A couple of hours north of Huaraz is the small town of Caraz. We used it as a base to hike Laguna 69 and Laguna Paron, as well as a day trip to Punta Olympica and Chacas. Many people also use Caraz as a base for the four-day Santa Cruz trek, but we did not have time for that one. Both Laguna 69 and Laguna Paron can be reached from Huaraz but would require a group tour. Since we wanted to do these hikes on our own, we decided that Caraz was the better option for us. However, we still needed to hire a driver to bring us to the starting point of the hikes and wait for us, so if you’re on a budget, it might be best to just stay in Huaraz. Another benefit of staying in Huaraz is that its elevation is 2,500 feet more than Caraz, which will help with acclimatization for your hikes.
We enjoyed our time in Caraz, but we liked Huaraz a bit more since it had more to offer in terms of restaurants and accessibility to other hikes. We actually stayed outside of Caraz at an amazing cabin run by an expat from the United States. It was super peaceful there being surrounded by gardens, and it had a great view of the Milky Way. There was even a fire pit that we used a couple of nights. In addition to the longer hikes that we did around Caraz, there is also a short hike to a viewpoint, Mirador del Cerro San Juan, that gives you a great view of the town.
