Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cusco, sleep lower in the Sacred Valley

   Cusco airport to the Sacred Valley via Chinchero

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Sacred Valley
   Day 1 details

   Your guide meets you at Cusco's airport, at about 3,300 metres, and we drive straight out of the city instead of staying the first night there. The road climbs over the Chinchero plateau, where the snow peaks of the Cordillera Urubamba come into view on a clear day, then drops into the Sacred Valley to our hotel near Urubamba, at about 2,870 metres. Sleeping some 500 metres lower than Cusco is the kindest start for your body. If you like, we stop for about an hour at a weaving cooperative in Chinchero to watch natural dyeing and backstrap weaving; or we go directly to the hotel. The afternoon is for rest, water and coca tea, with a welcome briefing over an early dinner.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Cusco airport (CUZ)
   • Drive to the Sacred Valley via Chinchero
   • Welcome briefing and dinner

   Your choice: Weaving cooperative in Chinchero / Straight to the hotel Included in the price.

   Optional experiences

   • Weaving cooperative in Chinchero

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest

   Activity: Take the first day slowly: drink plenty of water and avoid alcohol tonight.

2. Day 2: Pisac at opening, a hosted lunch, Moray at golden hour

   Pisac, a village lunch, Moray and the Maras salt pans

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sacred Valley
   Day 2 details

   We leave early to be at the Pisac archaeological park when it opens, around 7 am, before the tour buses come up from Cusco. Walk the curving agricultural terraces and the Intihuatana sector, where fine Inca stonework sits on a ridge above the valley, and look across to the cliff that holds hundreds of looted Inca tombs. Lunch is hosted by a family in a valley village: a home-cooked meal of local potatoes, corn and quinoa, and a chance to talk about farming at this altitude. After a rest at the hotel we drive up to the plateau for Moray, the circular terraces the Incas may have used to test crops, and the Maras salt pans, thousands of small pools fed by a salty spring, which glow in late afternoon light.

   Included

   • Pisac archaeological park at opening
   • Hosted lunch with a family in the Sacred Valley
   • Moray circular terraces
   • Maras salt pans

   Free time: Midday rest at the hotel

   Activity: Moray and Maras sit at about 3,400 metres. A short visit up high, then a night back down in the valley, helps you adjust before the trek.

   

3. Day 3: Ollantaytambo early, then a calm briefing in daylight

   Ollantaytambo and trek preparation at the hotel

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Sacred Valley
   Day 3 details

   Ollantaytambo is a living Inca town, still laid out on its original street grid, with water running in stone channels beside the lanes. We climb the terraces of Temple Hill at opening, around 7 am, when the stone is in soft light and the visitors from Cusco are still on the road. Your guide shows you the unfinished Temple of the Sun, six huge blocks of pink stone that were hauled across the river from the Cachiccata quarry. We are back at the hotel for lunch. This afternoon, with no long drive ahead, your trail guide holds the trek briefing: we check boots and rain gear, fit your sleeping bag, and weigh your porter duffel. Dinner is early, and you sleep a short drive from the trailhead.

   Included

   • Ollantaytambo fortress and Temple Hill at opening
   • Trek briefing and gear check with your trail guide
   • Sleeping bag and mat fitted, porter duffel weighed

   Free time: Afternoon free after the briefing

   

4. Day 4: Inca Trail day 1: Km 82 to the first camp

   Km 82 (Piscacucho) to Wayllabamba

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Inca Trail
   Day 4 details

   After an early breakfast it is about an hour and a half by road past Ollantaytambo to Km 82, at about 2,700 metres, where the classic Inca Trail begins. Rangers check your permit and passport, and the porters weigh their loads at the control point. The first day is the gentlest: we cross the Urubamba river, follow its bank through dry scrub and cactus, and look down on Llactapata, a large Inca settlement with terraces at the mouth of the Cusichaca valley. From there the trail climbs gradually beside the Cusichaca river to the first camp, around 3,000 metres. Expect roughly 12 kilometres and 5 to 6 hours on foot. The tents are up when you arrive, and the cooks serve a hot dinner.

   Included

   • Transfer to Km 82
   • Classic Inca Trail permit, day 1
   • Licensed trail guide and assistant guide
   • Porters, cooks, tents, sleeping bag and mat

   Your choice: Classic Inca Trail, 4 days / Quarry Trail Included in the price.

   Activity: About 12 km and 5 to 6 hours on foot. Camp sites are allocated with the permit and may differ from the ones named here.

5. Day 5: Inca Trail day 2: over Dead Woman's Pass

   Wayllabamba over Warmiwañusca to Pacaymayu

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Inca Trail
   Day 5 details

   This is the hard day, and the reason the first three days were spent at altitude. We start early and climb steadily through Andean cloud forest to the open grassland below Warmiwañusca, Dead Woman's Pass, at about 4,215 metres, the highest point of the trek. Go at your own pace; the assistant guide walks with the last person, and nobody is rushed. From the top, turn back for the view down the valley you have just climbed, best before the cloud builds around midday. Then comes a long, steep descent on stone steps to the camp at Pacaymayu, at about 3,600 metres, usually reached in time for a late lunch and a quiet afternoon in camp. Roughly 9 kilometres and 6 to 7 hours today.

   Included

   • Classic Inca Trail, day 2, over Dead Woman's Pass
   • All meals cooked by the trek crew

   Free time: Afternoon in camp

   Activity: About 9 km and 6 to 7 hours, with a climb of more than 1,000 metres and a steep descent. Walking poles help.

   

6. Day 6: Inca Trail day 3: the ruins day, ending at Wiñay Wayna

   Pacaymayu via Runkurakay, Sayacmarca and Phuyupatamarca to Wiñay Wayna

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Inca Trail
   Day 6 details

   The most beautiful day on the trail, and the longest. We climb to the round ruin of Runkurakay and the second pass at about 3,950 metres, then descend to Sayacmarca, a compact settlement on a rocky spur, and walk through an Inca tunnel cut into the rock. At Phuyupatamarca, the town above the clouds, stone baths still run with water, and on a clear day you can see the snow peak of Salkantay. From there it is a long descent of stone steps through the cloud forest to the last camp near Wiñay Wayna. We time our arrival for late afternoon so you can see its curved terraces in soft light, after most groups have moved on. Roughly 16 kilometres and 7 to 8 hours today.

   Included

   • Classic Inca Trail, day 3: Runkurakay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca and Wiñay Wayna
   • All meals cooked by the trek crew

   Activity: About 16 km and 7 to 8 hours, mostly downhill on stone steps, which is hard on knees.

   

7. Day 7: Inca Trail day 4: the Sun Gate at first light, a hot shower in Aguas Calientes

   Wiñay Wayna to Inti Punku, Machu Picchu and Aguas Calientes

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Aguas Calientes
   Day 7 details

   We wake before 4 am to be among the first groups at the control point when it opens, around 5:30 am. From there it is about an hour on a narrow path along the mountainside, with a short, very steep flight of steps near the end, to Inti Punku, the Sun Gate. This is the first view of Machu Picchu, spread on its ridge below Huayna Picchu, and in the dry months the first sun reaches the ruins around 6 to 7 am. We walk down into the site for a guided visit on the route set for trail arrivals, then take the bus down to Aguas Calientes. Your hotel has a hot shower and a real bed waiting, and dinner tonight is a celebration with your group.

   Included

   • Sunrise walk to Inti Punku, the Sun Gate
   • Guided visit to Machu Picchu on the trail arrival route
   • Bus down to Aguas Calientes
   • Celebration dinner in Aguas Calientes

   Free time: Afternoon free in Aguas Calientes

   Activity: About 6 km and 2 hours to the Sun Gate and down to the site. The hot springs in town are an option for tired legs.

   

8. Day 8: Machu Picchu again, at 6 am, then the train to Cusco

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

   • By train
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Cusco
   Day 8 details

   Because we slept in Aguas Calientes, you get a second, unhurried visit. We take one of the first buses up and enter at 6 am on a timed Circuit 2 ticket, the classic route through the upper terraces and the lower city. In early light, with fewer people, your guide takes you to the Guardian House viewpoint for the postcard view, then down past the Temple of the Sun and across the main plaza. If you have booked Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain, this is your morning for it. After lunch in town we ride the panoramic-window train along the Urubamba river to Ollantaytambo, about an hour and three quarters, then drive to Cusco, arriving late afternoon. Your guide walks you up to San Blas at blue hour.

   Included

   • Second Machu Picchu entry at 6 am on a Circuit 2 ticket, with your guide
   • Bus up to the site
   • Panoramic-window train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo
   • Drive to your hotel in Cusco

   Optional experiences

   • Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain. Separate ticket, limited numbers each day.

   Free time: Evening free in Cusco

   

9. Day 9: Cusco, then home

   Sacsayhuamán, Qorikancha and the airport

   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

   Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire, and after the trek its altitude of about 3,400 metres barely registers. We start at Sacsayhuamán above the city at opening, around 7 am, to walk along its three tiers of zigzag walls, built from enormous stones fitted together without mortar. Back in the centre we visit Qorikancha, the Inca Temple of the Sun, where a Spanish convent was built on top of the finest curved Inca masonry in the city. There is time for a last coffee on the Plaza de Armas, between the cathedral and the Jesuit church of La Compañía, before we drive you to the airport, about fifteen minutes away, for your afternoon flight.

   Included

   • Sacsayhuamán at opening
   • Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun
   • Drop-off at Cusco airport (CUZ)

   Free time: Late morning free in the centre

   

Wildlife and weather: Mountain weather changes fast: a clear Sun Gate sunrise is likely in the dry months but never certain, which is one reason we include a second Machu Picchu visit.

• Sacred Valley3 nights
• Inca Trail3 nights
• Aguas Calientes1 night
• Cusco1 night