5 Day Inca Trail Trek to Machu Picchu

Vamos amigos! We will begin the trek by picking you up from your hotel at 7:00 a.m. and travelling by bus to Piskacucho (also called Kilometre 82) the starting place of the Inca Trail. Upon arrival at Kilometre 82, you will need to present your entrance tickets, passports and (if paying a student rate) student card. Once we embark on the Inca Trail, we will cross the Vilcanota River and follow its route to the right. This first day will be relatively easy with little change in terrain. We will go to the Inca Fortress of Huillca Raccay from where we will have great views of the landscape as well as our camping spot for the night. We will walk down to the vast Inca site – ‘Llactapata’ (sometimes called ‘Patallacta’) where we will spend the night (2620m/8595ft).

• Total distance: 12 km (7.8 miles)
• Estimated walking time: 4 hours
• Highest point: 3000 m (9,842 ft)
• Campsite altitude: 2,600 m (8,692 ft)

On the trek´s second day, we will wake up at 7:00 a.m. for a hearty breakfast, then start walking towards the village of Wayllabamba, located at (3000m/9842ft). Here we will take an off the beaten path trail in order to see the beautiful, but rarely-visited Inca fort of Paucarcancha. After visiting this sight, we will walk back down to Wayllabamba village for lunch. In the afternoon, we will walk uphill for about three to four hours to reach our second campsite, Llullupampa, at an elevation of 3800m/12,467ft.

• Total distance: 10 km (7.376 miles)
• Estimated walking time: 6 hours
• Maximum altitude point: 4,215 m (13,821 ft)
• Campsite altitude: 3,600 m (11,811 ft)

This day will be our longest day, as we will walk sixteen kilometres over the two highest passes on the trail. After breakfast, we will continue our walk uphill from the previous day to reach Abra de Huarmihuañusca, ‘Dead Woman’s Pass’, at an elevation of 4200m/13,779ft, the highest point on the trail. After conquering the pass, we will walk down to the valley, where we will have an energizing lunch. We will continue or trek with an ascent to the circular Inca fortress of Runkurakay and then to the second pass, also called Runkurakay, at 4000m/13,123ft. We will then begin our walk down to the campsite, first stopping at the lovely Inca site of Sayacmarca, which means “high rising town.” Our campsite, at 3680m/12,073ft, is located an hour and a half walk from this site, near a third pass named Phuyupatamarka.

• Total distance: 13 km (8.136 miles)
• Estimated walking time: 9 hours
• Highest point: 4,000 (13,123 ft )
• Campsite altitude: 3,680 m (12,033 ft)

Today will be the most extraordinary day of the trek. We will visit many of Inca sites along the way: Phuyupatamarka, Intipata, the “Sun Gate” and the most beautiful stop on the trail, Wiñay Wayna, which means “forever young.” We will leave Wiñay Wayna at 2:00 p.m. in order to get to Inti Punku, located at 2730m/8,792ft. At the Sun Gate, you will have your first dramatic view of Machu Picchu below you; we will arrive in time to witness the sunset. We will continue walking down the last section of the trail to the spot where you can take the classic photo (postcard shot) of the ancient city. After this small break, we will descend to the main entrance, where we can catch the bus down to Aguas Calientes to spend the night. Once we arrive in Aguas Calientes, you will have some time to relax at the hotel before your massage and trip to the hot springs which give Aguas Calientes its name.

• Total distance: 11 km (6,14 miles)
• Estimated walking time: 5 hours
• Highest point: 3,680 m (12,033 ft)
• Campsite altitude: 2,000 m (6,561 ft)

You will have two options today for your arrival at Machu Picchu: you can hike for one and a half hours from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu up the famous stairs, or you can take a bus up to Machu Picchu. By waking up early, you will witness the magnificent sunrise at this ancient Inca city. Once arriving in Machu Picchu, you will have a two hour walking tour of this historic site.

At about 1:30 p.m., we will meet at a restaurant in Aguas Calientes to have our last lunch together. After lunch, you’ll be given your train tickets for your return journey to Cusco. We´ll arrange to meet forty minutes before your train departs and then all go together to the train station. If you like, there is an optional 45 min hike up Huayna Picchu Mountain. From here you can enjoy fantastic views of Machu Picchu and the surrounding scenery. If you’re interested in the climb, please let us know when you book the trek. The price for the Huayna Picchu ticket is an additional US $65 per person.

At Inka Trail Backpacker, we offer you the basic and essential version of the popular treks in the region. We are a 100% local company that wants to provide everything you will need at the real cost of operations—never unfair upcharging! That is why our slogan is “Fun, Not Fancy Trip.”

Inka Trail Backpacker has been a Licensed Inca Trail Tour Operator since 2014. All companies managing the Inca Trail must be certified and have an Inca Trail operators license. This license is issued annually each December; Inka Trail Backpacker is licensed through the year of 2027.

Our license as an Official Travel Agency is under the name Inka Trail Backpacker E.I.R.L. Our license as an Inca Trail Operator is under the name of INKA TRAIL BACKPACKER E.I.R.L We also work with partner company licenses, such as QESWACHAKA PERU TOURS  E.I.R.L and GRUPO CAMINOS DEL PERU E.I.R.L. For tourists´protection, getting the permit for the Inca Trail from the government is a complicated and stringent process: in order to guarantee an Inca Trail Permit for all the tourists that have decided to book their adventure with us, we are registered to book using any of the above mentioned company licenses. We are all registered on the official Government web site: www.machupicchu.gob.pe.

Yes, we absolutely take care of our porters. We do not charge you less than other companies at the expense of our porters’ pay and wellbeing. Since the end of 2014, Inka Trail Backpacker has been paying our porters a wage of 400 soles for the 4 day trek, plus their transportation costs. That is nearly 20% above the legally required minimum wage agreed upon with the Porters Union. Following talks with our porters, they have told us that they know of only a few trekking companies that offer such competitive pay and benefits. Only two companies pay slightly more (and charge their clients almost US$100 more than us). Of the remaining 170 other licensed trekking operators, only about 60% pay the legal wage and 40% pay less than the legal wage. Some companies pay only 70% of the legal wage. Unfortunately, this is difficult to prove as their porters receive a low wage but are asked to sign receipts showing they received more!

However, improving porter welfare is not just about paying fair wages. It is important that the porters have adequate food, a warm and dry place to sleep, and access to medical attention, just the same as any other member of the group.

The wages that the porters get paid are by no means high by Western standards, but you have to look at wages relative to other professions in Peru. For example, a school teacher gets paid the equivalent of about US$400 per month and has trained for 5 years to become a professional. A porter, if he works 4 treks a month, receives about the same if you include his tips. Most porters are seasonal workers and have no formal qualifications. For just 16 days work per month, they receive wages similar to a teacher who works 22 days. Inka Trail Backpacker also tries to help the porters in additional ways, such as financial and educational support for their families.

As a traveller, you know that one of the most rewarding and memorable experiences of going to new places is meeting people along the way. When you book a tour with us, you can be confident that your group will be filled with similar travellers looking for adventure in the Peruvian Andes. Our groups provide a great opportunity to meet new people and bond with them in an exciting environment. You never know who you will meet!

We are really proud of the work we do for our community. This is a main focus for our company. We have worked with villages directly to help supply them with needs, buy all our food from local farmers and markets, and serve the freshest ingredients.

At Inka Trail Backpacker, we like to think we do trekking a little differently than our competitors. We stand by our customers and guarantee that we meet 100% of our departure dates on our treks even if you are a solo traveler.

Our office is located at 392 Calle Triunfo (the street is also called Sunturwasi), inside the Centro Artesenal Arte Inka Building, which is on the corner across the street from the Museo Arzobispal and the Twelve-Angled Stone, by a small fountain. We are on the second floor, in Suite 209.

At Inka Trail Backpacker, providing a personal experience and ensuring you are thoroughly prepared for your trek is very important to us. Before you depart on the Inca Trail trek, you will receive a briefing in our office. At the briefing, you will get to meet our staff, receive maps and a detailed description of each day of your tour, be given duffel bags if you have hired a porter, and have the opportunity to ask questions.

Our team of guides are all local to the Cusco area and speak both Spanish and English fluently. Many of them also speak Quechua (the native language of Peru). With degrees in tourism and with two years minimum of experience under their belts, they are full of energy, information about the native flora and fauna, and the Inca sites, with a vast knowledge of ready sourced stories and legends told by the Andean people.

The maximum size of our Inca Trail 4 day group service is 16 people. For groups of over 8 people we also employ an assistant guide to help out (the assistant guide is a fully qualified guide but may lack some of the experience of the main guide or still need to improve his/her English skills.

The Classic Inca Trail Machu Picchu is a 42 km (24.4 mile) hike through the Andes in the Cusco region. The maximum altitude reached is 4,217m/13,907ft. On the second day of the trek, we climb two mountains. The Trail is a fairly difficult trek; you should be well prepared and healthy prior to starting it. You have to be moderately fit and exercise regularly.

In preparation, try walking 15kms per day or go to a fitness club in the months leading up to the trek. It is also important to be well acclimatised to the altitude. Try to spend at least two or three days in Cusco (3350m/11,047ft) prior to starting the Classic Inca Trail Machu Picchu.

If you plan to renew or change your name on your passport between making your trek booking and starting your trek, you can book your trek or tour with your current passport number or name, but you must send us a copy of your old passport and a copy of your new passport when you have them. We can then make the change with the government before you arrive. The extra cost to make the change is US$25 per person. (This will cover the change in number or name for your Inca Trail Permit, Machu Picchu Entrance, and train.)

If you do not advise us of the change or do not want to pay the fee, bring the original of both passports (the old and new one). You can enter Peru with your new passport but you must show the government authorities your old passport in order to enter the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu or train. If you cannot do so, you will not be allowed to start your trek by the government officials. All names and numbers must match!!

Toilets have improved a lot in the last couple of years and all of the larger campsites have flushable toilets and running water. Overall, they are kept pretty clean. If you do need to use the toilet between campsites, then please defecate away from the trail and water supplies; you can dig a hole, or cover your feces with a rock, and take the paper with you in a bag to deposit in one of the several bins along the way. There are hot shower facilities in Wiñay Wayna on Day 3, although they are usually not very clean.

Important: As a sustainable tourism operator that takes care of our porters we do NOT take portable toilets.

Tips for porters, cooks and guides are always welcome. The porters are also very grateful for small gifts, such as clothing and school equipment for their children. A normal amount  is S/60-80 for each porter and S/120 for the chef. The group will pool money for the tip, this is not an individual amount.

If Inka Trail Backpacker fails to confirm the reservation, your payment will be refunded in full.

A participant must declare if he/she has any sickness or medical disorder and must bring his/her own medication. We recommend that you meet with a doctor before you book the trek if you have questionable health.

Always fresh and featuring organic ingredients, the food on the Inca Trail is always something to look forward to. There is always plenty to eat and lots of options including vegetables, meat, chicken, fish and other sources of protein and carbohydrates. On our tours, everyone sits down to eat together and enjoy each other’s company.

We offer standard meals as well as a vegetarian meal option. Just let us know if you want vegetarian meals when you book your trek.

Vegetarian meals have no red meat, chicken or fish. We will assume that eggs and dairy are OK. We are unable to cater specifically for vegans as it is too complicated for our cooks (remember they are cooking in a tent). Most of our main meals in the evening are served as a buffet service so you can always leave out what you don’t like. If there is a particular food that you don’t like (i.e. tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, etc) we will ask the cook to do his best to leave them out of the dish, but we cannot guarantee this. We can also cater to lactose-intolerant and gluten free diets (mild reactions only, no life threatening allergies accepted- see below). We reserve the right not to accept a trek booking based upon dietary requirements, this may be because we already have several people booked requiring special meals and don’t want to further inconvenience our cook. Thanks for your understanding.

Meal options

Standard (no dietary requirements, will eat everything)
Vegetarian
No red meat (chicken & fish ok)
No fish (red meat and chicken ok)
Lactose-free (mild reactions only)
Gluten free (mild reactions only)

Unfortunately, we don’t offer a combination of the above i.e we don’t accept vegetarian AND gluten-free.

You can leave any of your belongings that you do not want to bring on the trek at your hotel or hostel you were previously staying in. These hostels/hotels usually have a secure, locked room where you can store your belongings. If you do not trust your hostel, we would be more than happy to securely store your belongings for you.

We require everyone to be in Cusco at least two nights prior to starting the trek, although three nights is even better. You must pay your trek balance at least two days before the trek departure. For example, if your trek departs on a Monday you must come to our office before 7:30 pm on Saturday to pay the trek balance. This ensures that everyone in the group is well acclimatized to the high altitude before starting the trek.

It is very important to be well acclimated before exerting yourself on a trek. This is why we require everyone to be in Cusco for a minimum of two days prior to regular treks like the Inca Trail. However, if you are doing one of our longer treks like the 6 day Combined Salkantay/Inca Trail Trek, you will need at least four days to acclimatize because these treks occur at much higher altitudes than Cusco. You can use this time spent acclimatizing to visit the city of Cusco, nearby Inca ruins, and the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

No, sneakers are not recommended for the Inca Trail! The terrain is very steep, with loose gravel, puddles, mud, and other obstacles. You must have sturdy, waterproof footwear designed for this type of terrain, with good traction and ankle support. Be sure to break in your hiking boots before your trek! Wear them on several shorter walks or hikes before your trip, so that your feet can get used to them.

If you do not have hiking boots, or they are too bulky for your suitcase, you can rent them in Cusco for under one hundred soles.

About thirty percent of the group hires the services of an extra porter to carry their personal items. A ‘half porter’ can be hired for the four day trek for US$85 (2017). This price includes porters entrance fees, meals, transport and wages. If you hire the services of a half porter you can give him a maximum of 6kg (13lbs) to carry, which is usually sufficient for your sleeping bag (about 2.5kg), mattress (1 kg), and change of clothes (about 2.5kg). However the porter will not walk at your side during the trek, so you will still need to bring a day pack to carry essential items such as water, snacks, camera, a warm sweater, and rain jacket. When you pay the trek balance in our office in Cusco, we will give you a duffle bag so that you can put your items in that, which you will give to the porter on the day of the trek.

Wiñay Wayna is the campsite closest to Machu Picchu, so it is everybody’s favourite campsite. Wiñay Wayna is about a two hour trek from Machu Picchu so it allows the group to arrive at Machu Picchu very early in the morning. However, there is not enough space at Wiñay Wayna for all the Inca Trail groups. The next nearest campsite is Phuyupatamarca, which is a five hour trek from Machu Picchu. When we buy the trek permits for the group, we are allocated the campsites by the government. We highly recommend that you book your Inca Trail permit on a day with more than 160 available spaces. Otherwise, you may not be able to camp in Wiñay Wayna campsite.

Ollantaytambo is the best place to stay other than Cusco. By staying in Ollantaytambo, you actually get a little more sleep because we will be picking you up about 1.5 hours after the Cusco pick up time. However, please keep in mind that the pre-trip briefing can only be done in Cusco.

Our sleeping bags are rated for temperatures as low as -10°C, but are more suitable for temperatures of about -5°C. Since you won’t find temperatures as low as this on the trek, we rate them as very warm and cozy! We charge US$20 per person for the whole trek.

Yes, all our tour guides take an oxygen bottle with them along the trail and will provide oxygen as needed.

On the morning of the trek departure, we will pick you up from inside your hotel in Cusco (don’t wait outside in the street) and drop you off either in the Plaza de Regocijos ( next to the main square) or Plaza San Francisco (two blocks from the main square) upon your return to Cusco. You won’t be dropped off directly at your hotel/hostels.

It helps us if you try to stay in a hotel/hostal that is within a few blocks of the Plaza de Armas (Main Square). If your hotel/hostal is far away from the main square we will ask you to come to our offices with the exact location and name of your accomodation.

The guide will come into your hotel and ask for you at reception. Because the centre of Cusco is full of small cobblestone streets, our larger bus/van is not permitted to enter certain zones in the city centre, so you will then have to walk a short distance to where the bus/van will be waiting for you. Traffic regulations prohibit large buses/van from entering the main square but usually after 10pm we don´t have a problem and will be able to drop you off in the main square upon your return. You can then take a taxi back to your hotel (between US$2 to US$4 for a taxi).

If we have to drop you off in Plaza San Francisco, you may be a bit disoriented (some people may need to be woken up!!) but we recommend that you ask for directions to the Plaza de Armas and our guide or driver will be happy to help. It’s only two blocks away, but usually it’ll be quite late at night so it is best to walk together as a group back to the Plaza before taking a taxi or walking back to your hotel.

We require a minimum group size of just four people. During the last few years, Inka trail Backpacker has always managed to meet the minimum group size for ALL of our departure dates and have never had to cancel any group departures due to group size.
If in the unlikely event that we do not reach the minimum required number of persons we reserve the right to combine our clients with another trekking company of similar cost.

If you are travelling alone and are willing to share a tent with a member of the same sex, then there is no additional cost. If, however, you would like your own tent then there is an additional supplement of US$40.

In the event of illness or injury, we will offer all of the support and care we are able; however, you should carry any medications you expect to need with you (ask your doctor for specific recommendations or prescriptions for altitude sickness, traveler´s diarrhea , colds and sore throats, and pain or inflammation). If you are not capable of completing the trek, we will transport you back to Cusco, where you can seek medical treatment. However, the cost of this transportation is not included in your tour and you will be expected to pay the additional expense—for this reason, we highly recommend travel insurance for your trek.

Yes, in all of the hostels that we book for you, you will have a private room and bathroom.

Although not required, walking poles are recommended for any trekkers worried about joint stress or balance. They also are quite helpful in providing stability and leverage on especially steep climbs and descents. If you do not have poles or are unsure how to use them, we are able to rent them to you and provide instruction.

As of July 1, 2017, you must have your original passport to enter Machu Picchu. You also need to have your entrance ticket, which your guide will give to you at the appropriate time. The passport that you bring to Machu Picchu must be the same one that you used to book your tour and entrance; if you change or renew your passport between booking and your trip, please be sure to bring the originals of both.

Before traveling to Peru, you should consult your doctor. Routine vaccines, Hepatitis A, and typhoid vaccines are recommended for most travelers by the CDC. Some travelers may also need vaccines for Hepatitis B, rabies, and yellow fever. Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should also be advised that the Zika virus is present in Peru.

The rainy season in Cusco is generally from November to April, when there are near-daily showers and the ground—especially in trekking areas—is wet and muddy. However, there are occasional showers throughout the rest of the year; you should always pack a rain jacket, regardless of when you plan to visit. For treks, a rain poncho is highly recommended—since you will be walking through rain for potentially several hours without shelter, a poncho will be much more effective at keeping all of your belongings and your base layers warm and dry. Waterproof shoes are also strongly recommended.