If you’ve ever thought about heading to Machu Picchu but you want a little more adventure, check out this guide to Peru.
If you’re looking for a journey that combines the legendary Inca Trail with the rugged beauty of the Salkantay Trek, and old world beauty of Cusco into one adventure, you’ve clicked the right link.
The Inca Trail and Machu Pichu is a lifetime bucket list trip for many. But, if you’re up for more adventure, looking for more miles, more mountains, more wildlife, and a better understanding of the history of Peru, this guide will help you determine what add ons are right for you.
The Inca Trail was built to help the Incas to various trade, military and religious sites, including Machu Picchu. The Salkantay Trail is a more rugged, higher mountain route also used by The Incas to reach Machu Pichu. This route passes by Salkantay Mountain, aka Savage Mountain. Savage coming from the Quechua word sallqa which means wild, uncivilized… but today, guides speak of the climbers who have lost their lives attempting to summit the mountain, a plane crash into the mountain, and the many avalanches which cause havoc near the area.
We took the Salkantay Route to Machu Pichu.
Cusco is your home base for hiking the world of the Incas. It was the capital of the Inca empire and today hosts many festivals. Today, Spanish architecture and history mark the city and remind us of the colonization of the Inca people.
Here’s the details. of our adventure…
Getting to Peru
There are a few things to do before arriving to Peru to ensure you have a successful trip, including getting your passport in order and updating any vaccinations. When we went and as of today, here is what you need to do 6 months before you leave.
Vaccinations
There are no vaccinations required for traveling to Peru. However, the CDC does make some recommendations.
- Ensure your routine vaccinations (Chickenpox, Tetnus, Flu, COVID, MMR, Polio, and Shingles) are up to date.
- We ensured out Hep A and Hep B shots were also up to date.
- We opted to get YellowFever and Typhoid because we’d be hiking in jungle areas with water that was boiled but not filtered in any other way by the Peruvian guides.
- We opted out of the Rabies vaccination, but part of me wishes we had gotten it. Some people were wary of the many dogs while others were not. Rabies vaccination would have given some of us peace of mind.
Passport requirements
You must have a passport to get into Peru from the United States. It must not expire within six months at time of entry and you must have at least one page blank. No Tourist Visa is required. Also, you should know that immigration in Peru did not stamp our passports and it did not seem like they would even if you asked.
Flights
To get to Cusco, our base, we had to book multiple flights. We flew from Colorado (Denver) to Lima, Peru through Delta. To get to Cusco, we booked through Sky Airlines. While I read some things about Sky Airlines that were not all great, we did not have any issues with the airline.
Other
I recommend signing up for Travel Notices to be aware of any strikes or other civil unrest in Peru that may disrupt your trip.
I also recommend getting travel insurance. Look to make sure that they cover luggage, medical, and civil unrest.
Acclimating
Once we arrived in Cusco, we could feel the difference in elevation and we come from 6,000 ft already. Cusco sits at just over 11,000 ft. Because we would be going above 16,000 ft while hiking the Salkantay Trail, we decided to stay the recommended three days in Cusco before our trek. Now, I will say, I do believe this is a recommendation based on getting you to spend more money in Cusco, as well as acclimating. But I have no regrets taking this advice.
The day we arrived, we headed straight to a touring company we hired for some day excursions and stored our luggage because we could not check in to our Airbnb until later. From there, we took a city tour. If we did not have to store our bags before checking into our Airbnb I would not have done this city tour. Instead, I would have done a self-guided walking tour and just have bought the Cusco Tourist Ticket on my own (which you can get at any of the sites listed on the ticket).
After the tour we headed to our Airbnb.
Another thing I would have done differently is not stayed in an Airbnb. Don’t get me wrong, it was fine. Running water, heat, nice beds. But staying in a hotel in downtown would have been far more convenient and we would have only spent an extra $50 USD per person for the three days we stayed in town prior to our trek. However, we may have had to spread out between hotels since there were eight of us with a total need of five rooms. We ended up staying at Amaru Colonial at the end of our trip. I would stay there again. It was close to a lot in the downtown square, the staff was very welcoming, and the beds were comfortable.
The next day, we woke up and did the Sacred Valley Tour. This is a trip I highly recommend. You get a little bit of elevation and some lower elevation short hiking in, learn about local customs and traditions and get to eat some good food. This is how we tried cuy (guinea pig) and alpaca.
On the third day, some of the crew, who felt acclimated enough, did the Ausangate 7 Lakes Day Hike. This was a challenging but rewarding hike that got us up to almost 16,000 ft in just under ten miles. Highly recommend!
The fourth day – we had one more day to relax. The eight of us split up and toured Cusco on our own. We ate some tasty food, drank some tasty drinks and prepared for the seven day Salkantay and Inca Treks.
The Trek
Here is the map of our trek that a participant recorded while we were hiking. We did not have a map like this on our trip, and I wish we had. You can click the map link to get to CalTopo and download the GPX data or save the map from Caltopo. Though our hiking distances actually changed from what the trekking company had planned for us to do because our pace was faster than expected (remember, we all came from a fairly high altitude to begin with!), it would have been nice to have some waypoints to work with.
Trekking the Salkantay and Inca Trails was beautiful. If you are not used to backpacking, it’s challenging. For those of us from Colorado living at higher elevations, tackling 14ers, and hiking weekly, if not daily, it was delightful and enjoyable. I don’t say that to sound elitist. I say this to highlight that if you train properly and have the advantage of living at higher elevations, the pace and timing at which the guides take you is fairly easy with a few tough patches. This is not a trek that you should do without training.
Speaking of guides. We used a company called Salkantay Trekking. For the Inca trail you must hire porters – you cannot do it without them. There are many companies and a few are more well known than others. The porters are GODS. While we hiked with a backpack that was at most ten pounds, these porters were carrying 50 – 60 lbs. INCREDIBLE! I give Salkantay Trekking a 4.5 out of 5 rating. There was a bit of misinformation given via email in the planning process. However, the food, the people, and the equipment were all excellent.
The first few days were on the Salkantay Trail. The trekking company picked us up at 4 am on the first day. Once loaded into the van, we drove about 2 hours to our breakfast spot, then about another hour to the trailhead. From there we hiked about 4.5 miles to our first night camp, which was just over 12,500 ft.
After settling in and eating some lunch, we took a day hike to Humantay Lake. All I can say is: stunning! Our guides played us some music on the flute and we headed back down to camp to get a good nights rest.
On the second day of our trek, we woke up to cold and beauty, ate too much at breakfast, downed some coca tea, then started the trek toward Salkantay Mountain. Just a mile or so up the road, we split from the crowds who we doing the traditional Salkantay Trek.
We made our way up over a 16,732 ft pass, down through a valley, avoided some massive cows, and ended our day at another camp with delicious eats and a hole in the ground potty.
On the third morning, we woke up early to a scrumptious breakfast and packed up our day packs. It was a welcome downhill day after going over the pass the previous day. Along the way we learned about local villagers, farming, native plants and animals and more. We ended at camp near a geological site and once again ate a delicious meal and relaxed for the trek ahead.
The next day began our transition to the Inca Trail. Our shortest day at under 4 miles but an elevation gain of 2683 ft. While the Salkantay was peaceful and virtually free of other humans, the Inca was busy. As soon as we joined the trail we came across others. From the town we hiked thru to porters to other hikers, there was little to no privacy while on trail. However, the Inca Trail was lush and offered everything from history to waterfalls.
Day 5 brought more Inca trail, a hike over Dead Woman’s Pass and more beautiful terrain. On day 6 we entered the final day of our trek. We moved fast enough that we actually finished a day early and took camp below Machu Picchu after going through the Sun Gate which is probably the best part of doing the Inca Trail in my opinion.
The next morning, we took a bus back up to Machu Picchu and did Circuit 3. There are three circuits of Machu Picchu. If there is something in particular you want to see, I highly recommend doing the research and booking the Circuit that holds the thing you want to see. I did not have a preference and was perfectly happy with the Circuit that was included in our tour. You must book timed-entry tickets well in advance. If you hire a guiding company, they should include this in the trip. But. make sure they do, otherwise you will not be able to enter Machu Picchu.
After the trek ended, we headed into Aguas Calientes and explored the area. We opted out of doing the hot springs but had a lot to do and enjoyed a few more Pisco Sours.
But that’s not all!
Rainbow Mountain
After heading back to Cusco and getting some shut eye, we embarked on yet another hiking adventure and headed to the infamous Rainbow Mountain.
The photos everyone posts with no one in them are definitely deceiving. You are never alone on this hike. It’s a pretty strenuous short hike. We saw people using oxygen tanks on the way up. People who definitely didn’t train for the adventure. If you’re going to Peru Mountains and are coming from sea level, I highly recommend training. We came from elevation and this was still a tough hike.
And while there were a ton of people, the mountain is still super cool and I’m glad we went.
Heading Home
It was time to head home. That meant heading back to Lima via Sky Air and staying a night in a hotel before catching a plane back to the States. We stayed at Lima 18 Boutique. It was a quaint but clean and pretty hotel with a good breakfast, refreshing staff, and a good location.
If you’re a big city person, you will probably like Lima. I thought it was a bit too crowded and smelled a bit funny. But, it’s on the ocean and we were not there when the weather was great. Plus, it was at the end of our trip and I wanted to relax more than we had time to do.
Want more info?
You can get a full packing list, planning checklist, and good to know info below!
