Huaraz - A number of hikes you don't want to miss

When you say hiking in Peru most of the people will think of Machu Pichu, but Peru has much more to offer, and Huaraz is the place to start

We were in Peru for only a short time, so our adventures there were numbered. On top of that, Lucy got sick once we arrived to Huaraz so we had to keep it light for a few days. That did not stop us from having 2 of our best memories from that travel. Here is what we did:

Pastoruri Glacier

The Glacier is located above 5000m above sea level with it's peak around 5200. This Glacier is losing it's size fast and there are some efforts to try to reverse that, our guide referred to it as a last-chance tourism.

As Lucy did not fell 100% we opted in for a guided tour that took us first to Pumapampa agua gasificada - a source of mineral water that is believed to bring you good fortune if you wash yourself with it (and it will do wonders to your skin!), then continued to Laguna de 7 colores, a small lake where the minerals in the water make it look like the water is colored in 7 colors (it is not the big one that everyone speaks about) and then continued to almost the top of the glacier where we had to walk about 200 meters to see it. Being able to get there by bus makes the place extremely touristy, and I have to say that it wasn't extremely fun to see it with 200 more people at the same time, but nevertheless the view was amazing! And it was easy enough to do even when when someone is weaker than usual

Baños Termales Monterrey

The area is rich with mineral and thermal water, therefore there are a lot of options to choose from. We chose to go to Monterrey because it was one of those thermal waters we did not see in the tour agencies but locals did speak about. The place is easily reachable by public transport from Huaraz and has a few pools with different minerals and temperatures. The place is well maintained and during our visit we saw mainly locals. We managed to go there only in the afternoon and spent there a short time, but it was definitely worth the effort.

Final thoughts

This is not even the tip of the iceberg of what Huaraz can offer. It is one of the places that is definitely on our list to come back to, even if only to hike to the famous Laguna 69 that we couldn't do as it was more physically demanding that what we could handle at the time. I would be happy to see more people hiking around that area instead of opting in to go to Cusco and ending up in Machu Pichu. Have you visited Huaraz? Have some thoughts of it? Tell us!