Peru

Machu Picchu itself is only 7,970 feet, lower than Cusco, and low enough that most people feel nothing. The problem is Cusco, at 11,150 ft, which is where you fly into. Roughly half of visitors get a headache and poor sleep on the first night, and it passes in a day or two.

Our trips are sequenced to manage this: two nights near sea level in Lima, then the Sacred Valley at 9,400 ft before Cusco, then anything higher. That ordering costs a day and prevents most of the trouble. Drink far more water than feels necessary, skip alcohol the first night, and walk slowly. Altitude punishes hurry more than effort.

For a train-based trip, no more than a normal city holiday: some stairs and uneven stone. For a trek, the honest test is whether you can walk five to seven hours on consecutive days on rough ground. Speed does not matter; consecutive days do.

Every trip carries a physical rating from 1 to 5, and we mean it. If you can do a four-hour hill walk on a Saturday and feel fine on Sunday, a 4 is within reach with two months of preparation. Train by walking, ideally uphill, in the boots you will bring.

Yes, and it is the single biggest constraint on planning a Peru trip. Permits for the classic Inca Trail are limited daily, are released for the year in advance, and sell out for the June to August window months ahead. They are tied to your passport and are not transferable or refundable. The trail also closes for maintenance every February.

Every other route, Salkantay, Lares, and the train, needs no trail permit, which is why we can plan those around your dates instead of the other way around. If your dates are fixed and close, that is usually the deciding factor.

Four days is enough for Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu by train, and it works, but it gives altitude no margin. Seven to eight days is the sweet spot: it fits a trek, proper acclimatisation, and time in Cusco that is not spent recovering.

Nine or ten days lets you add a second region. Lake Titicaca and the Tambopata Amazon both pair with Machu Picchu that way, and ten days is what the longer treks need without rushing the end of them. Our Peru trips run from four to ten days, from about US$800 to US$2,100 per person. Tell us how long you have and we will tell you honestly what fits.

Easily. The train from Cusco or the Sacred Valley runs along the Urubamba to Machu Picchu Town, then a bus climbs the switchbacks to the gate. No trekking at all, and the citadel itself involves an hour or two of walking on stone stairs.

It is a different trip rather than a lesser one. What you lose is the approach, arriving over a pass on foot instead of stepping off a train, which for some people is the whole point and for others is four days they would rather spend in the Sacred Valley.

Layers, because a single day can run from frost at dawn to strong sun by ten and rain by four. The things people most often get wrong: not enough warm layers for high camps, boots that have never been walked in, and no real sun protection. At 15,000 ft the sun is far stronger than the temperature suggests.

A full kit list goes out with your itinerary, tailored to the route and the month. Trekking poles and sleeping bags can be hired locally rather than flown in.

Requirements change and depend on your own health and history, so this needs a travel clinic rather than a website. Book one six to eight weeks before you fly. Yellow fever vaccination is commonly recommended for the lowland jungle, and malaria precautions vary by area and season.

Nothing is required for the Andean part of a trip. We send the current guidance for your specific route when you book, and your specialist can tell you exactly which areas you will be in.