Humantay Lake Peru Day Trip – Laguna Humantay Cusco

Humantay Lake Peru Day Trip is a popular day tour from Cusco Peru as Rainbow Mountain. Locally known as Laguna Humantay Cusco, it is a turquoise lake nestled up in the Andes at 4,200 meters above sea level.

Humantay Lake gets its name from the snow capped Humantay Mountain. The lake nestles on its foothills. It is fed by the melting snow from the hill.

This is the first stop on the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu. Humantay Lake Peru has been sacred to the Andean people since the Inca civilization. This is primarily because they worshipped the nature entities for a good yielding. 

Even today Shamans (Andean priests) hike up to the lagoon to offer Apacheta. It is a process of piling stones each on top of the other to thank the Mother Earth (Pachamama) for accompanying them on their journey. 

Humantay Lake Peru can only be reached by hiking for 1.5 hours from Soraypampa. If you are not keen on hiking, you can rent a horse at an additional cost. 

Laguna Humantay Cusco is a high altitude trek, we highly recommend you to spend at least two days in Cusco before the full day hike and acclimate to avoid altitude sickness.