Pre-trek briefing:
You will have through briefing with your guide 1 or 2 days before your 1 Day Inca Trail Trek.
Your guide will meet you at your hotel and you can take this opportunity to ask questions and make any final preparations.
Day 1: Cusco – Ollantaytambo – Km104 – Wiñay Wayna – Sun Gate – Machu Picchu – Cusco
Your guide will pick you up at your hotel at 4:00am in Cusco for the journey with our private transport to the train station of Ollantaytambo. (If you prefer to begin in Ollentaytambo, we will pick you up at your hotel at 6:00am).
Before boarding the train at 6:40am in Ollantaytambo, we will provide your box lunch, which you carry in your daypack. Then, you and your tour guide will take the train for 1 hour and 30 minutes to the beginning of the Inca Trail, called km 104 (2,000 m / 6560 ft. above sea leave).
After passing the checkpoint, your tour guide will take you to visit the archaeological site Chachabamba. This inca site was one of the last shelters used by the Incas pilgrims before they reached Machu Picchu. The Chachabamba Inca site features several fascinating buildings, and your guide will be delighted to share the history with you.
After that, our inca trail starts with steady ascent for around 3 hours, climbing the original Inca stone step, with several outlook points where you will stop to have an expansive view of the Urubamba River. Along the way we will see some inca site such as Choquesuysuy and other. We will also find a beautiful waterfall before reaching Wiñay Wayna (2,650 m / 8,694 feet). These incredible Incan ruins have a fascinating history and some parts are still hidden by dense jungle.
After exploring the archaeological site of Wiñay Wayna, you will walk for 5 minutes to the lunch spot and have time to eat your delicious box lunch provided by our company, admiring the surrounding tropical flowers, then relax and recharge your energies. You will also see the campsites where people doing the classic Inca Trail spend the night before reaching Machu Picchu.
After taking some time to enjoy the views and take many photos, we continued walking downhill following the classic Inca trail for approximately half an hour towards the ruins of Machu Picchu. Once there, take some time to enjoy the views, take memorable photos, and fill your spirit with the energy of this place. You will then have a 2-hour guided tour of this incredible ancient city and visit temples, terraces, palaces, priests’ houses, the intihuatana, the industrial sector and the crop fields.
After having visited Machu Picchu, we will continue to the main entrance where we will take our bus to Aguas Calientes. In the afternoon, we will take our return train to Ollantaytambo station and private transportation back to Cusco and drop you off at your hotel around 10:00 pm.
- Meals: Box lunch
- Hiking distance: 12 km / 7.46 miles
- Walking time: 6–7 hours
- Lowest elevation: 2,040 m / 6,693 ft.
- Highest elevation: 2,720m / 8,924 ft.
- Physical rating: Moderate