Peru: the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Cusco, an easy first afternoon

   Cusco airport to the historic centre

   • Environ 18 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Cusco
   Détail du jour 1

   Your guide meets you at Cusco's airport and drives you about fifteen minutes to a central hotel within walking distance of the Plaza de Armas. Cusco sits at about 3,400 metres, so the plan today is deliberately light: check in, drink water and coca tea, and rest for a few hours, even if you feel fine. In the late afternoon your guide walks the group slowly down to the Plaza de Armas, between the cathedral and the Jesuit church of La Compañía, and along Hatun Rumiyoc street, where the Inca walls that still carry colonial houses include the famous twelve-angled stone. The welcome dinner is early and light, with a first look at the week ahead: two days to adjust, four days on the trail, and Machu Picchu on the last morning. Arrive by early afternoon if you can; later flights still get the transfer and dinner.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Cusco airport (CUZ)
   • Slow orientation walk to the Plaza de Armas and Hatun Rumiyoc
   • Welcome dinner and trip briefing

   Temps libre : Afternoon free to rest

   Activité : Take the first day slowly: drink plenty of water and skip alcohol tonight.

   

2. Jour 2 : Down to Ollantaytambo, then the trek briefing

   Cusco over the Chinchero plateau to Ollantaytambo and back

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Cusco
   Détail du jour 2

   The kindest thing for your body today is to go lower. We drive out over the Chinchero plateau, where the snow peaks of the Cordillera Urubamba show on a clear morning, and down into the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo, at about 2,800 metres, some 600 metres below Cusco. Ollantaytambo is a living Inca town on its original street grid, with water running in stone channels beside the lanes. We climb the terraces of Temple Hill at an easy pace, a gentle test of your lungs on steep steps, and your guide shows you the six great blocks of pink stone at the unfinished Temple of the Sun. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the valley. We are back in Cusco by mid-afternoon for the trek briefing: your trek guide checks boots, layers and rain gear, fits your sleeping bag and hands you the duffel the mules will carry. The evening is free; pack and sleep early.

   Compris

   • Ollantaytambo and the terraces of Temple Hill, entry included
   • Sit-down lunch in the Sacred Valley
   • Trek briefing and gear check with your trek guide
   • Sleeping bag, mat and mule duffel issued

   Option plus facile : Stay at the foot of Temple Hill and walk the town's Inca lanes with your guide instead of climbing the terraces.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Cusco

   Activité : About 1.5 hours each way by road. Sleeping in Cusco and spending the day lower helps you adjust.

   

3. Jour 3 : Up to Soraypampa and Humantay Lake

   Cusco via Mollepata to Soraypampa, then Humantay Lake

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Soraypampa
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave Cusco at about 5 am, and the early start has a reason: cloud and wind usually build up high after midday, and we want the lake walk done in calm light. The road runs west past Limatambo to Mollepata, where we stop for breakfast, then climbs on a dirt road to Soraypampa, at about 3,900 metres, below the ice of Salkantay, a 6,271-metre peak. Your crew of horsemen, mules and a cook is waiting there. After a hot drink we walk up to Humantay Lake, at about 4,200 metres, a turquoise lake under a glacier: roughly an hour and a half up on a steep, steady path and an hour down. It is your first real effort at altitude and a fair test before tomorrow. Lunch and dinner are cooked by the crew, and the afternoon is for resting. Nights here are cold, often below freezing in the dry season.

   Compris

   • Transfer from Cusco to Soraypampa via Mollepata
   • Humantay Lake walk, community fee included
   • Trek guide, cook, horsemen and mules from today
   • Camp or simple lodge night at Soraypampa

   Option plus facile : Stay at Soraypampa and rest instead of climbing to Humantay Lake; your guide stays with anyone who does.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in camp

   Activité : About 7 km and 2.5 to 3 hours on foot, climbing about 300 metres to the lake. The only early road departure of the trip.

4. Jour 4 : Over the Salkantay Pass, 4,630 metres

   Soraypampa over the Salkantay Pass to Chaullay

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Chaullay
   Détail du jour 4

   This is the hardest day of the trip, and there is no shorter version of it. After breakfast at first light we climb for three to four hours on switchbacks across open grassland and moraine to the Salkantay Pass, at about 4,630 metres, with the ice face of Salkantay close above you. Go at your own pace; the trek guide walks at the front and your See Sight Tours guide walks with the last person, so nobody is rushed. A horse goes with the group for anyone who feels unwell. From the pass the trail drops steadily for hours, and the landscape changes fast: rock and ice, then grassland, then the first trees of the cloud forest. Lunch is a hot meal at a sheltered stop on the way down. We reach Chaullay, at about 2,900 metres, by late afternoon, tired and much warmer than this morning. Expect around 20 kilometres and 8 to 9 hours on foot.

   Compris

   • Salkantay Pass crossing, route fees included
   • Hot lunch cooked by the crew
   • Emergency horse with the group
   • Camp or simple lodge night at Chaullay

   Option plus facile : No easy option: the only way on is over the pass. If you feel unwell, the emergency horse carries you.

   Activité : About 20 km and 8 to 9 hours, climbing about 730 metres and descending about 1,700 metres. Walking poles help on the descent.

5. Jour 5 : Down the cloud forest to a coffee farm

   Chaullay via Collpapampa to La Playa, then Lucmabamba

   • Environ 18 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Lucmabamba
   Détail du jour 5

   After the pass, today feels kind. We follow the Santa Teresa river valley down through cloud forest, past waterfalls, wild begonias and orchids in season, and small farms growing bananas, avocados and passion fruit. The path has some short climbs and muddy patches, but the altitude now works in your favour: every hour it gets warmer and the air thicker. We pass Collpapampa and reach La Playa, at about 2,100 metres, for a late lunch, around 16 kilometres and 5 to 6 hours from camp. A short road transfer takes us to Lucmabamba, where a family coffee farm shows you how they grow, dry and roast their beans, and you taste the result. The rest of the afternoon is yours: wash, read, or sit in the warm air of the low valley for the first time this week.

   Compris

   • Cloud-forest walk down the Santa Teresa valley
   • Family coffee farm visit and tasting at Lucmabamba
   • Camp or simple lodge night at Lucmabamba

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free

   Activité : About 16 km and 5 to 6 hours, mostly downhill on a path that can be muddy. Bring insect repellent from today.

6. Jour 6 : Llactapata's view of Machu Picchu, then Aguas Calientes

   Lucmabamba to Llactapata, Hidroelectrica and Aguas Calientes

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Aguas Calientes
   Détail du jour 6

   We start early on an old Inca path that climbs through coffee and cloud forest above Lucmabamba, about two to three hours up to the ridge at Llactapata, at about 2,700 metres. Here an Inca site looks straight across the valley at Machu Picchu, a first view of tomorrow's ruins that few day visitors ever see. Then comes a steep descent of about two hours to the river at Hidroelectrica, where lunch is waiting. From Hidroelectrica the train runs up the Urubamba gorge to Aguas Calientes; if you still have legs, you can walk the flat path beside the railway instead, about 11 kilometres and two and a half to three hours. Either way you reach a hotel with a hot shower and a real bed. Dinner tonight is with your group in town, and your guide hands out the Machu Picchu tickets for the morning.

   Compris

   • Inca path to Llactapata and its view of Machu Picchu
   • Lunch at Hidroelectrica
   • Train from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes
   • Group dinner in Aguas Calientes

   Option plus active : Walk the railway path from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes instead of taking the train, about 11 km and 2.5 to 3 hours.

   Temps libre : Early evening free in Aguas Calientes

   Activité : About 10 km and 5 to 6 hours on foot before the train, with a climb of about 600 metres and a steep descent of about 900 metres.

   

7. Jour 7 : Machu Picchu at 6 am, then the train to Cusco

   Machu Picchu, the train to Ollantaytambo and the road to Cusco

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 7

   After an early breakfast we take one of the first buses up the switchback road, around 5:30 am, to enter at 6 am on a timed ticket, before the trains from Cusco arrive. A licensed Machu Picchu guide leads the group along the circuit on your ticket, with your See Sight Tours guide alongside: the agricultural terraces, the Temple of the Sun, the main plaza and the fine masonry of the royal sector, with Huayna Picchu rising above. In the dry months the first sun reaches the ruins between about 6 and 7 am, though cloud can hang on longer. The visit takes about two and a half hours. We ride the bus down for lunch in town, then the panoramic-window train along the Urubamba to Ollantaytambo, about an hour and three quarters, and our own vehicle back to Cusco, around two hours, arriving early evening. Book onward flights for the next day.

   Compris

   • Machu Picchu entry at 6 am on a timed ticket, with a licensed site guide
   • Bus up to the site and back down to Aguas Calientes
   • Panoramic-window train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo
   • Drive to your Cusco hotel or Cusco airport

   Activités en option

   • Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain. Separate ticket, limited numbers each day; ask when you book.

   Temps libre : Lunch free in Aguas Calientes

   Activité : About 3 hours on foot on the site's stone steps. The trip ends in Cusco in the early evening; no night is included, and we can add one at booking.

Faune et météo : May to September brings clear mornings and cold nights; cloud and wind build at the pass after midday and snow is possible at any time. April and October can be wetter. In the cloud forest, look for orchids, begonias and hummingbirds.

• Cusco2 nuits
• Soraypampa1 nuit
• Chaullay1 nuit
• Lucmabamba1 nuit
• Aguas Calientes1 nuit