Choquequirao 4 Day Trek Unguided

Deeanne and I had long debated hiking Choquequirao with or without a guide. There is quite a bit of discussion out there on how hard this hike is and the necessity of mules and a guide. The hike is best done in four days – two out and two back. The elevation profile is helatious; you start at 2750m/9020ft drop to 1450m/4756ft and then climb back to 3103m/10178ft and then you repeat it on the way out. We actually had found a local guide that was going to take us, but at the last minute he had other work come up. He reassured us that it was easily doable without a guide and so after booking our bus tickets to Cachora from Cusco, we caught the 6:30am bus on Thursday and were on our way.

You can catch almost any bus headed to Lima to get to Cachora. The bus drops you off on the side of the road where you have to catch a camioneta down to the village of Cachora. It cost us 5 soles and I think we fit about 12 people in this Toyota Camry.

We arrived in Cachora around 10:30am and enjoyed a ripe papaya in the town square before heading out. From the square you just start walking down the road out of town. The road winds around to the left (West). Deeanne and I were worried at first because all the trail descriptions say you hike down the valley. The road doesn’t actually go down much; it stays pretty flat for the first 10k. A local police officer gave us a ride to kilometer 6 which was awesome. I am amazed that there are not more enterprising locals giving hikers a lift since you just walk down the road.

The road ends and turns into a trail near the 11k mark. This is where the descent starts. You drop over 4000ft in eight kilometers. Our knees were definitely trebling by the time we reached the bottom. We both wished we had brought trekking poles. We made it to Rosalina Beach camp at kilometer 19 around 5:00pm after 6 hours of hiking and set up camp. We had the entire place to ourselves. We bought another papaya for dinner and split an Inka Cola. Every camp has locals selling water, beer, soda, and food. Our favorite part about staying at Rosalina Beach though was the showers.

The next morning we starting hiking at 7:00am and by the time we thought we were half way up the switchbacks we wished we had started earlier. You climb 5400ft in just under 4 miles (6 km) from the Apurimac River to Marampata. It is by far the steepest and worst assent Deeanne and I have ever done. It took us 4 hours to climb from the Apurimac River to Marampata. Arriving at the top we thought we had died and gone to heaven. We anticipated it taking us another two to three hours.

We set up camp at Marampata, had a brief lunch and then hiked the final 4k without pack to Choquequirao. Choquequirao is stunning and worth every bit of the hike to get there. Deeanne and I had the entire ruins to ourselves almost all afternoon. We visited the famous Llama Terraces, Pikiwasi, and the main ruins. Choquequirao beats Machu Picchu hands down. The ruins are more spread out but as amazing as the ones at Machu Picchu and you get to experience them crowd free. We stayed until sunset and then hiked back to our camp at Marampata. Again we had the camp all to ourselves. Marampata sits right on the edge overlooking the Apurimac with views of Choquequirao. It is definitely the best camp on the trail.

The next morning we down hiked the 5400ft to the river, again with trembling knees and then hiked up another 2000ft to Chiquisca where for the first time we had company. A group from a local university training to be guides arrived shortly after us. At this point we didn’t actually mind the company. They invited us to hike out with them the next day and said they had room in their bus if we wanted a lift back to Cusco. We knew the hike out would be hot so we woke up at 3:00am and started walking by 3:50am. Deeanne and I were both glad their group suggested starting early. We made it to the top around 7:00am and walked the road back into town arriving at 9:00am. Some of you are probably thinking this is pretty early; however, we were amazed at the number of people doing this entire hike (there and back) at night. We had a full moon and the hiking was much more pleasant at night. The ascent from the Apurimac River in September can be extremely hot. I think it hit well over 105 degrees Fahrenheit on our third day hiking up to Chiquisca so we were more than happy to start early on our final ascent.

There is talk of building a road to Choquequirao in the next 10 years. If you want the chance to visit this wonder unspoiled do it soon. If the hike sounds hard you can always hire a guide and mules. Most people we encountered had mules and a guide. It is certainly doable without either though and I think more rewarding. If you plan to do it I think this is the best itinerary.

Day 1: Bus Cusco to Cachora and hike to the Rosalina Beach camp on the Apurimac River (it’s not the greatest camp, but the showers are nice and it is warm) [19k/12mi hiking]. If you start really early you could make it up to Santa Rosa.

Day 2: Start early 5:00am and hike to Marampata. Set up camp and day hike to Choquequirao. [13k/8mi hiking (4k/2mi without pack)]

Day 3: Hike down to the Apurimac River and up three more kilometers to camp Chiquisca [12k/7.4mi hiking]

Day 4: Start early 4:00am and hike out to Cachora (catch bus to Cusco) [16k/10mi hiking]

Tagged as: Choquequirao, Inca Ruins, Peru, Trekking