Inca Trail to Machu Picchu: Premium 5-Day Trek

The day starts at sunrise with the drive from Cusco, or from your hotel in the Sacred Valley, to the trailhead at Km 82. Your Inca Trail trek does not take the usual bridge here. Instead, it follows the Urubamba River downstream and crosses at Km 88, a section few groups walk.

Lunch is served at the private campsite in Chamana, a small village of the Llaqtapata community. In the late afternoon, you can visit Wayna Q’ente and Llaqtapata, two Inca sites with stone walls and stairways. Back at camp, there is teatime, a hot shower, and dinner.

Meals included: Lunch / Dinner

The trail climbs the narrow Cusichaca Valley past the houses of farmers and herders to the Andean community of Huayllabamba, at 2,940 m. From there, the cobbled path rises steeply through old native forest full of birdsong.

It levels out at the Llulluchapampa campsite, just below the first pass, with views of Mount Huayanay. This is also where you first see queñua trees—called “paper trees” because their reddish bark peels in thin sheets. Today’s Inca Trail elevation gain is the largest of the trek: camp sits about 1,170 m above Chamana.

Meals included: Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

A steady climb brings you to Dead Woman’s Pass, named for a crest that looks like a woman lying down. From the top, the view runs back over everything you have walked. The trail then drops to the Pacaymayo River, where lunch is served.

In the afternoon, climb again to the Runkuraqay ruins and the second pass, then descend on original Inca paving to the site of Sayacmarca. A dry lake marks the start of the cloud forest, home to hummingbirds, butterflies, and orchids.

The last stretch follows a ridge above the Aobamba Valley, with snow-capped Mount Salkantay to the west and Mount Pumasillo to the north. Camp is at Phuyupatamarca, the “village at the edge of the clouds” in Quechua.

Meals included: Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

Wake early to watch the sunrise from a viewpoint just above camp. After breakfast, the trail passes the Phuyupatamarca ruins, whose irrigation channels were built over five centuries ago and still carry water.

The paved path then drops sharply into the cloud forest to Wiñay Wayna. Two more hours through misty forest lead to Inti Punku, the Sun Gate, and your first view of the citadel below. This is how the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu was meant to end: on foot.

After time at the viewpoint, a bus takes you down to Machu Picchu Village for a night at El Mapi hotel, in a Superior room. Dinner is on your own this evening.

Meals included: Breakfast / Lunch

A half-hour bus ride returns you to the gates of Machu Picchu for a 3-hour guided tour of the citadel, along the route set by your entrance ticket.

Lunch is in Machu Picchu Village. In the afternoon, you head back to Cusco by train. Depending on the season, it runs to Poroy station, just outside the city, or to Ollantaytambo, with the last stretch by road. The journey takes about 4 hours, and a transfer drops you at your hotel in Cusco in the evening. Tonight’s hotel and dinner are not included.

Meals included: Breakfast / Lunch