CLASSICAL COLCA TOUR 
02 days / 01 night
Itinerary
The easiest way to visit Colca canyon is to take the classical, 2-day group tour. Compared to private tours described later, the group tour has the big advantage of a very accessible price, reason for which most tourists take it.
This is how the tour goes. You leave Arequipa at about 8.30 a.m. in a touristic bus (generally a small van but it can be a larger bus in high season) that picks you up at the hotel, and then go to Chivay in the Colca valley.
This is an approximate 4-hour drive, that passes on the Altiplano (highlands) where you stop several times to see the local animals (lamas, alpacas, vicuñas). You pass at a maximum height of 4900 m (about 16,000 feet). You arrive at Chivay for lunch, there are small restaurants there (meals are not included in the trip, but it's quite cheap there). In the afternoon, the tour sometimes includes a small and easy walk through the terraces around the village, which help to acclimatize to altitude (Chivay is at 3500 m above sea level).
You can also go and have a thermal bath in hot-spring pools. You sleep in your hotel in Chivay. Another possibility is to sleep in Yanque, a small, less touristic village where there are some good hotels.
Next morning, you wake up soon, have breakfast and then go with the same bus and the same group of people to the Mirador de la Cruz del Cóndor (about 1.5 hour drive). This is a Natural Park where you have a very beautiful view on the Colca Canyon. At this place the river is more than 1000 m under your feet and, in front of you, you see escarpments more than 2500 m high. This is also the place where you'll be able to observe several flying condors, sometimes passing very close to you (up to a few meters). You then go back to Chivay, passing and making a few stops in some small villages in the valley, have lunch in Chivay and go back to Arequipa, where you arrive at about 5.00 pm.
Included
• 01 night acomodation
• transportation
• 01 breakfast
• bilingual tour guide and folk music
Not included:
• meals
• entry tickect to colca canyon
• entry tickect to hot springs
