In Cusco you can find several ways of hiking to Machu Picchu. Many people are looking for long routes in order to enjoy a good vacation. But do not worry, Machulas Journey offers you a seven days hiking experience to Machupicchu. This hike combines the two famous hikes, the Salkantay Trek and the Inca Trail and finally finishes at the citadel of Machu Picchu. This route is perfect for everyone who wants to do a really long hike. Along the way you will be able to enjoy the beauty of the Andes and original Inca sites.
Every single day you will see a different scenery of lush green valleys and snow capped mountains such as the Salkantay peak (6200m/20341ft), Huayanay peak (5000m/16404ft) and the Pumasillo peak (6000m/19685ft). You will also go through the cloud forest and get to know the edge of the jungle. Choose this option ¡do not think about it anymore! Machulas Journey is ready to help you and organize your vacation. Nothing is impossible.
We will pick you up from your hotel at 4:30 am and take you by our private minivan for 3 hours to the village of challacancha (3750m/12303ft), from where we start our hike. We will hike for 3 hours along an Inca canal all the way to Soraypamapa (3800m/12467ft), where we will have a delicious lunch and set up the tents. Then we will hike uphill for 2 hours until we reach Humantay lagoon where we will enjoy the beautiful turquoise lake located at the bottom of the Humantay glacier. After we return to our camping site in Soraypampa, where our master chef will serve you a delicious dinner.
We will wake you up early in the morning with a cup of hot coca tea in your tents. Once enjoyed an energetic healthy breakfast we will start hiking for 1 and a half hours until we reach Salkantay Pampa (4100m/13451ft). During a short break our tour guide will explain us about the second highest mountain in this region, Salkantay peak (6200m/20341ft). Then we continue for three and a half hours until we reach Inca Chiriasca pass (5100m/16732ft), the highest point on our trek. From here we will continue for 1 more hour going downhill until we reach our lunch spot at Huanomachay. Here we will enjoy our organic buffet lunch and then continue hiking for 2 more hours until we reach our camping site called, Inca canal. Here we will have a delicious buffet dinner and take our time to recover from this amazing day.
We will wake you up early in the morning with a cup of hot coca tea in your tents and then have an energetic healthy breakfast. We will start our journey for 3 hours until we get to the beautiful Inca site of Paucarcancha. Along the way we will have beautiful views and our tour guide will teach us a lot of information about the Andean wildlife and Inca history. After a delicious lunch at the Inca site we will continue going down for 30 minutes until we reach the village of Huayllabamba (3100m/10170ft). From this point on we will follow the famous classical Inca trail until we reach our camp site. Once we arrived our tour guide will be proud to introduce our porters because from this point on the mules will not be able to carry our equipment. Then we have dinner and recover for the next day.
You will be woken up with hot drinks and enjoy our energetic healthy breakfast prepared by our master chef. Then we will start our 4 hours climb until we get to the dead woman’s pass (4215m/13828ft). Along the way we will walk through native forests and get interesting explications about this area. On halfway we will walk through a flat area called Llulluchapampa (3800m/12467ft), where you will see llamas and with some luck, whitetail deer. Once we arrived at the dead woman’s pass we will have a break in order to enjoy amazing views into the valleys of Pacaymayu and Huayllabamba. Then we descend for 2 more hours until we reach our lunch spot and campsite at Pacaymayu (3600m/11811ft). Here we will have lunch and relax for the rest of the day.
We wake you up at around 6:00 am with a cup of coca tea in your tent and then have an energetic healthy breakfast. Today we will only have a short hike but we will visit two amazing archaeological sites and walk through the cloud forest. From the campsite we climb up for 1 hour until we reach the Inca site of Runkurakay, where our guide will teach us about Inca history. Then we walk for 1 more hour until we get to the pass of Runkurakay (4000m/13123ft), the second highest point on the Inca trail. Once arrived we will stop in order to enjoy the views and realize a small ceremony to give offering to the Apus (mountain gods) surrounding us. After that we continue going downhill for 2 more hours until we reach our lunch spot. On the way we will visit the Inca site of Sayacmarca and get a guided tour through this site. After lunch we will continue walking for 2 more hours until we reach our campsite at Phuyupatamarca (3760m/12335ft). Along the way you will enjoy beautiful views and follow original Inca pathway. Our campsite is on the top of a mountain and we will already see Machupicchu, Huaynapicchu and the Sacred Valley of the Inca in distance.
Today we will try to wake up early at around 5:00am in order to enjoy the sun rise and beautiful views. We will enjoy our healthy energetic breakfast and then continue our journey descending for 3 and a half hours until we get to Wiñaywayna (2600m/8530ft). On the way down we will be able to see different Inca sites such as Phuyupatamarca, Intipata and Wiñaywayna. At each Inca site we will have a guided tour and after visiting Wiñaywayna we will have our last organic buffet lunch together with our master chef and the porters. Then we will say good bye to our team and you can give a little tip (optional) to show your gratitude. We will continue hiking towards Aguas Calientes and after 1 hour we will reach the sun gate from where we can see Machu Picchu in distance. From the sun gate it takes us one more hour until we reach the Inca citadel of Machupicchu. In Machupicchu you will be in the afternoon at around 2:00pm, our tour guide will take you to a special spot where you can take a post card picture of the citadel. After exploring the place we will cátch up the bus to Aguas Calientes where you will spend the night in a 3 stars hotel.
Today is very important, today you’ll get up early morning, your breakfast will be at the hotel normally pick up time from the hotels is around 5:00am in order to catch up the first buses, because the first buses are leaving 5:30am another reason going early is you will have more time to enjoy machupicchu, once you’ll be at the main control there you’ll have to show your original passport, entrance feet which your guide will provide you. After show everything you’ll star the tour for 2 and half hours where you’ll receive a lot of information and visit the most important places such as temples, palaces, plazas, and much more. After the tour you’ll have free time to explore more places by yourself. If you have Huaynapicchu or Machupicchu permit to climb you’ll head to that peaks or guys choose not book to climb you can go to the Inca Bridge or climb to the sun gate from where you’ll have beautiful views. Around 2:30pm you’ll have to take bus back down to aguas calientes to enjoy lunch in any restaurant you like it and then start go to the train station, make sure 30 minute before the train leaving the perfect time come back from aguas calientes to ollantaytambo is 4:22pm from where we’ll catch up our van to Cusco for another two hours and finally leave you next to your hotels.
All of our tour guides are professionals who studied tourism at University and come from around the Cusco region. They also all speak Quechua the language of Cuzco region. All of them are extremely knowledgeable and fun to be around.
We offer daily departures from March to January. This tour can be done any day of the week and 11 months a year except in February because the Inca trail is closed. We recommend you to book the Inca Trail at least 5 months in advance because there are only limited spaces available.
