The 4-day, 3-night trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu certainly makes the top five list of the most rewarding and challenging things we’ve ever done, but there’s also lots of things we wish we knew before going. So, here’s is our guide for trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
Acclimating to the Altitude –
How long should you plan to be in Cusco before the hike? Some say you should spend at least 2 days in Cusco (approx. 11,152 ft. above sea level) before heading out on the trek (and some tour companies even require it), while others would say that’s certainly not necessary.
What we did: As usual, we tried to cram as much as possible into a single trip so we picked a tour company (SAS Travel) that wouldn’t require us to be in Cusco 2 days prior to departing on the trek, so we were there just barely 24 hours before we left. For us, the elevation was not a problem, but we were also coming from Colorado (5,280 ft. above sea level) so we were already a little more accustomed to high altitude. Additionally, we made sure not to drink any alcohol on the plane or in Cusco, since alcohol generally makes it more difficult to adjust to higher elevations. Bottom-line: if you are new to hiking, or live at sea-level and are worried about the altitude, stay in Cusco the extra day – there’s enough to do there that you won’t get bored. Find out what we did in Cusco! But if you hike regularly or are coming from high altitude already you shouldn’t need much time to acclimate – especially because the Inca Trail actually starts around 8,000 ft. above sea level so you will have time to acclimate along the way.
Tour Companies – How to find the right one?
There are so many options when it comes to tour guide companies for the Inca Trail that it can be a little overwhelming. First thing to consider is, how many days do you want to trek? The traditional Inca Trail trek is 4-days and 3-nights, however there are lots of other options including adding a 5th day to the classic tour by staying in Aguas Calientes (the small town nearest to Machu Picchu) for a night at the end if you want to spend more time at this iconic citadel. Alternatively, there are treks that range anywhere from 1-13 days as well as luxury or adventure options – so do your research and find the right one for you! It all depends on what you want to see and how long you want to spend on the trail.
What we did: We chose the 4-day, 3-night tour through SAS Travel and loved every part of it! The tour guide (Alexis, aka Alex) was incredible – his English skills were great and he had an abundance of knowledge on the history of Peru. The porters that carried all of the tents and equipment for us were phenomenal and the chef was outstanding. They take food allergies seriously, and don’t mess around with safe drinking water, so it is always boiled. Seriously, we don’t have a single complaint about this company. They gave us very clear expectations for each day of hiking and encouraged us to go as slowly or quickly as we wanted. We also had a pre-departure meeting the day before the hike so they could provide expectations, tell us what to bring, and we could meet all the people in our group before setting out. We’d recommend this company to anyone we know interested in trekking the Inca Trail.
Pull Easy: Trekking the Inca Trail
Day 1: The Easy Day
The first day of the Inca Trail started around 5:00am but began with a bus ride from Cusco to Kilometer 82, which is where the trek starts and there is a government checkpoint to match everyone’s passports to their reservations (be sure to bring your passport with you). It’s about a 2-hour ride to get there and it descends in altitude so the hiking begins much lower than the elevation of Cusco. The first day is about 6 hours of hiking (plus a stop for lunch along the way), which is mostly uphill – but it is a relatively gradual incline compared to Day 2. On Day 1 we saw the Llactapata ruins, which was just a taste of the many architectural sites we saw along the way.
Once we made it to our campsite on the first day, we got to meet all the porters and the chef that was going to be taking care of us. Our guide did a wonderful job having each of them introduce themselves so we could get to know each other and understand how incredibly important their job is to making our experience one to remember.
Hiking generally concluded by 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to do a little yoga before dinner then play a few card games before going to sleep early (~8:30 pm).
Day 2: The Hard Day
The wake-up call was at 5:30am, but it wasn’t so bad considering our assistant guide came to each tent with hot coca tea to wake everyone up and help prepare us for the altitude that day (e.g. coca leaves are a Peruvian plant that are known to help with altitude sickness). However, be sure not to do what Lexi did and spill your tea all over your tent… try putting it somewhere stable, like in your hiking boot. For the average person, the second day is definitely the hardest! It is about 5 hours of steep incline (lots and lots of uneven, large, rock stair
s), about 3 hours into which we stopped for lunch. Ascending the rest of the mountain got us to the top of Dead Woman’s Pass (the mountain got its name because the silhouette of the mountain peak look like a woman lying down), this was the point where we knew the rest would be relatively easy.
This is then followed by an hour and a half decline down the other side of the mountain. We were amongst the quickest in our group on the way down, but even though our lungs welcomed the relief of going down instead of up, our knees had other thoughts. Down was easier than up for us, but it is still very much a workout and warrants going slower than you’d think because your legs are already exhausted, and an injury is the last thing you want when you are that deep into the Andes.
Day 3: The Long Day
Each day the wake-up call gets a little bit earlier… Day 3 started at 5:00am and this was also the longest day of hiking with the most archeological sites to see. It starts with 1.5 hours uphill to get to one of the Inca rest stops for a brief tour, followed by 1 hour down. After this we stopped for lunch, but had some extra time before the meal was ready so a few members of our group played soccer with one of the local’s balls. It was a small field with sticks for goals and it was a blast! After lunch it’s about 30 minutes uphill followed by about 1 hour and 45 minutes of “undulating” terrain. Now when Peruvians who hike the Inca trail for a living tell you the path is “undulating” they really mean it’s mostly uphill, but sometimes you get a break where it’s flat. This gets you to the top of the last peak where we stopped for a bathroom break before 3 hours down the other side of the mountain.
We think the massive amount of downhill is probably what caused the majority of our soreness for the few days following the trek. On the downhill segment we saw another archeological site and after making it to camp we put our gear down and went just 10 minutes to the final archeological site that day called Wiñay Wayna (i.e. “forever young” aka “Mini Machu Picchu”), which is built into the mountain side looking over the Urubamba river.
At this campsite there are free showers that we used, but beware, the water is coming from glacier run-off, so the only temperature option is cold! It’s up to you whether you decide to bring shampoo or soap for this shower – we didn’t because we didn’t know there would be showers along the way and didn’t want to add any extra weight to our packs – but it’s an option! Since this was the last night and the last time we would see all the porters that were helping us, our guide told us about how much we should tip the chef and the porters so after dinner we could present them with our gratitude (approximately 150 soles for the chef and 300 soles for all the porters and they would divide it up amongst themselves). It was also the last night with all our new friends, who we helped teach how to shuffle as we played more cards, however, it wasn’t long before three days of hiking and a very early wake up call impending sent us back to our tents.
Day 4: Machu Picchu
The final day of the trek was the earliest with the least amount of hiking… go figure! Wake up call was at 3:45am and we needed to be packed and ready to go by 4:15, so the porters could pack up our tents and equipment and head off long before the rest of us. To be honest, we are still a little fuzzy why the porters needed such an early start to get back with everything, but that’s the way it works! The final checkpoint on the Inca Trail to get to Machu Picchu was just 2 minutes away from the campsite but it doesn’t open until 5:30am. This means everyone is hurrying
to get in line and wait for an hour to be at the front of the pack on the way to Machu Picchu. We made the most of it and played card games yet again, but this time using our backpacks as a table.
Once you start hiking it was only about 1.5 hours to sunrise gate where we got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu in the distance. After that it’s only about a half hour to get to the Inca citadel. The Inca Trail leads right into the ruins, however your guide is required to take you directly out of the gate in order to get your passport checked on the way back in. So you get a quick view as you exit the world heritage site, but once you are outside the gate you can pay 2 soles for the bathroom (yes there is toilet paper!) and 5 soles for bag storage because they’d prefer you don’t bring bags larger than 30 liters into Machu Picchu. While you’re waiting outside make sure to ask your guide for a Machu Picchu stamp in your passport!
Once we got back into Machu Picchu, our tour guide gave us a 2-hour tour of Machu Picchu, after which we had free time to explore on our own. One thing we wish we knew about Machu Picchu was that the paths are organized so you can only walk one-way in order to control the flow in a circular direction so once you go through the entire thing you have to go back out in order to re-enter (and your ticket only gets you 2 or 3 re-entries), so take your time along the way and get all the photos and poses you want before continuing cause you can’t easily get back to the beginning. Also note, the mountain sitting at the base of Machu Picchu is called Huayna Picchu and a limited number of people can buy tickets ahead of time to hike to the top each day. If there aren’t too many clouds or fog it has a great view but after trekking for 4 days, hiking another mountain was the last thing we wanted to do. Plus, it would have cut into the only couple hours we had actually exploring and taking photos of Machu Picchu so we chose not to but if you feel inclined, go for it!
Back to Cusco
Since the Inca Trail is so well regulated, it’s really only a one-way trail, so everyone takes the train back to Cusco. Before the train, we met back up with our tour group at a hostel/restaurant in Aguas Calientes, which is where our group pooled together the final tip for our guide and assistant guide. They really work hard at their jobs so it’s expected to tip (if you are able) although they likely won’t ask for it, so it’s up to the group to get that organized (we gave about 300 soles to our guide and 250 soles to our assistant guide – but there were 10 people in our group, so, you can do the math). The train back was about 2 hours, and then an hour bus ride.
All-in-all this was one of the best trips. However, it really was a once in a lifetime trip, meaning we feel no need to ever hike the Inca Trail again! Peru definitely makes the shortlist of places we’d recommend you go! Is it on your bucket list? Check out our recommendations for what to do in the capital of Peru: Lima.
XOXO,
Lauren & Lexi
