11 Day Ausangate Trek + Machu Picchu

Welcome to our Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days  tour.

As soon as you arrive to the local Cusco airport, a Valencia Cusco representative will take care of you and transfer you to your hotel in the city centre.

At this stage, either you can enjoy the Inca city and colonial heritage on your own and provide you some tips to eat at some local restaurants.  Or you might want to rest and wait until later on in the evening, when Cusco city shows off its night live. At night time, there is several places to have a delightful night and eat too.

This day is for you to explore Cusco at your own pace and know more about the Inca city. There is also an option available for this Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days  tour. You can visit the Sacred Valley to an extra cost.

The Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days  tour, has considered to show you the Sacred valley because is one of the most representative and beautiful landscapes of Cusco.  As you know The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is one of the most famous routes worldwide and begins at some point within this Sacred Valley.  

We need to leave Cusco during the morning time at around 08:00 am and head towards Pisac village.  We have choose this location as part of our Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days  tour, because Pisac offers you a fantastic artisans market and a well preserved Inca architecture of the same name as the village.  The artisans market is worthy to visit as all the hand made products are using organic materials, very well made and designed too.

After been in Pisac market,  the Inca ruins in this valley of Pisac is awaiting our visit.  We will head up on a private transport and to have also a panoramic view of this impressive and beautiful Sacred valley.

If visiting Pisac did charm you, then Ollantaytambo will not be less.  We are leaving Pisac in direccion to Urubamba towards Ollantaytambo but before getting to our final destination, we will have a lunch break (not included) on the way.  

Our Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days tour, to Ollantaytambo Inca site, shows you the magnificent temple of the sun.  This Inca tour  shows you also the enormous blocks of rock perfectly carved and polished, stone water fountains, stairs and terraces similar in a way to Machu Picchu.

Looking at the people of Ollantaytambo, you will notice, their pride in keeping their traditions reflected in their beautifully wearing of typical dresses.  This village is surrounded by their local sacred mountains and Valleys.

Finished our journey to Ollantaytambo, we will be visiting Chinchero market and then return to Cusco at about 18:30-19:00 hours.

The night will be free to eat in a restaurant of your choice. Please ask the tour guide for restaurant suggestions for you should you require them.

Note: Tonight we will have the Ausangate trek briefing at 7:00pm at the hotel lobby.

Our Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days tour adventure, will being leaving early Cusco in our way by bus to Cattca.  During the bus trip to the agricultural community of Cattca, you will get magnificent views of the surrounding mountains.

The bus will leave us nearby Catta, which it will the starting point of our Ausangate Trek in direction to pass Tink village. We will be getting organised with our gear and get also meeting our horseman to pack the horses. The trail to pass Tinki is not a difficult on, and we will be very entrained by the landscape around us.  It will be 3 hours of trekking out of Tinki and passing through the Puna, plains in high altitude, we arrive at our lunch spot.

From our lunch spot,  we will get at a glance distance the beautiful views of Ausangate mountain that will captivate us meanwhile eating our food. After lunch, we’ll continue our Ausangate Trek for another hour and a half until we reach our campsite in Upis. So far we are at an elevation of 4,400m/14,432f and the magnificent views of the snowy peaks will make you one of the photographers. .

We will camp and eat dinner in Upis with stunning views of Ausangate.  (total trekking time: 4-5 hours).

We will get up early to enjoy our daily breakfast and afterwards get ready to continue with our  Ausangate Trek.  

This time, we have to reach ‘La Arapa’ pass and it will take us a 2 hour hike of physical effort in getting here, once we there,  we will be locating a spot to have a break and get our lunch too.   

As soon as we get to ‘La Arapa’ you will notice the wildest of its surroundings, this lation is home of falcons and wild vizcachas.   We will see three beautiful lakes with tones of red, green, and turquoise and spectacular views of the surrounding of the snow peaks.

Finished our lunch, our Ausangate Trek, will lead us for another two hours on a slow ascent that will take us to the second mountain pass, the Abra de Apuchata, at (4900m/16072ft).   We will have a break and carry on descending for another half an hour until we reach our second campsite at Ausangatecocha (4440m/14563ft). It has been an exhausted day very well rewarded in terms of natural landscapes but definitely a good rest will help us to get a good energy for the following day ahead.   

We will start very early during our Ausangate Trek, because we need the all the light is possible to get safe on our route. After taken your daily breakfast, we will get ready to carry on Ausangate trek.   We will climb for two hours towards the third mountain pass, the Abra de Palomani. The physical endurance in doing this route will be pay off as soon we get to the very top at 5,200m /17,056 ft and get a magnificent views of the Andean valleys.

This is an unique moment,  in staying on the top of the mountain and getting the most of the energy from the Apus.  We will keep celebrating our success in getting to the highest section of the entire Ausangate trek.  Finished our break time, we will be descending the mountain for around two hours.  On our way down, you will notice that all the area, is home of llamas, alpacas, and vizcachas.  We keep passing all this spectacle of wild nature until we reach Pampacancha located at (4050m/13,284ft) and carry on uphill trail that leads us to our third campsite in Q´ampa at (4300m/14104ff).

Our Ausangate trekking of today are to get to the natural hot springs of Pacchanta.  Most peruvian Andean regions, are fulfil of natural hot springs, which were used by the Incas too.   

Once we are ready, we will leave our campsite and trek few hours until we get to Q´ampa mountain pass at (5000m/16,400ft). At this location we will spot the Andean deer and descend towards the green lagoon of Qomerqocha we will entrain at the lagoon and the landscapes around us.

Once we finish our break, we will carry on our Ausangate trek until we arrived to small community of Pacchanta at 4,100m / 13,448ft to enjoy their hot springs.  At our arrival to Pacchanta, we will greet the locals and continue to the hot springs spot, once there we will relax our bodies of such physical efforts during the trekkings. We will set our campsite nearby and spend our final night here.

It has been a such amazing time so far on this  6 out of 11 days of the Ausangate Trek towards Machu Picchu and still more to come.

Once we finish our breakfast, we will get ready to trek back to Tinki and from there a private transport will collect us to get back to Cusco city.  We will getting very in the evening at the hotel.

Today you will take your time at your pace to recover from your Ausangate Trek and enjoy the beauty of Cusco.  But please don’t stay awake until too late because we are going to collect you early in the morning.

Due its altitude, Cusco most of the times welcome us with its refreshing mornings so today it will not be an exception.  On early morning ( time to be confirmed) we leave Cusco to carry on with the part of our Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days tour. This time we are heading to the train station, to embark ourselves in an wonderful train journey.  

The train journey will long last three and half of unforgettable hours in which you will surrounded by the panoramic andean valleys views.   Once we have finished our train ride, our Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days tour will takes us to Aguas Calientes town.  

Aguas Calientes is a town that has grew lately due its proximity to Machu Picchu and it has cafes, restaurants to choose from.  The surroundings of this town are in the middle of a deep and green valley crossed by a river. If you decide to try the local natural hot springs can do so as you will not visit Machu Picchu until the following day.    

We also suggest to do the following in Aguas Calientes:

Visit the Machu Picchu 'Manuel Chávez Ballón' museum and orchid exhibition. This is open from 9am to 4.30pm, and is a 35 minute walk down the road from Aguas Calientes to Puente Ruinas. It is a very illustrative museum that gives you an interesting introduction to Machu Picchu.

The Inca, the son of 'Inti' (The Sun) was allow to enter to the glory and enjoyment of his royal house, Machu Picchu.  Today you will trace his steps and complete the whole Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days tour.

After taking your breakfast at 05:45 am we leave this town and get the first bus to Machu Picchu. The ride will take us around 20 minutes to get to the top of the hill.  Our aim is to get to the ancient citadele when the sunrise over the city.

The first impression of Macchu Picchu is its fantastic location which mix very well with the whole nature around it.  Very far away at the back the Andean mountains and snow peaks. The whole view it will just take your breath away that is for sure.

Our guide will give you a 2 hour guided over this Inca tour and after this you can explore the mysterious city by yourself.

If you have done the arrangements during your Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days tour, you will know that in order to climb the mountain of Huayna Picchu at 2.720m/8,890ft above the sea level, you will need a permit. To climb the Huayna Picchu mountain which is the one facing the ancient city, It takes around 45 minutes to reach the top.

Once you finish exploring the city or part of it,  your guide will meet you in Aguas Calientes to have lunch and to receive your train tickets back to Cusco. The return to Cusco takes about four hours with a bus transfer in Ollantaytambo to Cusco.

Please note: allocations or Itineraries are subject to change depending on time of bookings and campsites provided by INC (National Culture Institute that runs the Inca Trail).

We want to thank you in joining this Ausangate Trek and Machu Picchu 11 Days tour and now you have become part of our extended Inca family.  Our reward will be to pass now your experiences of this tour to your friends and family.  

Finished your breakfast, you will get transfer to the local airport for you to take your flight back (according to your airline schedule).  Have a safe journey.

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