4-Day Inca TrailThe 4-Day Inca Trail is our most popular trek and one of the most famous treks in the world. If you decide on the Inca Trail, you will walk on the same land that Incas walked generations ago to reach the ancient citadel of MACHUPICCHU. You will also experience the Andes’ richness and diversity and see incredible Incan sites, unforgettable views, snowy mountains and jungle-cloud forests, where the exotic vegetation includes one hundred varieties of Orchids among other extraordinary ecological variety.
Without having hiked the Inca Trail, you cannot fully experience and understand MACHUPICCHU. After hiking the trail, you will understand major Incan ceremonial rituals and you will feel a part of the work of spiritual art. You will feel as Incas did when they walked the trail as a sign of devotion to their community and religion.
The four days of hiking covers about twenty-eight miles, starting at an elevation of 8,400 feet above sea level and ending at 7,800 feet above sea level. The highest mountain pass that you will cross is at 13,700 feet. Considering the elevation and mileage, the trail is well-managed and provides for good hiking conditions. The guides who will take you are certified-professionals and are fluent in English and Spanish. Your guide will explain the significance of each ruin along the way and will also point out interesting flora and fauna, as well as their uses among locals. You will be provided with excellent equipment as well as nutritional and delicious meals. Friendly porters will accompany your group and carry tents, food and other equipment.
Group Size 3-8 people per group. We occasionally bring slightly larger groups in the event that a group over 8 people wants to travel together. In this case, we will send an additional guide.
INCLUDED SERVICES
- Transportation from your hotel to the start of the trail
- Entrance fee to the trail and MACHUPICCHU
- Bus ticket from MACHUPICCHU to AGUAS CALIENTES where you will enjoy your last meal as a group
- Train ticket back to CUSCO at the end of your journey (backpacker class).
- Camping equipment such as an igloo, water proof, spacious tents, a kitchen tent manned by a professional cooking staff, dining tent and a toilet tent. We also provide you with mattresses, camping chairs, and a camping table. Our guides are equipped and trained to use a First-Aid kit, oxygen and a radio to communicate.
- Complete meals during the trip (you’ll never be hungry!). When you wake up in the morning, you will be greeted at your tent by a selection of teas, as well as soap and a bowl of water to wash your face. Breakfasts include milk, coffee, herbal, dark and coca tea, and a combination of bread, butter and jam, pancakes, scrambled eggs or oatmeal. For lunch you will eat traditional Andean food. Dinner includes chicken, beef or lamb, fish with potatoes, pepper or other main dishes. Snacks include fruit, chocolate candies, or sandwiches. We also provide our famous tea-time which includes a buffet of teas, popcorn and other delicious goodies.
Something unique to Wayki Trek is the WAYKI OPTION. Only available if you do the 4-Day Inca Trail, you can spend a night with our porters free of charge. We will transport you and a guide the night before to a porter’s house in the countryside to enjoy a typical Andean meal and spend the night chatting with locals. You will see a typical Andean kitchen and learn some nighttime countryside traditions. One of Wayki’s priorities is sustaining good relations with porters by providing them with the same food as the tourists during the trek and creating the Wayki option to connect the porters and tourists. We are the only travel agency in Peru that offers this option.
Prices
Adult $440 US dollars or s/ 1,170 nuevos soles (Peruvian Currency)
Student $410 US dollars or s/ 1,080 nuevos soles (with valid student card)
Depending on your physical fitness, the hike can be strenuous. If you would like to lessen your load, you can hire an extra porter to carry your belongings. You can either hire a porter to carry 8 kilos (18 pounds) for s/120.00 nuevos soles ($40) or a porter to carry 15 klos (33 pounds) for s/240.00 nuevos soles ($80).
NOT INCLUDED:
1. sleeping bag (you may rent a sleeping back from our office)
2. Lunch on the last day after visiting MACHUPICCHU.
3. Tips for porters and guide
RECOMMENDED PACKING LIST
1. original passport
2. hiking backpack
3. warm clothes for the nighttime
4. flashlight or headlamp
5. insect repellent
6. sun block cream
7. water purifying tablets
8. raincoat
9. personal medical kit
10. personal toiletries
A NOTE ON GROUP SIZE
Wayki Trek is committed to taking small groups because we believe small groups make it easier to walk together and enjoy nature on the trail at your own pace. People are more likely to arrive to each checkpoint at nearly the same time. In smaller groups, you will make connections with people on your tour, sometimes lasting for the duration of your travels in Peru and onward.
Small groups also require less space in campsites, enabling the guide to select the best location. Additionally, the cook and porters are able to have closer relationships with the tourists, can meet individual needs and can more easily tend to environmental issues such as waste disposal and contamination. With a smaller group, your guide will also be able to pay closer attention to personal health and safety issues.
HOW TO BOOK
To protect the historic trail, the number of people allowed on the trail each day is limited to 500 (including hikers on the 2-Day and 4-Day hike and all tourists, porters, cooks and tour guides). For this reason, you should reserve your spot as soon as possible. Sometimes the spots are filled three to four months in advance. To reserve the Inca Trail, we need to send your personal information to the Inca Trail Regulator Office. This office needs all reservations at least four days from the start of your hike. Note that spots will fill more quickly in the high tourist season (June through September).
To reserve your spot on the trail with Wakyi Trek, each person must pay a deposit of $200.00 and then pay the rest at our office in Cusco before your trek beings. To register, send an email to reservas.waykitrek.net with the following information: complete names, passport numbers, date of birth, nationality, and gender. Let us know the date you are looking to hike and we will send you back the availability. To make the deposit, use WESTERN UNION (http://www.westernunion.com/). The recipient’s name is Gorki Dalens Paucar. Once you have made the transaction, you will need to send the money transfer control number (MTCN). Notice that only the complete details and the money deposit will prove your participation in any of our trips. Following Inca Trail laws and regulations, we use the money deposit to buy your entrance fee to MACHUPICCHU. To get the student discount, please send us a scan of both sides of your student card through email at the time you wish to reserve your spot. Valid student cards include the International ISIC cards and college and high school student cards that contain the student’s name, institution and expiration date.
ITINERARY:
DAY 1: START OF THE INCA TRAIL We will pick you up in the early morning from your hotel and take you in one of our privately owned vehicles to the start of the trail, stopping at a place to have breakfast before beginning the trek. There, you will begin the journey, warming up on the relatively flat part of the trail. After two hours, you will reach the first archaeological center of PATALLACTA, where we will appreciate the impressive landscapes, flora and fauna. This site and others will show the importance of this valley in the context of Incan history. After lunch, we will continue ascending to a semi-tropical valley for two hours until arriving at our camp, HUAYLLABAMBA, where we will spend the night.
DAY 2: HUAYLLABAMBA – PACAYMAYO After breakfast, we will start hiking early on the morning of the second day, passing through different climatic and ecological zones. We will ascend to WARMIWAÑUSCA. We will walk amongst abundant vegetation with various types of trees. This pass is known by many as the world’s highest cloud forest. After the toughest part of the journey, an ascent of nearly 5 hours, we will arrive at the highest point, known to some as Dead Woman’s Pass. From there, we will take a well-deserved break and observe the beauty of the deep valleys. If we’re lucky, we will see the flight of the condors and will pass among the thick clouds in the sky. After this rest, we will descend towards our second camp at PACAYMAYU.
DAY 3: PACAYMAYO – WIÑAYWAYNA From PACAYMAYO, we will climb steeply up the opposite side of the valley wall, towards the second pass. About halfway up lies a small, round, roofless stone building. This Incan ruin is known as RUNKURACAY, a building thought to have been an astrological site and a sort of checkpoint for couriers following the trail to MACHUPICCHU. After a short tour, we will continue to ascend towards the second pass, the Abra de RUNKURACAY. On the far side of the pass, the trail descends towards a valley and a shallow lake. At this point, the trail changes from a dirt path to a narrow stone roadway, containing the exact stones that were in place when the Inca’s walked the trail. The trail after the pass leads to a second, larger Inca site, SAYACMARCA (“Town in a Steep Place”). This Incan ruin was built on a rock overlooking the trail and is accessible only via a single narrow stone staircase. On the left of the staircase lies an overhanging rock wall and on the right a sheer drop with expansive vistas of the Peruvian countryside. This site is roofless and slightly overgrown, but the walls still stand strong and the shape of the fortress can easily be seen. We will also see a stone aqueduct, which once carried water to the farmlands. After touring SAYACMARCA, we will descend to the valley floor. The roadway takes the form of a long causeway leading across what may once have been a shallow lake. We will stop at this valley to enjoy lunch. After lunch, you will begin to climb again. At this point, you will pass through interesting Incan structures, including a tunnel that is eight meters long and wide enough to allow humans and animals to pass through. After this tunnel, we will reach the third pass and enjoy the third Incan site, PHUYUPATAMARCA ("Cloud-level Town"). We will learn about the ritual functions that the Incan used this site for. Here we will see baths that Incas bathed in before they reached MACHUPICCHU. The highest bath the reserved for the nobles, while the baths lower down on the side of the structure were used by the lower class. After this Incan site, we will reach another one, WIÑAYWAYNA, ("Forever Young"). At this site, we will enjoy your dinner and settle for the night.
DAY 4: MACHUPICCHU On the last day of the trek, we will wake up early and follow a wide, relatively flat path. After about an hour and a half, we will climb a narrow flight of stone steps leading to INTIPUNKU, the sun gate. After three and a half days of trekking, we will look through the rectangular doorway of the sun gate and take in your first views of MACHUPICCHU. From there, we will descend into MACHUPICCHU. There, your guide will give a thorough, two to three-hour tour. Following the tour, you will have time to yourself before taking the bus to AGUAS CALIENTES and having your last meal with the group.
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