Destination
Inca Trail
The historic trek into Machu Picchu: four days on stone stairways the Inca road builders cut through cloud forest, ending on foot at the Sun Gate.
Destination
The historic trek into Machu Picchu: four days on stone stairways the Inca road builders cut through cloud forest, ending on foot at the Sun Gate.
The case for the Inca Trail
The Incas built a royal road to Machu Picchu, and four days of it survive underfoot: granite stairways climbing through cloud forest, the 13,800-foot crest of Dead Woman's Pass, ruins no road reaches, and camps pitched high above the valley floor.
It ends the way arrival should feel: through the Sun Gate on foot, citadel below, before the first train pulls in. Permits sell out months ahead; our treks carry them, with the Sacred Valley first.
Timing
Yes. Permits for the classic Inca Trail are capped daily, released for the year in advance, and tied to your passport, so they are neither transferable nor refundable. June through August routinely sells out months ahead, and the trail closes for maintenance every February.
Our Inca Trail trips carry the permit, which is why the booking conversation starts with your dates rather than ending with them. If your dates are fixed and close, Salkantay reaches the same place with no permit calendar at all.
Four days of walking on stone, with the crest of Dead Woman's Pass at 13,829 feet on the hardest day. The honest test is consecutive days rather than speed: five to seven hours of walking, then doing it again the next morning.
Every Inca Trail trip we run carries a physical rating of 4 out of 5. If you can manage a four-hour hill walk on a Saturday and feel fine on Sunday, that is within reach with a couple of months of preparation. Train by walking uphill, in the boots you plan to bring.
By arriving early and going up in stages, which is why our trips put the Sacred Valley at 9,400 feet before Cusco at 11,150 feet, and both before the trail. That sequencing costs a day and prevents most of the trouble.
The trek's high point is 13,829 feet and you sleep lower than that. Drink far more water than feels necessary, skip alcohol the first night, and walk slowly: altitude punishes hurry more than effort.
Our Inca Trail trips run from about US$1,700 to US$2,100 per person for seven to ten days, covering the permit, guiding, porters, camping, accommodation either side, transfers and most meals.
On top of that, budget international flights, domestic flights within Peru, travel insurance and tips. June and July carry season supplements. The price we agree with you is per person and it is fixed, so a group that grows later pays the same rate for more people.
