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This is the amazing alternative way to experience Peru

This is the amazing alternative way to experience Peru

The fortress of Choquequirao in the Peruvian Andes - an unforgettable highlight of one of Latin America’s greatest treks, according to expert... Read more

21 Sep 2023 3 minute read

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This is the amazing alternative way to experience Peru

By KE Adventure Travel

The fortress of Choquequirao in the Peruvian Andes - an unforgettable highlight of one of Latin America’s greatest treks, according to expert Product Manager Caroline Williams.

Known to the Incas as the ‘Cradle of Gold’, the ancient citadel of Choquequirao is one of South America’s least renowned (and least pronounceable) adventure travel destinations.

It's not hard to understand why. Simply getting to Choquequirao from the village of Cachora, east of Cusco, involves negotiating the steep-sided canyon of the Apurimac River, one of the sources of the mighty Amazon. It takes several hours, split over two days to trek down to the river, followed by a long and almost continuous ascent, via a series of unforgiving switchbacks and traversing cloud-forested ridges, to reach the spectacularly-located campsite on the lower terraces of the site. Unlike Machu Picchu, this remote location means that Choquequirao is only an achievable goal for dedicated adventurers!

Built on a towering spur and surrounded by the giant snow-crowned peaks of the Cordillera Vilcabamba, the inaccessibility of the ruins even kept the archaeologists out until the 1970s and around 70% of the site remains hidden, waiting to be freed from the forest which has engulfed it. With as few as 20 people a day visiting the site, those fortunate enough to get here are offered a taste of what it must have been like to visit Angkor Wat, Tikal or Machu Picchu before the roads and the tour buses arrived.

Spending a day here provides excellent acclimatisation prior to continuing our classic 9-day trek through the Vilcabamba and also allows enough time to discover what has so far been uncovered and restored. You can simply sit and admire the views from the sun temple, watch condors soaring in the canyon far below, or descend on stone steps from the main plaza to one of this lost city’s most unusual features; a stunning series of cultivation terraces whose retaining walls are decorated with more than 20 life-size llama figures picked out in white stones

against the darker background.

Whatever you choose to do, the chances are you’ll have this amazing place pretty much to yourself, which is one of the things that make it so special.

>> VISIT THE CITADEL YOURSELF

>> SEE ALL PERU ADVENTURES