepness of the path was a bit hard on my chest (first photo).

The first viewpoint was at Laguna Rajupaquinan (middle photo), which was a gorgeous spot at a middle point of the hike. Once you get to this part of the hike, make sure to follow the AllTrails route and cross the Laguna here, rather than at the bridge before. The group before us all did this and ended up walking all the way up the other side of the mountain before finding no where to cross over the heavy stream. Ned and I were the only two who realised this before having to help the others find their way back to the crossing. From this point, a majority of the way to the top is steep and uphill before levelling out at the last 500m.

Once you are at the top, you are graced with a huge turquoise lake with glimpses of the glacier behind it. It was sadly pretty cloudy by the time we got to the top, so the surrounding views of the mountains and glacier were hidden. However, we ended up waiting a bit and the clouds started to shift allowing us to see parts of the glacier. Typically, as we started our descent back down, the clouds cleared up temporarily and the sun shone through giving us a glimpse at the huge glacier above us!

Once we were back at the car park, those of us who had returned already had to wait for the remaining two people, who took an extra hour and a half to get back. In all fairness, as long as it was for the rest of us to wait, no time was set by the driver to be back by and the hike roughly takes around six to seven hours depending on your fitness level. If there is a specific time you want to be back for you can always speak to the other people you are sharing the car with and agree on a time to be back for so no one is waiting for a long time but at the same time, you can go at any pace you want. Once everyone was back, it was another two or so hours back to Huaraz.

Laguna 69 (4,618m)

Leaving the most famous day hike till last! Our last hike in Huaraz was the best yet and it was the perfect way to end our time in Peru. Laguna 69 is also part of Peru’s Cordillera Blanca within the Huascarán National Park and is the most well known hike in Huaraz. It offers incredible surrounding views of the mountains as you hike up, and a vibrant turquoise lake directly under the glacier.

As the most popular hike, you will need to pay for a tour, which we arranged through our hostel as well. The tour cost 60 SOLS each and then 30 SOLS each for the National Park entrance fee. This tour is more for transport than doing the hike as a group, they pick you up and drop you off at set times, with meeting back at the car park at 3pm for collection.

We got picked up at 5am at a meeting point, only three minutes walk away from our hostel. We then drove for two and a half hours to breakfast, which is not included in the tour. We had luckily stocked up on food and snacks the previous night, so only ordered coffees for six SOLS. We spent probably thirty minutes here before continuing the drive into the National Park. Once the tour has paid for our National Park tickets, it is another forty-five minutes drive to the starting point of the hike. A very bumpy ride up to the entrance, we stopped briefly at a small lookout to see a Laguna and the surrounding mountains.

From the starting point (middle photo below), the first forty minutes is pretty flat and easy to walk, but after, this is when it starts to get much steeper. The hike up can take around three hours to do, but we managed to do it in two. I think as it was our third day in Huaraz, I had acclimated a bit better for this hike. It was still hard on the chest, but I didn’t struggle as much as I had done the previous days.

About halfway to the top, just after the 3km left sign, you will reach Laguna Consuelo, where if you’re lucky you will be able to see the mirror effect of the surrounding mountains in the Laguna. This is a perfect spot for a snack or break before carrying on. The next part is a 1km or so flat valley situated in the heart of the surrounding mountains (breathtaking views), before starting the 1km steep section to the top.

The view at the top is breathtaking! As you walk towards the Laguna you can see the glacier and surrounding mountains a lot clearer. Even though it wasn’t clear blue skies, the brightness of the Laguna could have been spotted a mile away. We got some photos, took in the views then found a small lunch spot to have our traditional left over pizza. As we got to the Laguna pretty quickly, we were able to relax at the top for two hours.

We set off from the Laguna at 1pm, giving us two hours to get to the bottom to meet our tour bus at 3pm. Luckily, the weather stayed pretty much the same the entire hike, so we got to take in the incredible views as we hiked back down. We think the surrounding views of the different mountains and waterfalls made the hike even better and rivalled New Zealand at some points.

Once everyone from our tour was back, we started the journey back to Huaraz, which took around three hours, getting us in at 7pm. A very long day for us, but worth it nonetheless! Out of all three hikes we did, this one was by far the best!

Other Hikes we were recommended:

Acclimatisation Hikes

1. Laguna Wilcacocha (3,721m) - It is a good first hike to acclimatise, with its sunning panoramic views of the Cordillera Blanca range.
2. Laguna Radian (4,570m) - Is a quieter, more easy hike to start with from the Wilkawain ruins.
3. Laguna Llaca (4,470m) - A valley hike offering views of the snow mountains.

Best Day Hikes at High Altitude

1. Pastoururi Glacier (5,000m) - It is a fairly easy walk to a shrinking glacier.
2. Laguna Parón (4,3000) - Peru’s largest lake in the Cordillera Blanca. You can hike to this viewpoint.

Multi Day Treks

1. Santa Cruz Trek (3-4 days) - Famous for its beautiful Andean landscapes and the incredible viewpoint of Alpamayo.
2. Huayhuash Circuit (8-12 days) - Rated among the top treks in the world, it is a very challenging high-altitude circuit with incredible, dramatic, daily mountain views. A lot of people recommended this Circuit to us, we just sadly didn’t make time for this! If we come back to Peru, this will be at the top of our list!