Peru: the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

Arrive in Cusco, an easy first afternoon

Cusco airport to the historic centre

• Welcome dinner
• Stay in Cusco
• Drive about 18 min

Afternoon

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.

Evening

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.

Included

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

Down to Ollantaytambo, then the trek briefing

Cusco over the Chinchero plateau to Ollantaytambo and back

• Breakfast and lunch
• Stay in Cusco
• Drive about 3.5 h

Morning

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.

Afternoon

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.

Evening

The evening is free; pack and sleep early.

Included

• 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

Up to Soraypampa and Humantay Lake

Cusco via Mollepata to Soraypampa, then Humantay Lake

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Stay in Soraypampa
• Drive about 3 h

Afternoon

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.

Evening

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.

Included

• 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

Over the Salkantay Pass, 4,630 metres

Soraypampa over the Salkantay Pass to Chaullay

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Stay in Chaullay

Morning

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.

Afternoon

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.

Included

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

Down the cloud forest to a coffee farm

Chaullay via Collpapampa to La Playa, then Lucmabamba

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Stay in Lucmabamba
• Drive about 18 min

Afternoon

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.

Included

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

Llactapata's view of Machu Picchu, then Aguas Calientes

Lucmabamba to Llactapata, Hidroelectrica and Aguas Calientes

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Stay in Aguas Calientes
• By train

Afternoon

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.

Evening

Dinner tonight is with your group in town, and your guide hands out the Machu Picchu tickets for the morning.

Included

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

Machu Picchu at 6 am, then the train to Cusco

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

• Breakfast
• Drive about 2.5 h

Morning

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.

Evening

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.

Included

• 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

Optional experiences

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