Inca Trail - Introduction

It's easy to get confused when talking about the Inca Trail. The Incas built a highly advanced network of nearly 40,000 thousand kilometers of trails to connect the distant corners of their vast empire that stretched from Quito in Ecuador down to Santiago in Chile and east to Mendoza in Argentina. Cusco was at the heart of this great empire. Almost all of the principal trails in the mountains surrounding Cusco were built or improved upon by the Incas. However, a particularly beautiful 43km section of mountain trail connecting the important Inca archaeological sites of Runcuracay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca, Wiñay Wayna and Machu Picchu has become popular with hikers in the last 30 years and has become known as the "Inca Trail to Machu Picchu". Access to this section of Inca Trail is strictly controlled and only authorized trekking companies are allowed to sell this trek. All guides on the Inca Trail must be licensed and only a limited number of trekking permits are issued and must be purchased several months in advance (see Inca Trail Permit Availability). When booking an Inca Trail tour always book with a reputable trekking company and check the day-by-day trek itinerary. If the trek doesn't include a visit to ALL of the archaeological sites listed above then it may be possible that you are looking at a different trek completely!! There are many unscrupulous travel agencies in Peru who make a good living out of misleading visitors about the route of their Inca Trail. Some visitors only find out that they have made a mistake once they have started the trek! This guide will ensure that you are not one of them.

The Classic 4-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

This guide refers mainly to the Classic Inca Trail which starts at a place known as Km82 (so called because it is located 82 kilometres along the railway line between Cusco and Machu Picchu). It usually takes 4 days to do this trek arriving at the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu for sunrise on the fourth day (hence referred to as the Classic 4-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu trek). See Inca Trail to Machu Picchu 4-day Itinerary for a detailed description of this trek. The trek is rated moderate and any reasonably fit person should be able to cover the route. It is fairly challenging nevertheless, and altitudes of 4200m are reached, so ensuring that you are well acclimatized is important. If arriving from sea level, plan to spend at least 2 full days in Cusco prior to commencing the trek. This should allow plenty of time for acclimatization and give you sufficient opportunity to visit the city of Cusco and nearby Inca ruins at Sacsayhuaman, Q'enko, Pucapucara and Tambomachay, as well as spending a day or two exploring the Sacred Valley of the Incas visiting the tradition market town of Pisac and the fascinating Inca fortress at Ollantaytambo.
 
The Classic 4-day Inca Trail can be hiked year round although the months of April till October are probably more comfortable since the weather is drier. June, July and August are in the high season when the trail can become fully booked so be sure to make a reservation in advance. The 4 day Inca Trail is closed each year during the month of February to allow conservation work to take place. The months of January and March are in the wet season so hiking the trail can be a little miserable unless you have a good rain jacket and waterproof tent. See When to Go for detailed description of what weather to expect on the Inca Trail.
 

Although 90% of people do this trek in 4 days some people prefer to spread the trek over 5 days instead. You will therefore find a few trekking companies offering a 5-day Inca Trail trek. Before booking this trek it is a good idea to study the detailed itinerary. Although the 5 day trek allows you to avoid some of the busier campsites the group will often arrive at Machu Picchu around midday on day 4 of the trek (when Machu Picchu is very busy and it is too bright to take nice photos). The group won't be allowed time to explore Machu Picchu and will be rushed off to their hotel in Aguas Calientes. The group then returns to Machu Picchu by bus on the fifth day of the tour. This itinerary may be exactly what you want but the classic 4-day trek with an extra night in Aguas Calientes will probably be better suited to most visitors and will probably work out cheaper.

The Short Inca Trail (typically 2 days - no camping)

There are two main alternative treks to the traditional 4-day Classic Inca Trail that both end at Machu Picchu. The first and most popular alternative is the Short Inca Trail which can be completed in 1 or 2 days. This is an easier trek and starts further along the Vilcanota River Valley closer to Machu Picchu at a place called kilometre 104. Trek permits are required for this trek so you must book several months in advance. More Information on the Short Inca Trail.

The Salkantay & Inca Trail Trek (typically 7 days)

The second alternative to the Classic Inca Trail trek is a more strenuous 7 day hike via Salkantay, a beautiful snow-capped mountain. This trek is usually done in 7 days although experienced trekkers should manage it in 6 days. The trek starts near the town of Mollapata and the first 3 days are spent trekking around the foot of the Salkantay mountain. On day 4 of the trek the trail joins up with the route of the Classic Inca Trail and visit the Inca archaeological sites of Runcuracay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca, Wiñay Wayna before trekking to Machu Picchu on the final day. This really is a spectacular trek combining the best of snow-capped mountains and Inca ruins. However since trek permits are required this trek must be booked many months in advance. Trekking companies don't usually offer this trek as a group/pooled service and if they do it can be very expensive. The best way to arrange this trek is to book a private tour, great if you are ravelling with a group of friends or are part of a hiking club. If you require other trekkers then you could try posting a message on one of the many travel forums such as Lonely Planet Thorn Tree.  More Information on the Salkantay & Inca Trail trek.

Choosing an Inca Trail tour operator.

If you are searching the web for information about the 4 day Inca Trail you'll find hundreds of tour companies offering this popular trek amongst their services. Many of these companies are acting only as agents for the relatively few specialist trekking companies that actually operate the trek. Prices for the 4 day trek start at US$520 per person for a basic service (including entrance fees and return on train) and can climb anywhere up to $1000 depending on the service and how comfortable you want to be. Purchasing the trek directly with a local tour operator in Cusco can often be less than half the price of buying the trek in your own country through an agent. However, great care should be taken in choosing a tour company especially using the internet. Our page "Choosing a Trekking Company" has been written to help you avoid many of the pitfalls.

Note: It can often be confusing when it comes down to how the various Inca archeological sites are spelled. Most of the sites of interest have been given Quechua names. Quechua was the official language of the Inca civilization and still spoken by more than 7 million people (mainly in the Andean highlands of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia). However the language was a spoken language was never written down by the Incas. In modern times various people have tried to produce an official Quechua dictionary but so far have not succeeded. There are therefore many interpretations when it comes to how each place name is spelled. Even Cusco can be spelled 3 ways: Cusco, Cuzco or Q'osqo!! The letters c, k & q are frequently interchanged as are w, hu & ll !!

Inca Trail treks permits for departures March 2013 to December 2013

Inca Trail permits are required for the Classic 4 day trek, the shorter 2-day trek and the 7-day trek via Salkantay. Inca trail permits are currently only on sale for the months of November & December 2011 and January 2012. The Inca Trail is closed during the month of February. The Inca Trail permits for trek departures in March to December 2013 will not go on sale until around mid-January 2013 (exact date has yet to be announced) but we highly recommend that you still make a booking with the trekking company of your choice as soon as you can. The way the trek permits are released to the licensed tour operators is slightly complicated. Approximately two weeks before the trek permits go on sale all the tour operators have to submit to the government a full list of all their clients names and passport numbers. The permits are then issued on a lottery basis so that all companies have an equal chance of getting the permits. Obviously if the number of permits for a specific day is oversubscribed then there will be losers and some tour operators will have to cancel their trek departure, refund the trek deposit or offer an alternative departure date. Only clients with their names on this initial list will be issued with permits (dependent upon availability) so this is a good reason to make your booking before mid-December. Only after the initial round of permits have gone on sale does the system change to the sale of trek permits on a first-come-first-served basis.

Once the permits have gone on sale in January it is very likely that some dates will sell out immediately (dates such as the first week of March, several dates in April, many dates in May and a few dates around Inti Raymi in June (ie 15-28 June). Maybe a couple of dates in July will sell out and probably no dates in August. So if you want to book a trek departing in August you will probably still be safe to wait until February or even March to book.

As soon as the permits go on sale we will update our website to show how many permits are still available.

For more information see our web page Inca Trail permit availability