The Full Moon Horseback Ride Cusco with Wonders of Peru Expeditions is a unique evening experience — riding to the Temple of the Moon under moonlight for a traditional coca leaf ceremony honoring the Inca moon goddess Mama Killa and the sacred mountains of Cusco. This is one of the few tours in Peru that takes you to an Inca archaeological site at night, when the ruins were actually designed to be experienced.
The Temple of the Moon was built with openings in its cave ceiling specifically so that moonlight would illuminate the interior altars on certain nights. Visiting under a full moon is the way the Incas intended this sacred space to be seen. You ride gentle Peruvian Paso horses through the dark hills above Cusco at 3,700 meters, with the Andes silhouetted against the moonlit sky — an experience that very few visitors to Peru ever have.
Your guide picks you up from your hotel at 7:00 PM and drives you to the ranch outside Cusco. After a brief safety orientation and horse assignment, you ride out into the night toward the Temple of the Moon. Inside the temple caves, your guide leads a traditional coca leaf ceremony — you prepare a Q’intu offering of three coca leaves to honor Mama Killa and the Apus (sacred mountains). Your guide shares stories of Inca cosmology and the Andean worldview that still lives in these mountains today.
3 Days
8
English, Spanish
Evening departure at 7:00 PM on full moon nights only. Approximately 2 hours of riding. No experience needed. Minimum 2 participants. Maximum weight: 86 kg (190 lbs). Dress warmly — temperatures drop significantly after sunset.
