3 Days in Cusco with Kids – Acclimatizing Itinerary

Many visitors to Cusco with kids will struggle with its high altitude, and will need to plan to spend a few days acclimating to the altitude. Cusco was the first stop in our 4-week family trip through the mountains of Peru and Bolivia. To decrease our chances of getting altitude sickness, we developed this Cusco itinerary to help our family slowly acclimate to the altitude.

As the base for Machu Pichu and the Sacred Valley, Cusco is the gateway to adventure in the Peruvian Andes. Cusco sits at 3,400 m / 11,150 feet above sea level, which is well above the 8,000 foot level where people can develop altitude sickness.

We spent three days in Cusco with our kids. The following Cusco itinerary helped us slowly, but surely, acclimatize to the altitude in Cusco. We hope that it helps your family as well!

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Arrival Day – Explore Cusco Old Town

Our flight into Cusco landed shortly after noon. After catching an Uber to our family-friendly hotel near Plaza de Armas, we went out to grab a quick bite to eat.

Aside from a little shortness of breath, no one on our family seemed to be noticeably impacted by the altitude, so we decided to explore Old Town Cusco on foot for a few hours. We walked slowly down the beautiful, charming cobblestone streets, doing some window shopping and soaking it all in.

In essence, we were letting our bodies experience some light physical activity at this new altitude. We could feel our hearts beating faster than usual going up stairs, etc., but overall, the easy walk around Cusco on our arrival day was a big success.

Day 1 – Acclimatization Walk to Cristo Blanco

On our first full day in Cusco with kids, we had planned to take it easy with no strenuous activities just in case any of us were feeling the effects of the altitude. Thankfully, none of us were impacted by the altitude, so we looked for an easy hike around Cusco to further help our acclimatization efforts.

One Cusco landmark we noticed on our arrival afternoon was a large, white statue of Jesus way up high on one of the hills surrounding town. This is statue is called Cristo Blanco, and we found a fun & relatively easy walk from central Cusco to the viewpoint under Cristo Blanco.

The trail starts near Siete Borreguitos, which is often called the most picturesque street in Cusco. It’s very charming indeed with brightly colored potted plants lined all the way up.

It then passes by the Sapantiana Aqueduct, which is also a very picturesque spot in Cusco and a great stop for some family photos.

The trail from the aqueduct to Cristo Blanco then winds its way through some charming residential neighborhoods. There’s even a viewpoint or two to stop at along the way. The biggest challenge of the hike is along this stretch with an extended set of stairs to climb.

Cristo Blanco is a pretty impressive statue and you can enjoy some excellent views of Cusco from up here.

If you keep hiking, you can get some excellent views of Saqsaywaman, which are some very impressive Inca ruins, just outside Cusco.

We continued following the hiking trail in our AllTrails app, which walked around the perimeter of Saqsaywaman, but to be honest, I wouldn’t recommend it. You get occasional views of Saqsaywaman, but it’s mostly unenjoyable walking on roads.

Instead, I’d recommend walking from Cristo Blanco to the first viewpoint of Saqsaywaman. Then, from there, I’d take the nearby shortcut back to Cusco (you can see it on the AllTrails map – it’s nearly straight south).

We walked 6.3 km / 3.9 miles on our acclimatization hike with about 260 m / 850 feet of elevation gain. We reached a peak altitude of 3,600 m / 11,800 feet. This was the perfect easy family activity on our first day in Cusco with kids. Slowly increasing our altitude will help us with our upcoming family hikes which go to even higher elevations.

Day 2 – Hiking With Llamas and Alpacas

Chances are that if you are visiting Cusco with kids, that you are an active family. If you are also animal lovers, then I have the perfect Cusco acclimatization activity for you – hiking with llamas and alpacas (with some bonus cultural activities too)!

After our tour guide picked us up at our hotel, we enjoyed a 90-minute drive through the outskirts of Cusco, remote villages and farmland. As we drove further from Cusco, we were excited to see the snow-capped peaks of the Alps come into view. 

Moras Salt Mine

Our first stop of the day was the Moras Salt Mine, a dramatic collection of hundreds of salt pools, being mined for salt with the same methods used by the Incas.

The Moras Salt Mine is one of the most interesting and photogenic attractions near Cusco. Our driver stopped at an elevated viewpoint, giving us an excellent birds-eye view. Next, we went down below for an up-close view. A fascinating attraction near Cusco!

Moray Archeological Site

Our second and final cultural attraction for the day was the Moray archeological site, which is another highly photogenic site. Moray is a collection of agricultural terraces, which are famous in the Cusco area. What makes Moray special are the terraces which culminate in circles at the bottom of the site. 

Hiking with Llamas!

Our third and final stop was the main event of the day – hiking with llamas! We were taken to a remote location just outside Chinchero where our small group was joined by two ladies in traditional Peruvian outfits, our guide’s son and roughly 15 – 20 llamas and alpacas.

Our guide matched each hiker with a suitable llama or alpaca. For example, he gave my daughter a small alpaca who recently became a mother, so her two adorable baby alpacas followed along – a big thrill for her!

The first half of our hike with alpacas was along a dirt road in the country, giving us lots of space to walk with our new soft & furry friends. Walking with the llamas was so much fun that we almost missed out on appreciating the surrounding scenery, which was incredible! Our guide was very attentive, taking our phones so he could take our pictures as we walked with the alpacas and llamas.

We stopped halfway for a traditional lunch with another incredible view. I cannot describe adequately how much I loved this lunch. We were served a variety of dishes, so I made a sandwich with homemade bread, guacamole, uchucuta, cheese and potatoes – I swear it’s the best sandwich I’ve ever had!

After we stuffed ourselves on the delicious traditional lunch, we reunited with llamas for the walk back to our tour bus. All told, we walked roughly 3.5 km / 2.2 miles with our llamas. There were some hills, but none that were difficult.

We went hiking with alpacas and llamas on our second full day in Cusco with kids. It was a perfect stepping stone in our Cusco acclimatization program. The hiking portion of the tour was hovering around 3,900 m / 12,800 feet, which is getting close to the maximum altitude you will reach while hiking the Inca Trail. It was a big confidence boost that our acclimatization program was working!

The hike to Rainbow Mountain was pretty ordinary to tell the truth. It’s a slightly uphill hiking trail with ordinary greenish mountains on either side – certainly not Peru’s best mountain scenery.

But before long, you’ll arrive at the first lookout for Rainbow Mountain. At first, I was very put off by the enormous crowds up there, but I soon realized that there’s enough space for everyone to get good views and pictures (sometimes with a little patience).

If your body can handle the extra altitude, I recommend continuing to the upper viewpoint. It’s not much further, but it does get you much better views of Rainbow Mountain and less crowds. It also gets you above 5,000 m / 16,400 feet, while is a huge altitude achievement!

Given the large number of highly Photoshopped photos of Rainbow Mountain out there, I kept my expectations really low. But I was actually very pleasantly surprised – the seven colors on Rainbow Mountain were really vivid!

The scenery around Rainbow Mountain doesn’t get a lot of attention, but it’s also really stunning. There’s a bright red mountain right behind it, and a gorgeous glacier-covered 6,000 m / 19,700 feet peak off in the distance.