Jaunt's 'cinematic VR' tech will take you around the world

Nothing can compare to seeing the world for yourself, but visiting places through 360-degree virtual reality experiences doesn't sound that bad. Jaunt, the startup that aims to produce a ton of immersive content for everyone's VR devices, has joined forces with a travel agency called Mountain Travel Sobek. They're planning to capture MTS' adventure tours using Jaunt's "cinematic VR" platform to create a series of VR videos. Based on what the agency offers, you can expect to virtually climb mountains, go hiking on the other side of the world and see places of cultural significance you might never see in person.

For their debut video, the companies went to Peru and filmed a high-altitude trek in the Andes mountain ranges. The experience will take you from inn to inn until you reach Machu Picchu from your starting point in Cuzco. It will be available (if it isn't yet) via the Jaunt app, which you can download on iTunes, Google Play or Gear VR. You don't exactly need a headset to view all the 360-degree videos in the app -- the videos work just fine on a phone -- but they're definitely more enjoyable if you have one. If you want to get a taste of the virtual tours Jaunt is releasing, you can watch a preview of the Machu Picchu trek below.