La Rinconada, highest city in the world | Tourist Attraction

April 13th, 2024 by roberta_otto

We visited La Rinconada today, we rode here with our motorbikes. The road is paved till more or less 5km before the town, some sections are better than others (expect some big potholes), the last kms before you get there are unpaved, muddy and with big puddles in rainy season but it's still doable with any car, locals do it with minibus. You will also have to cross a massive area of open-air landfill. A paved road to the town is currently being built.
When we arrived the police stopped us, they were extremely friendly but warned us not to go too far into the town and stay on the "main" road otherwise we would risk being shot. We wandered around a little bit, everyone seemed very nice and wanted to take photos with us, we didn't feel in danger while in the town but we didn't stay long.
You obviously don't come here for a nice scenery (though the glacier is impressive), but seeing the conditions people live in here is really eye opening and in some ways fascinating.

February 6th, 2020 by timo.hautz

On common websites, it was not at all recommended to visit this place (high criminality, pollution, prostitution, poverty, bad smell, bad hygiene and not to forget: the height).

But with some security measures, i still gave it a try and I don't regret it.
The people on the streets were really nice, friendly, curious, talkative and open towards me. I learned a lot about the Gold-economy and i could even try my luck and shatter some stones to find gold with borrowed equipment from a nice woman.

My assessment about the place:
- dangerous height, make sure to be acclimatized before coming
-easy to reach: 20 Soles (~5 dollars) from Juliaca by Colectivo, 2.5 - 3.5 hours.
-easy to leave: 15 Soles to Juliaca by Colectivo
-no violent crimes probable on vivid streets. I didn't feel endangered at all.
-interesting living conditions in an extremely isolated place
-stunning beautiful landscape with glacier
-highly polluted, a lot of rubbish
-friendly people willing to explain a lot about the gold-mine and history of the place
-hospedajes available, but i recommend a daytrip only; to avoid height disease
-good food, same quality as in the rest of Peru
-pleasant temperatures when sun is shining, extremely cold when it's raining or snowing.
-many people are a bit surprised but happy to see tourists

January 19th, 2020 by elie.pennetier

La Rinconada is a 50 000 peoples city born from a goldrush still ongoing. With his altitude of 5100m it is considered as the highest "city" of the world.
If you like to see a lovely mountain town with tradition and character this is NOT here! Its look like the city as been build in a rush with no plan at all. Streets are narrow, mostly undriveble with a car muddy and cover of rubbish. There is no running water system and no evacuation for the dirty water except the street.
There is some kind of a post apocaliptique atmosphere and despite the extreme dirtyness and the absolute mess of the city this is a fascinating place to me. There is a large glacier literally at the hedge (possible to just walk on) of the city that give a realy big contrast.
This is not a tourist destination at all, there is about 10 hostal around the plaza all about from 20 to 40 soles and very basic.
Not sure it would be any sort of parking available, i had hard time finding a hostal that as place for my bicycle!