Humantay Lake or the Ausangate lakes?

If you came to Cusco for water, our catalog has two high days built around it. Humantay Lake is one glacial lake at the top of a steep climb. The Ausangate trail threads seven lakes below a peak that rises above 6,380 meters. Both leave Cusco before dawn, and in one week we would plan only one of them.

If your choice is still between water and color, Rainbow Mountain and Pallay Punchu are the other side of it. We wrote about them in Rainbow Mountain or Pallay Punchu?.

Humantay Lake

The lake sits at 4,200 meters in a glacial bowl below Salkantay and Humantay. Its turquoise comes from rock flour, stone ground to powder by ice and held in the water. The last climb opens the whole cirque at once.

The color is what the glacier leaves behind.

The day runs about thirteen and a half hours door to door, with a long drive and a steep climb on loose ground. Horses can be hired at the trailhead. Start early, because afternoon cloud often closes over the lake, and bring a layer for the wind.

The lakes below Ausangate

Ausangate stands about a hundred kilometers southeast of Cusco. The trail from Pacchanta, the last village below it, threads seven lakes beneath its north face, each held in a hollow of its own. Pacchanta reveres the mountain as an Apu.

This is a walking day: thirteen kilometers on foot, about four and a half hours, reaching 4,620 meters. Pickup is at four, the road out takes about three hours, and you are back in Cusco by early evening. Morning temperatures run 5 to 9 °C, so dress in layers. The tour includes a stop at hot springs.

How to choose

Humantay is the shorter walk with the steeper climb, and everything leads to one view. Ausangate is a longer walk at a higher altitude, with the reward spread across seven lakes and a stop at hot springs.

One view at the top, or seven along the way.

If you have one day and want the shorter time on your feet, choose Humantay. If walking is the part you came for, choose Ausangate.

Both are best left until the body has had time to adjust to Cusco's altitude, which is why neither belongs in the first days of a trip. We wrote about this in Why altitude changes the shape of a Cusco trip.

Where it sits in a week

You can see how a high day fits into a week in our free 5-day Cusco route and 7-day Cusco route.