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Huchuy Qosqo Trek 2 Day is an off the beaten track experience in Peru ideal for those wanting to get an insight to the Inca civilization. The name, Huchuy Qosqo – Cusco in Quechua means “Little Cusco”. The archaeological site nestles at 3600 metres above sea level near the village of Lamay in Sacred Valley.
The complex was primarily used by Incas as a military and administrative centre. Huchuy Qosqo was built by Inca Sapa, Viracocha.
Unlike others, the Incas did not practise the tax system. Instead they controlled the land and the labour. This allowed them to acquire more land and wealth and pass it down in the lie of succession.
During the later days of Viracocha’s rule in Cusco, he faced a revolt from the Chanca community. Fearing for his life, he handed over the throne of Cusco to his son Pachacutec and fled to Huchuy Qosqo.
Pachacutec in turn deposed the revolt and assumed the role as an Emperor.
On Viracocha’s death, his corpse was mummified and stored in Huchuy Qosqo. When the Spanish Invaders conquered Cusco, under the leadership of Gonzalo Pizzaro they conquered Huchuy Qosqo and burnt the mummified corpse of Viracocha.
Huchuy Qosqo saw extensive development under the leadership of Pachacutec. The Spanish rulers conquered the complex, demolished the aqueducts and built larger reservoirs which can be seen today.
One of the prominent sites in the complex are the Kallankas. It is a large hall that is some 40 metres long.
In Qullas which in Quechua means storehouse, the Incas stored many crops like Quinoa and dried meat.
Although not as popular as the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Huchuy Qosqo Trek is the shortest and the most interesting alternative trek to Machu Picchu.
Happy Gringo Tours is a fully locally owned tour operating company in the city of Cusco. We have state of the art campsites and camping and cooking equipment. We operate all the treks under the guidance of a local tour guide.
Our tour guides, as locals, have an extensive knowledge about the culture and history. Most of them are mountaineers and have plenty of knowledge and experience on high altitude treks and dealing with altitude sickness.
Still, wondering about the reasons to hike Huchuy Qosqo? Check out our post on the top five reasons to hike the Huchuy Qosqo trek.
We aim to make this an unforgettable experience of your trip to Peru. Check out our reviews on TripAdvisor.
Please note it is best to hike Huchuy Qosqo Day Hike during the dry season – between March and November.
Cusco Hotel Transfer
0700 AM
We will pick you up from your hotel in Cusco. Then in our private transport, we will be driving you to the start point of the trek, Tambomachay. You will begin a full day hike from here for two hours to the first mountain pass.
We will be reaching the top of Sacred Valley of Incas. From here you will get spectacular views of the valley and Snow capped Andes mountain range.
Before lunch, we will be hiking in total for 4 hours, to the highest peak of the hike 4300 m – 14,107 ft.
After that we will do a downhill hike for an hour to get to the campsite Pumamarca Andean village.
We will be waking you up to a freshly brewed coffee and an organic breakfast. From here, we will hike down the hill to visit the Inca site of Huchuy Qosqo. We will give you a guided tour of the complex. Then we will descend to the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
We will be stopping for lunch at the town of Lamay. If you feel tired by the walk, you can drink a coca leaf tea, which helps to alleviate fatigue. After lunch, we will be taking a bus back to Cusco City.
If you want to continue the trek to Machu Picchu, then do take a look at our three day programme. On this, instead of returning to Cusco, you will be taking a train to Aguas Calientes.
Each review from our users is important to continue growing and offering the best service to each of our clients. Our priority will always be that you enjoy your trip to the fullest while our professional team works to fulfill it.
The 1-day trip to Machu Picchu was very well organized!
Our vacation was great to the land of the Incas in Perú with Gringo Tours.
We strongly recommend traveling... read more in Cusco. We had an amazing experience.. Thanks to our guide Juan!
We highly recommend booking the Machu Picchu day tríp from Cusco with Happy Gringo!
Everything else was a dumpster fire that had us waiting for two hours for a guide to show up (he stated he hadn’t been notified from the travel agency even though we went to the physical Happy Gringo location to check in the day before AND provided all requested information in person and again via WhatsApp). If we hadn’t reached out to them on WhatsApp, I’m certain we would have still been standing outside of the train station waiting. The information you get when you get to the Machu Picchu location is also confusing, telling you to go to a Pueblo, but when you look it up on the maps, there are several listed, which further added to the confusion. Very much underperformed our expectations for nearly $800.
Final thought, Machu Picchu is very much worth the visit, but not with this outfit.
My family had difficulty to find a travel agent to book the Machu Picchu tour, however the workers of Gringo Tours were very helpful... read more to assist us with our trip to Machu Picchu.
The pick up was on time, the journey from Cusco to Aguad Calientes town was amazing with fantástic views, and finally the tour guide at Machu picchu was very knowledgeable.
Highly recommended tour operator in Peru!
The communication was great, the pick up was on time, the box lunch was very delicious,... read more the hotel at Aguas Calientes was clean and our tour guide Wilder was very informative.
All the team of Happy Gringo tours were professional. Therefore, we hughly recommend hiking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu with them and with Wilder!
¡Thanks for everything!
We booked the 2 days tour to Machu Picchu. The service was very well organised from Cusco, the Communication... read more was fsntastic with Ariana, the pick up ass on time and our tour guide Ivan gave us a lot of information of Machupichu site.
Strongly recommend our guide Ivan and thanks Gringo tours!
We noticed the sirious work and profesionalism that we received. Juan is the persona who gave us all his support. Therefore, we share our experience that Happy Gringo is the only company in Cusco that got our dream reop to Machu Picchu.
Thanks all the team of Gringo tours for your help and we highly recommend the travelers who want to ise this tour operator in Cusco.
Really enjoyed the trip. Got to experience nature and culture without having to worry about logistics and/or planning. The team did a really good job in taking care of us and making sure that we were comfortable. The only complain is that there was no hot water at the hotel that was booked for us
We had an excellent experience and everything was made easy. We had so much fun! The guides were great and always helpful and the equipment was too of the line.
The hike to Huchuy Qosqo and the hospitality for the village stay was incredible. Mario Tribune is a great guide and a patient person. And then Machu Picchu train and overall experience was fantastic.
This company knows how to take care of details … and that too ultra last minute … I was finalizing the details as I was boarding my plane at SF 🙂 … but between emails, Skype, phone it all worked out very well.