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Inca Trail or (CCAPACÑAN) trek to Machupicchu is considered the best trekking route in the world due to the exquisite beauty of the place and its surroundings. It includes different ecological areas, from high mountains to the Andean subtropical cloud forest. Following this wonderful ancient path, you will be hiking past these beautiful and mysterious archaeological sites, many of this covered by jungle overgrowth by vegetation. And finally, arriving at the lost city of the Incas, Machupicchu, or the world’s seven wonders. Highly recommended for those people or families active outdoors who want to enjoy the pure nature of the region and hike the Inca trail that leads to Machu Picchu. Every trip is conducted by professional tour leaders, which makes your trip a lifelong experience. Our service includes native Quechua-speaking guides and porters to make your experience better than other companies. Our cook’s experts will provide delicious meals with balanced menus during your trip. We are a 100% local Company. The five-day itinerary Inca trail trek offers you the most enjoyable in every expectation to absorb every moment the pure nature, trek for short hours every day in a spectacular environment to become a lifelong experience in Peru.
Today our trekking crew led by our guide will pick you up from your Hotel and drive to Ollantaytambo to have a quiet optional breakfast, after you will drive for 45 minutes to the starting point, Piscacuchu or km 82. Where you will meet our field staff loading the gear, your guide in hand will introduce you to all teams, including cooks, and porters. And guests too. Then you will pass a checkpoint with park rangers, we will start our adventure hiking up and down a gentle path along the Urubamba River with outstanding views of snow-capped mountains Apu Huacayhuillca. (Veronika Mountain) plus the Urubamba mountain range. Until we arrive at Llactapata Inca remains, where you will stop to enjoy the views, and our guide will explain them to you. After you continue hiking in Kusichaca River valley until our first campsite Huayllabamba a small local community, today during your hike, you will stop to have lunch
Distance: 12 km
Time: 6 to 7 hrs
Altitude: from 2600 m to 3000 m
Today after a healthy breakfast. We will pass the second checkpoint. During our ascent, we will find different ecosystems, such as a primary Andean forest and Andean grassland. This ascent will take us, for five hours, approximately, until we reach the highest pass. Warmihuañusca, or dead woman, passes 4200 m. 14,000 ft. Here you will enjoy the view of 360 degrees. Of Huayllabamba valleys and Huayanay snowed-capped mountains. After enjoying your free time and taking plenty of photos. Also, an overview of the other side of the way, down to Pacaymayo Valley, You will descend for two hours until the camp Pacaymayo is located at the bottom of the mountain.
Distance: 12 km
Time: 6 to 7 hrs
Altitude: from 3000 m to 3600 m
After breakfast, we will depart from Pacaymayo a while later other trekkers. We will start our ascent by the original ancient pathway that takes us to the Runkurakay circular Inca remains. It is the beginning of a mix of Andean, and Amazon reach vegetation, where our guide will explain about the place. We will continue our ascent to the second pass, Runkurakay 3900 m; having enough time to absorb the pure nature and take our photos, we start our way down to Sayacmarka Archeological site where you will explore with our guide, from here the path goes up and down notice that the Inca Trail is well-preserved from this point with a wonderful construction using the natural landscape and geography. The trail crosses the Chaquiccocha, a dry lagoon, and we will cross the (tunnel) adapted by the Incas. In this part of the Inca trail, we will see Outstanding views of Salkantay and Pumasillo snowed capped located in the Vilcabamba mountain range. Until we reach our camp located above the clouds forest. Phuyupatamarka. Considered one of the most important ceremonial centers in the Incan time.
Distance: 9 km
Altitude: 3600 m to 3700 m
Time. 6 to 7 hours
Phuyupatamarca campsite, located on the Inca trail, is considered one of the most beautiful and unique places where you can observe the sunrise and sunset around you, with a 360-degree view of the Urubamba mountain range and Vilcabamba. You will also be able to observe the Machupicchu and Huayna Picchu mountains above it, highly recommended for those people or families who love photography. After enjoying the sunrise and breakfast we will start going down to explore the Inca site Phuyupatamarca. After, we will descend for 3 hours to Wiñayhuayna 2600mtrs. This part of the Inca Trail shows us all the way, through the high engineering skills of the Inca builders. We will keep going down to Intipata, the farming terraces with a magnificent view of the Urubamba River, then we will get to the Wiñayhuayna Archaeological site. After our free time on the site, we will go to have our last lunch, after lunch, we will have a thankful meeting with our trekking crew. From here, we will continue our hike towards Inti Punku 2700 m or the sun gate from where we will have the first spectacular view of Machu Picchu, we will continue our hike to the citadel of the new Seven Wonder of the world where we will have enough time to enjoy and take photos. Then we will head down to Aguas Calientes town, where you will spend the night in the Hotel.
Distance: 10 km
Altitude: 3700 m to 2400 m (Aguas Calientes town 2000 m)
Time: 6 to 7 hrs
After Breakfast, your guide will pick you up from your hotel for a short bus journey to the entrance of Machu Picchu. Today, you will explore this magical Inca city and enjoy learning about it was built and discovered for 3 hours. You will then have spare time to wander around, and if you got a Ticket for Wayna Picchu you can climb. Note. There are just 400 visitors allowed per day. You have to book in advance the entrance with us to ensure your permit. In the afternoon, we meet in the town of Aguas Calientes. From here, we take the train back to Ollantaytambo or Poroy, depending on the space and private transportation back to your Hotel Cusco.
The Cusco Region mainly presents two seasons, the rainy season, from November to April, with the heaviest rainfalls usually occurring between January, February, and March, and the dry season from May to October. The dry season is colder, so temperatures can drop to below 0 degrees at night.
Along the Inca Trail, the temperature ranges from 15-20°c during the day if it’s sunny, to 10-28°c during the day if not sunny, or 05-15°c at night in the first two campsites. At Wiñay Wayna and Machu Picchu, at a lower altitude, temperatures are usually warmer, though warm clothes are still recommended at night.
There are benefits and drawbacks to visiting Cusco and Machu Picchu during each season. The dry season is usually crowded at all the sites, and especially on the Inca Trail, you need to ensure your permit at least six months in advance.
The rainy season can be a very pleasant time for you who are looking to do cultural tours or for you who will design your vacations without trekking, including visiting Cusco and Machu Picchu with fewer people.
The altitude of Cusco city: 3400 meters
The population of Cusco: 1,300,000
With the new regulations of the Peruvian government, the Machu Picchu entrance tickets go on sale from 6.00 am to 3.00 pm.
With the new regulations from the Peruvian government, the Wayna Picchu tickets go on sale from 7.00 am until 10:00 to 11:000 am. The hike Will take 45 minutes up and 30 minutes down all the way. The step is not recommendable for people who have vertigo.
Note: It’s essential to book in advance to ensure your entrance tickets to the sites.
The hike will take you 1.45 hrs and 1:00 hrs down. The tickets go on sale in two windows of time from 6 to 7 a.m., and the second group is from 8 to 9 a.m. Takes longer, but it’s more beautiful.
It is the biggest problem in South America, not just in Peru. It can affect us on our tour treks. Roads are often blocked as well as trains stop their operations. Usually, the advice is two weeks in advance to prevent do not affect too much any of this country’s problems on our tours. In the worst-case, Private Machu Picchu Will let you know to cancel the tours or treks. Your health and safety are our top priorities.
Cusco has an airport, mostly for domestic flights from inside the country. Our international airport is Jorge Chavez in Lima.
LATAM Airlines is the biggest company that operates in Peru and has connections all over the world. It is the only airline that doesn’t have too many cancellations in the weather conditions here in Cusco. The time flight from Lima to Cusco is one hour. You can always connect your flights to Puno, Arequipa, Puerto Maldonado Jungle, Iquitos, or the north of Peru, in our extension tours.
There is always a bus option from Lima to Cusco. The time will take you 22 hours.
Peruvian cuisine is recognized for its biodiversity of products and continues conquering the whole world. Peruvian food is being awarded internationally for owning the most delicious food in the world.
The Cusco Region has unique gastronomy for the use of local products like potatoes, quinoa, corn, a variety of vegetables, and its exotic fruits, plus guinea pig and alpaca meat. Your travel expert will recommend restaurants that you can visit here in Peru and Cusco.
On our treks, we provide you with delicious food. You just need to make sure to let us know your dietary restrictions before departure on our treks, as well as our chefs are well-experienced in cooking in the mountains.
Posted on Global556405Verified Machu Picchu/ Inca Trail Sacred Valley and Rainbow Mountain Jose organized our trip and guided us through the Scared Valley, Inca Trail, Machu Picchu and Rainbow Mountain. Everything was well organized and he gave us great advice on the planning. Because it was a private group he was able to be flexible and change the plan to better suit our goals. There were little touches daily that made the trip that much more special. Highly recommend.Posted on Mountain Slayer KEVerified Authentic Peruvian Cultural Immersion This being my second visit to Peru, I was not prepared to be totally overwhelmed by the attention to detail, in depth knowledge, hands on engagement of the team. I thought I knew Peru, but Josè and his team showed me and allowed me to fully immerse myself in authentic Peruvian culture and not only do I recommend them 100% but actually look forward to my 3rd trip to Peru because the knowledge and experience plus expertise they have, cannot be unpacked in one trip.PS: Plan your trip around the Inti Raymi Festival. It's an experience you cannot capture in words. Amazing!Thank you for an amazing trip of a lifetime Private Machu Pic-chu!Posted on AbfabtravelsVerified A Very Special Experience Wonderful experience with this small local company. Created a personalised, 5 day itinerary, organised all the transport, accommodation, admission tickets etc. Same private guide throughout. Made the trip very special!Posted on DKilleenVerified Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, and birding adventure We took the 5 day/4 night Inca Trail Trek with Private Machu Picchu, and added an extra day in Machu Picchu Pueblo for birding and exploring. This was a perfect experience from beginning to end. Private Machu Picchu assembled an amazing team of Porters, Chef and Guide who all took great care of us. Our Chef Carmelo made the most delicious meals; we could not believe that anyone could cook so well on a camping trip. (Check out the picture of the cake he made on the last night!) The porters were really efficient and friendly, although we did not speak any Quechua. And our guide Alex was the best possible guide, more about that in a minute. We chose the longer Inca Trail trip in order to have a leisurely experience, to be able to take time to do some birding, and check out the archeological sights and scenery. I would recommend the longer trip to anyone who asks. The other nice aspect of the 5 day trip is that it puts you on a different schedule than most of the other trekkers, so we hardly saw anyone on the trail until the last day, and it was very relaxing.Our guide Alex was perfect, especially if you enjoy birding. He is an expert birder, knows all of the bird calls, and was able to point out many birds that we would never have found on our own. He also shared a wealth of information about the Incas, Machu Picchu, medicinal plants of Peru, Quechua culture, and had lots of stories to keep us fascinated and entertained throughout the trek. He tried to teach us some Quechua but we were not very good students. All of the other guides we met along the way knew, and clearly respected Alex; it was sort of like traveling with a celebrity. After Machu Picchu, we spent an extra day at the Pueblo. The hot springs were very nice. We also visited Mandor on a birding hike. I highly recommend this trip and Private Machu Picchu, who put it together for us. I have attached a few pictures which may better help to convey the beauty of this amazing part of the world.
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