Short Inca Trail
Most of our holidays offer the Short Inca Trail as an option; if you prefer to take the full Inca Trail then try our Incas & Conquistadors + Inca Trail holiday.
The Short Inca Trail is a 9-mile walk from the Urubamba River to Machu Picchu, via the beautiful ruins of Wiñay Wayna. The walk is part of the same network of trails as the four-day Inca Trail, and the final part of the two walks is the same. The Incas built an enormous set of trails that spanned their empire, enabling them to cross great distances relatively rapidly. These trails were well maintained, and by using chasquis (messengers), messages or goods could be sent all over the empire very quickly. Each chasqui would run a leg of approximately 10km before passing on the message to the next chasqui. For example, it was said that fish from the port of Puerto Inca, south of Nazca, could get to Cusco, 250km and many mountain passes away, in under 24 hours. Even today, a bus to from Cusco to Nazca, about the same distance, takes approximately 18 hours!