The Lares trek is a popular alternative to the Inca trail. This trek starts in the north of Urubamba and it is renowned for its traditional quechua communities and strong weaving culture that you can observe during the trek. The traditional villages along the way allow you to experience some time of rural life while enjoying a dramatic and extraordinary landscape of this mountainous territory. As permits are no currently required to travel between Urubamba and Aguas Calientes you can book this trip only a several weeks ahead of your desired departure date.
Machulas journey offer daily departures from March to January, this tour can be started any day of the week and 11 months a year. In February (nobody works) the Inca trail is closed and we take it as our vacation.
We recommend to book the Lares trek at least one month in advance that means we can organize your trip better without any problems.
We will pick you up at your hotel at 5:00 a.m and after that we will go by bus to the town of Urubamba. There we take a short break and then continue our travel for 25 more minute until we reach Pumahuanca, here we will have a healthy and energetic breakfast (all the food we provide is organic). Once we have finished our breakfast we will start our hiking. During the first part of our hike we will visit the small Inca ruins called Pumahuanca. Here our tour guide will teach us about the ruins and Inca history. Then we keep on hiking up for about 4 hours until we reach our lunch place at Packchaac. After an amazing organic buffet lunch we will see and enjoy the view and learn about the native forest and its wildlife such as orchids and hummingbirds. After a 20-minute rest to digest, we will continue hiking for about 3 more hours before we get to our camping site named Cuyoc, (4100m / 13451ft). After the hard hike we will spend the night at this quiet place and enjoy some hot drinks and our organic buffet dinner. After it is bed time in order to be fit for our next hiking day.
The second day is the most beautiful and spectacular one because we will walk for 2 hours all the way uphill until reach Sicllaqhassa pass (4800m/15360ft). From this point we will enjoy two amazing views or scenery’s we stay on the top for about 15 minutes, taking photos and having a cup of coca tea with a cheese sandwich. After that we continue our hike, going down for about 3 hour until we reach our lunch spot in the village of Cunkani. There we enjoy an organic buffet lunch before our tour guide takes us to one of the local house where you will meet with local families. The guide will explain us about the village cultural life and if you want you can buy some of the locally made it alpaca or llama products that the region is famous for it.
You will also meet some of the local kids and if you want you can leave a gift for these kids like books, pencils, pens or some toys. We will explain this to you before the trip during a briefing in Cusco. Then we will continue walking down for 2 more hours until we set up our campsite at the hot springs of Lares. Here you will have the opportunity to take a relaxing dip in the hot natural pools of this region. On the last section from Cuncani to Lares you will see many fields were local crops like potatoes, corn, wheat, tarwi, and beans are grown.
Today it will be an easy and relaxing day for all of us because we can sleep until 7:00 a.m. After an energetic breakfast we will climb up one the nearby mountains to take a look at the village of Lares. After returning to our campsite we will have lunch and then take a private minivan for 3 hours to the salt mines of Maras. There we will visit and enjoy thousands of large and salty pools which allow the water to evaporate so that salt is produced and then collected by hand, just how it has been done for hundreds of years and continues providing work for the locals. Once we have visited this amazing salt mine, we will continue to Ollantaytambo where we will stop for our last dinner in one of the restaurants. After dinner our tour guide takes us to the train station to catch up our train for 2 hour towards the tiny village of Aguas Calientes where we will spend the night in a 3 stars hotel.
Today it is time to visit our final destination. We have to wake up early in the morning, because it is a tradition to go to Machu Picchu very early in order to see the sunrise. We will start the day with a tasty breakfast at the hotel and then head to the bus station to catch up our bus that will take us (25 minutes) to the main entrance of Machu Picchu. At 6:00 am Machu Picchu opens its doors and we will go straight to the view point (the postcard picture) where you will take the classic postcard pictures of Machu Picchu. After that the guide will start a guided, 2 hours tour and teach you all the information you will need about Machu Picchu, visiting the most important areas of the citadel. Then you will have free time to explore the citadel by yourself.
If you have a ticket to climb either Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu mountain you will do that after the guided tour. In the afternoon we will go back to Aguas Calientes to take the train back to Ollantaytambo, from where you will carry on by bus back to Cusco.
