Please DON'T take this road to Colca | Warning

November 2nd, 2023 by roamingabout.com

Yea, this road sucks right now. It's doable in any rig, but the road is washboard basically the whole trip to the highway. I have no idea why one would do this unless you want to hike in the area. I really doubt it takes less time than the highway, and the rig took a solid beating. The sights are nothing special compared to other, better, dirt roads around Peru. Perhaps if you get lucky and it was recently graded it would be fine, but right now, it sucks.

June 11th, 2023 by Caleta San José & Qhispikay Glamping

Please do! unless is rainy season that usually is from December to March, this road is definitely faster, has a better view and no traffic jam of big trucks. It gets maintenance once a year usually around may. The rains of summer will ruin some creek passes

December 11th, 2022 by @alyvanblake

after seeing the unending, slow moving big trucks going up the highway on our way down to Arequipa, we decided to take this road. glad we did. coming from town you climb like 1800m through switchbacks. only a couple of spots of nasty washboard, otherwise normal gravel road. for maybe 5km in the middle there is the worst part for road conditions but there was a team up there grading the road so the next 20ish km was great! then the last 1.5km was very rough again. easily averaged 40kph, and it's much shorter than the highway, so it's for sure faster. great views of the mountain to boot!

November 18th, 2022 by weaver.skylar

Did this road solo on my heavy street motorcycle. I made it but there were some short sections of sand (though not too deep). Just had to go slow through them. Saw my first vicuñas up close on this route. I only saw one other car the entire time. Pretty scenic route though! Also can see the volcano pretty close.

July 4th, 2022 by outintonowhere

As others have mentioned this road is fine. Most of it is my absolute least favorite type of road: heavy washboarding/ribbing, but nothing special is required. Passed only one normal sedan.

I’m not sure it’s really worth doing but it does give you a nice closeup to Misti. I took it because I was climbing on Chachani.

November 20th, 2019 by worldwide-midwife.com

We drove this road with our 4x4 today. The beginning of the road from Arequipa and up is the worst in regards to potholes. Further up, when the sand on the road starts turning pink, it gets much better and easier to drive. But we’ve seen lots of vans driving today. Not 4x4 and not high clearance. Shouldn’t be a problem!

October 14th, 2019 by instagram.com/differentdaydifferentway

we took this road today. according to peruvian dirtroads we found this one quite good. well maintained. a bit ripple but no big holes. no high clearance or 4x4 needed. easy drive. Alternative to the highway with a lot of trucks in front of you.

March 14th, 2019 by overlandcruiser

You can still see that the road wasn’t in a bad condition, but recent rains have done serious damage. It looks like people have themselves done some repaires with rocks, but these are impossible to pass with a normal car. High clearance is needed. They will probably do some proper repaires soon.

March 13th, 2019 by kristendyck

Small landslide, easily passable with high clearance 2WD

December 27th, 2018 by welt-erleben.ch

Right now - easy, smooth and not too steep dirt road, possible for a normal 2x4 motorhome like ours (Fiat Ducato/Knaus, 3 5t, 7.5m)

April 4th, 2018 by PikiPiki Overland Blog

As Ride2Kite say it is an easy motorcycle road. Even BMW Mall Crawlers can go this way. High clearance 4x2 and 4x4 are okay. The road out of Arequipa till the top is a bit rubbish but if you take it slow it is okay. In all if you break your car there you are not skilled enough or driving to fast. Big rigs might be a bit more difficult.
There's no sand on that road, okay, just maybe one small stretch. At the top it is as good as highway. Nice scenery!!
The dirt from Arequipa to thw main road is about 60km and took us 1h40min with photo stops

February 17th, 2018 by Ride2Kite

Fairly good prepared dirt road from Arequipa to Patahuasi on our way to Colca. Took us 2.5 h with photo stops, easy going. Should be no problem even for big trail bikes with some offroad experience. Great views and nobody else on the track. The main road instead was full of heavy traffic. After heavy rain falls check conditions with locals first. Enjoy!

December 5th, 2017 by bhikers.nl

We ride 2x 250cc cross motorbikes and after reading above post we decided to check with the police and locals if the road would be doable. The police stated that it was a no go for cars, but for bikes it should be ok, so we decided to give it a try. The road should definitely be described as challenging for motorbikes and specially the first part is in bad condition. It took us nearly three hours to get through, with big rocks and holes and loose volcanic sand, but we made it without any big trouble. We even met a cyclist from China on the route, but he had already been on route from Arequipa for 3 days! Our advise for motorbikers; if you want to skip 60km of truck filled main road and are feeling adventurous, go for it. But take enough water!

July 30th, 2017 by memoriasdemochila.com.br

Please do not use this road to drive to Colca!

We have a Land Rover Defender and our car was hit by one of the millions rocks and broke in the middle of nowhere, at 4000 meters high. This was the worst road we drove in South America. Maps.me sent us via this road, but make sure to go via YURA!