You can design your own itinerary by adding extensions to our Incas and Conquistadors + Inca Trail holiday. Select the extensions you would like and click the red button to see full details of the holiday you have chosen.
Starting at Piskacucho, we climb up to Llactapata, after about 2km following the Urubamba river. This was an important agricultural site, producing food for the Machu Picchu area. From here the trail gently climbs to Huayllabamba, a small village at 3,000m, where we camp for the night.
This is the toughest day of the trail. From Huayllabamba, we climb for three to four hours, which can be very tiring, especially due to the altitude and the sun beating down on you. The first pass at 4,200m, Warmiwañusqa (dead woman's pass), offers a superb view of the snow-capped Vilcabamba range of mountains. From here you descend into the valley of the Pacamayo River.
On the third day, you climb up to the second pass. Halfway to the top are the ruins of Runkurakay. The trail then climbs to the second pass at 4,000m before descending to the fine ruins of Sayacmarca. We pass through an Inca tunnel in the mountain, before coming to the third pass, at 4,000m with a superb view of the cloud forest and the Vilcabamba range. Near here are the ruins of Phuyupatamarca. We then descend the rapidly descending Inca steps to the spectacular ruins of Wiñay Wayna.
We set out from Wiñay Wayna before dawn in order to get to the Intipunku (sun gate) for sunrise. As you climb the final few steps and arrive at the sun gate you are greeted by your first, spectacular view of Machu Picchu. The trail down to the ruins themselves takes about half an hour. Take a guided tour of the ruins of Machu Picchu before heading down to the town of Aguas Calientes where there is time to have a dip in the hot baths before taking the train back to Cusco in the afternoon.
Llama Travel offers holidays including the Inca Trail from March to November. May to September tend to get less rain, although the nights are colder.
The Inca Trail is a four-day trek crossing high mountain passes. Although the distance is not great (less than 30 miles over four days), the high altitude (the highest point is 4,200 metres above sea level) and the steep ascents and descents mean that the Inca Trail is a challenging hike. Therefore, you should have a good level of fitness to walk the trail. Llama Travel holidays include at least 3 days at altitude to acclimatise before starting the Inca Trail.
If you like the idea of arriving at Machu Picchu on foot, after trekking through the Andes, but do not want to walk for four days to get there, our Short Inca Trail is the perfect option. This one-day hike climbs from the the Urubamba River Valley to the Inca site of Wiñay Wayna before arriving in Machu Picchu in the evening. You spend the night in the valley below the ruins, returning to explore Machu Picchu the next day. This optional excursion is available on all our Peru holidays which do not include the full Inca Trail.
In order to protect the Inca Trail, Peru's National Institute of Culture has introduced some strict regulations. These include a limit of 200 trekkers allowed to start the trail each day. Due to the popularity of the Inca Trail, spaces fill up early, so we recommend booking at least 3 months in advance. For some periods of the year, spaces can fill up even earlier than this.