Traditional Inca Trail

Our team will pick you up from wherever you are staying in Cusco, Urubamba, or Ollantaytambo. If you’re staying in Cusco, your pickup will be between 4:00 and 4:30 AM; if in Urubamba, between 5:30 and 6:00 AM; and if you’re in Ollantaytambo, between 6:30 and 7:00 AM. These times will be confirmed at your briefing as they may vary slightly depending on your exact location. After a delicious breakfast prepared by your cook, you’ll be taken to the Porter House in Ollantaytambo, where your guide will introduce you to your team of porters.

We’ll then drive to KM 82, where we’ll pass through the first Inca Trail checkpoint and begin our trek. Make sure to have your original passport with you, as you’ll need it to enter the Inca Trail. The first two hours of the trek are relatively easy as we head towards our first Inca site. Patallacta is an ancient Inca checkpoint on the approach to Machu Picchu.

From Patallacta, it’s another two-hour walk to our lunch spot. After lunch, we’ll continue for 2.5 more hours until we reach our first campsite at Ayapata (3,300 meters). On this last stretch, we pass through two small communities where you can buy energy drinks, snacks, or any essential items you may have forgotten, like batteries. We’ll arrive at our campsite around 5:00 PM. Once settled, you can relax with a hot drink and snack, enjoying the company of your porters, cooks, and guides. Dinner will be ready by 7:30 PM, and afterward, you can enjoy some well-deserved rest.

Your porters will wake you early with a hot cup of coca tea to get you ready for the day. We will start early as this will be our longest day. We’ll walk for about 4 hours to the highest pass on the trek, Dead Woman’s Pass (4,215m / 13,829ft). Once we’ve reached the pass, we’ll take a short break to enjoy the views before starting our descent into the next valley (Pacaymayu Valley - Hidden River). It’s another hour and a half down the side of the valley to our lunch spot, where you’ll have a chance to refill your water bottles. After lunch, we start climbing again to the second pass of the trek. It’s a 2-hour hike over the pass, where we’ll stop at a small Inca site (Runcu Raccay) and see two huge waterfalls cascading down the opposite side of the valley. After the second pass, it’s another hour’s descent to the magnificent Inca site of Sayacmarca (an otherwise inaccessible village).

We’ll stop here to rest and take a short tour. Afterwards, we can watch the sunset over the Vilcabamba mountain range. Then it’s only 20 minutes to our second campsite, Chaquicocha (dry lake, 3,600m). After dinner, if you’re not too tired, we can do some stargazing and point out the fascinating Inca constellations. In the magnificent southern hemisphere sky, away from all the artificial lights, this is a sky to behold!