8 Day Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu (Land Only)

Once you get to Cusco airport, we will pick you up and take you to your hotel and give you a briefing about the places you will be visiting during the tour.

This tour will start visiting Cusco's colonial heritages mixed with its mystical Inca background.  Your guide will provide you all the information on the places you will be visiting. Later on, you will have the late afternoon at your own leisure to carry on exploring Cusco's nightlife or trying some of its many typical restaurants. We will very happy to suggest you places according to your taste

As part of this trip, we will travel to the Sacred Valley.  As you may know, the Sacred Valley is one of the most representative and beautiful landscapes of Cusco.  

We need to leave Cusco during the morning time at around 08:00 am and head towards Pisac village.  We have chosen this location as part of our Inca Trail Express to Machu Picchu 5 days 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.

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

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

The 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.

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 its local sacred mountains and Valleys.

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

At 05:00 am we will pick you up in Cusco heading to Mollepata, we will get ready for our 3 hours hike to Cruzpata and have lunch on the top.

We will have a delightful lunch, seeing the panoramic views of the snow-capped mountains of Humantay at 4,120m or 13,500ft and far in the distance the Salkantay mountain at 6,271m or 20575ft. Once we finish our lunch, we will start again the trek for a few more hours towards our first campsite located in Soraypampa. Soraypampa is the highest and coldest campsite of the trip, sitting at 4000m / 12750ft.

After having a great breakfast, very early at 05:30 am we leave to the third pass,  halfway between two big mountains, Salkantay on the right and Tucarhuay on the left at 4, 650m/15, 200 ft above the sea level. Being in the middle of two snow-capped mountains have no comparison and meanwhile trekking on this side of the mountains, we may have the chance to get some snow falling.

At some point, we will have a break and continue afterward through cloud forest to Huayracpunku and have lunch there. The hike will lead us to the lower jungle.  We will be walking for around 3 hours until we reach our second campsite at Colcapampa (3000m/9800ft). We may encounter other campsites at Challway or Andenes to camp but it all depends on the pace of the group.

This time we will leave at 06:30 am. Our trail will lead us to through the upper jungle, crossing the Lluskamayo River through a series of small brooks and creeks.  Around us are the valleys delighting us with their waterfalls, tropical fruits. Later on, and after hiking a bit, the trail ascends slightly before descending for the rest of the day towards La Playa.  At this place, we will set up our campsite in this warm climate of La Playa (2500m/8202ft) and have a break there.

We will have the chance to go to the hot springs and relax our bodies after all this journey.

We will leave La Playa to trek 30-minutes to Lucmabamba there we will get to Llactapata site, an incredible Inca fort from which we will see at distance Machu Picchu.

Llactapata fortress was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham ( locals at the time knew about this place but keep for themselves) on the same journey when he rediscovered Machu Picchu in 1911. The Inca site has a lot of vegetation around it so it will give you a good idea of what Machu Picchu at first glimpse would look like when Hiram Bingham observed the citadel in front of him.

Afterward, will be descending downhill for another three hours. On our way, downhill will be passing a variety of plantations of coca, bananas, and more until we reach the Hydroelectric dam to take our lunch.

From hydroelectric we will following the valley railway system until we get to Aguas Calientes town. Finally, we made it! We almost near Machu Picchu.  We will check in at our hotel have a nice hot shower and spend the night. For those who would like to try the local hot springs, this is an available option to go get at this town.

To get in time for the sunrise over Machu Picchu we need to leave the hotel at least by 05:30 am, before that you all need to take your breakfast too.  There will be a bus to catch to get to the ancient city, the ride takes less than half an hour, as it is uphill, it could take us a couple of hours climbing it.

The royal residence of the Inca seems to be the last bastion before the Spaniards took the whole Empire.  In time this ancient city will be abandoned and get lost.

The citadel Inca gives us a mixed feeling on one side the glamour of its construction on the other an absolute peace of being in harmony with nature.  Our guide will give us a tour, and show us the most significative locations within the construction. You'll learn about the Incas ways of living and after that, you’ll have time to explore Machu Picchu on your own.

Once your tour in the ancient citadel has finished, we will meet up in Aguas Calientes and get the train back to Ollantaytambo from where you will carry on by bus back to Cusco.

At your request we can arrange, an extra night in Aguas Calientes. Please, let us know whether

After you have finished your breakfast, our private transport will arrive at your hotel and get you to the local airport according to your flight itinerary.