Rafting on Peru's Urubamba River
White-water rafting on the Urubamba River is a really great fun day out messing about on the water. It’s a nice way to take in the magnificent scenery and at the same time have some exhilarating adventure sport for a few hours. It’s
suitable for pretty much anyone and no previous experience is necessary. We even have a
family option suitable for kids in which we use rafts and inflatable canoes on one of the gentler sections of river (class I-II).
You can do a section in the Sacred Valley which gives you great views of the mountains and the ancient terraces. This Ollantaytambo section is graded class III which is still pretty easy stuff. Or we can take you to the Chuquicahuana section above Cusco which is class III-IV where the water is particularly clean and fresh and a little more exhilarating than the quieter sections.
What is a day's rafting on the Urubamba like?
Whichever section you choose it is essentially a full day out. It’s about a one and a half hour drive from Cusco to the put in point. Here we’ll inflate the rafts and following a full safety briefing and instruction in the art of white-water rafting, before setting off for approx two hours of fun white-water rafting.
The river starts gently with time to practice the manoeuvres required, then builds up with more fun rapids through beautiful scenery. We will hopefully see torrents ducks and views of the surrounding peaks. After approximately two hours of rafting, we reach our take out point and enjoy a full picnic lunch before returning to Cusco mid to late afternoon.
Rafting Peru's Apurimac River
If you are really keen on white-water rafting there are also multi-day options rafting various sections of the Apurimac River – the headwaters of the Amazon. This is in the top ten rafting destinations in the world and is perfect for anyone wanting a three or four day real wilderness rafting experience, with a mix of exhilarating rapids and truly awesome scenery.
Other rafting and canoeing trips in Peru
We can also offer various other rafting trips and even canoeing trips in Peru, such as:
- Raft into the heart of the Amazon on the Tambopata River.
- Try rafting the world's deepest canyon - the Cotahuasi.
- Canoe into Pisac Market in the Sacred Valley.
- Paddle board on Lake Urcos and the Urubamba.
Just ask us about any of these exciting options in Peru.
where to go
Cusco is the most common starting point for rafting on the Urubamba River. You would be collected from your hotel and taken to the start point of your raft.
when to go
When you can raft the rivers depends on which river you choose and the section of degree of difficulty you're hoping for.
On the whole though, the Urubamba is raftable from about March to December.
The Apurimac has a shorter season from about May to October.
There is an annual fixed departure rafting the Tambopata in about September, but this can also be done privately from around March to November.
how to do it
We have some fixed departure dates for our Peru rafting and canoeing trips, but we can also arrange them privately.
We can build these into most holiday itineraries, so you simply need to talk to us about planning this for you.
