Activity
The Andes on foot: four days on Inca stone into Machu Picchu, or the high route under the glaciers of Salkantay, with camps, meals and porters handled.
What it actually involves
A trek earns what a road never can: the first sight of Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate after four days on original Inca stone, or dawn breaking on the ice face of Salkantay with the valley still dark below.
The walking is real and the evenings are easy, tents up and dinner cooking by the time the day's last pass is behind you, so the trip stays about the trail and the country it crosses.
What people come for
Each one links to the trips that include it.
The only trek that ends inside Machu Picchu itself, arriving through the Sun Gate at dawn. Permits are capped and sell out months ahead, which is the real planning constraint; the trail itself is graded Inca stone, 26 miles walked over four days and two high passes.
4 trips include this →
The wilder answer to the Inca Trail, crossing a 15,190-foot pass under Salkantay's glaciers before dropping toward Machu Picchu. No permit cap means it can be planned on shorter notice, and the high camps along it are some of the best nights in the Andes.
1 trip includes this →The only trek that ends inside Machu Picchu itself, arriving through the Sun Gate at dawn. Permits are capped and sell out months ahead, which is the real planning constraint; the trail itself is graded Inca stone, 26 miles walked over four days and two high passes.
4 trips include this →The wilder answer to the Inca Trail, crossing a 15,190-foot pass under Salkantay's glaciers before dropping toward Machu Picchu. No permit cap means it can be planned on shorter notice, and the high camps along it are some of the best nights in the Andes.
1 trip includes this →
