The lost city of the Incas is without a doubt a city symbol of the Inca civilization. The royal path that carried pilgrims and authorized officers of the empire to the sacred city is nowadays the “Inca Trail”.
This Andean road tour is an unforgettable experience. The road is paved with blocks of stone and it has stone ladders, tunnels and wooden bridges that cross rivers, temperate valleys, the warm cloud forest and the cold Andean heights. All of this makes the visitor to meditate about the intellect and the spiritual greatness of the Andean man whose greatest achievement was the Inca civilization.
The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is part of a system of more than 30,000 kilometers of roads that integrated the vast network of the Tawantinsuyo from the south of Colombia to the center of Chile passing by Quito, Ecuador; Cajamarca, Huanuco, Jauja, Huamanga and Cusco in Peru; La Paz and Cochabamba in Bolivia to Salta and Tucuman in Argentina. These roads ran mostly along the coast and the mountains, and in some cases it reached the Amazon rainforest as it is the case of this amazing trek.
This is the fastest version of the 4 day Classic Inca Trail. In this tour you will visit Machu Picchu and then return to Cusco on the night of the third day. This tour consist of 3 days of trekking until arriving to Machu Picchu and 2 nights of camping. During the days of trekking, we make stops to rest and lunch before arriving to each of our camps. Finally we will conclude the tour with the arrival to Machu Picchu through the door of the sun, then we will begin our guided tour in the citadel and we will return to Cusco. If you are interested on booking the tour of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, we suggest that you make your reservations with at least 4 months of anticipation. The tickets to this impressive tour to Machu Picchu have a restricted limit of people. The incomes sold per day are only 500 (divided into 200 spaces for tourist and 300 for porters).
Day 01: Cusco – Km 82 – Ayapata.
Day 02: Ayapata – Warmiwanusca – Chaquicocha.
Day 03: Chaquicocha – Wiñay Wayna – Machu Picchu – Cusco.
Crew: A Salkantay Trek Machu representative in Cusco and a professional Tour Guide on the short Inca Trail 3 days/2 nights.
Accommodation: Hotel (1 night).
Meals: 1x breakfast, 1x lunch and 1x dinner (Please add USD 20 – 30 for not included meals).
Transportation: Transportation by private van, 2x train.
The short tour to The Inca Trail starts with the pick up at your hotel or hostel (5:30 am approx.) We will travel for an hour and a half to Ollantaytambo, where we stop for breakfast. After our stop we will continue our journey by heading to km 82, place where the respective admission control of the Inca Trail is placed. In this place you will have to show your tickets with your passport and you identity document (with the same one you did your reservations).
The Inca trail starts at 2,720 MAMSL. Once you pass for all the respective controls on the control point, we will cross a suspension bridge across the Vilcanota River. The first day is relatively easy and is considered the day of warm-up since the terrain is relatively flat. This day we will have wonderful views of the Incan fortress of Huillca Raccay, the incredible archaeological site of LLactapacta (officially called “Patallacta”), the Mountain range of Urubamba that divides the jungle with the Andes, and the beautiful snowy Mountain od W’akay Willca at 5,860 MAMSL (also known as Veronica). Our first camp will be in Ayapata, located 60 minutes’ walk from the small village of Wayllabamba, with a height of 3,300 MAMSL.
This is going to be the hardest day and the more rewarding at the same time of the Inca Trail. We will find spectacular Andean landscapes and vegetation of the place. The day will start at 5:00 a.m. and after a good breakfast, we will start the ascent for 4 hours up to the highest point of the road, The Abra of Huarmihuanusca or “Step of the dead woman” with a height of 4,200 MAMSL. During this tour you can appreciate that the vegetation is varied with native plants and trees such as the Polilepys or Q’ueuña, which grow in the cloud forest at an altitude of 3,650 MAMSL. After the 4 hours of ascent, having reached the highest point, we celebrate together.
After a break we will start the descent for an hour and a half to the second point where we will have lunch (Pacamayo 3,500 MAMSL). After lunch, we will start with the last part of the rise for 2 hours heading to the Abra of Runkurakay at an altitude of 4,000 MAMSL. Once in the passage and after a rest, we will continue the descent for 1 hour and a half until we reach our camp at Chaquicocha (3,600 MAMSL).
Today will be the more extraordinary day of the trek. We are going to visit many archaeological sites in the road like: Phuyupatamarka, Intipata and Wiñay Wayna (means “forever young”). After lunch, we will leave Wiñay Wayna at 12:00 p.m. in order to reach Inti Punku or “The door of the Sun” which has a height of 273 meters. You will see the first views of Machu Picchu at the door of the Sun, you can also watch the sun set from there.
Finally we will continue walking through the last section of the Inca Trail until we reach the place where you can take the classis photo (picture postcard) with the ancient city. In Machu Picchu, you will have your 2 hour guided tour. After your guided tour, we will go to the main entrance where we board the bus to Aguas Calientes and then we will make the delivery of your train ticket for your journey back to Cusco.
Many people include Peru in their “Things to do” list, the main reason being to Trek the Classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, although what most people don’t know is that there are various Inca Trails Trips to Machu Picchu to pick from in the Cusco region. The difference lies in what kind of an experience you want, hiking the Inca trail and how challenging you like your treks.
If you want to say that you’ve hiked the famous hike to Machu Picchu, then the Classic Inca Trail is for you. But usually you will need to book in advance, in case it is fully booked, we recommend other alternative treks:
If very important your take best cover backpacker, because the weather in Inca Trail is change every date, we can’t predict it raining or no. If you don’t have, we recommended to putting your clothes, sleeping bag and other personal equipment inside the plastic bag.
Hiking pants and T-shirts are recommended during the day, complemented by sweaters, fleeces and waterproof jackets. It is very convenient to have light raingear available in the daypack (rain poncho or jacket and/or rain pants) as the weather changes easily and rains can suddenly occur. At night, warm clothing is required, down jackets can be useful, otherwise a fleece and a jacket. During the third day (if sunny) and in Machu Picchu, convertible hiking pants are useful, as can be switched into shorts if necessary. Machupicchu has a warm climate, getting only cold at night. The rest of necessary implements are included in the “What we recommend that you bring” list.
