Four days on an original Inca road over a 4,215m pass, arriving at Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate. Capped at 500 people a day and booked six months out.
What it is
43 kilometres of the original Inca road network, running from the Urubamba valley over two high passes to arrive at Machu Picchu through Intipunku, the Sun Gate, on the morning of the fourth day.
It is not the hardest trek in this guide and it is not close. What makes it different is that you are walking on the actual stones, past a sequence of Inca sites — Llactapata, Runkurakay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca, Wiñay Wayna — that almost nobody who takes the train ever sees, and arriving the way the road was built to be arrived on.
The permit system
You cannot walk it independently. Every trekker must be with a licensed operator, and the total is capped at 500 people per day including porters, cooks and guides — which works out at roughly 200 actual trekkers.
Permits are released for the year and the popular dry-season dates go within days. Book six months ahead as a working rule, and more for June to August.
The trail closes for all of February for maintenance and because the rains make it dangerous.
Your passport number is on the permit and is checked at the trailhead. It cannot be transferred or resold.
The four days
Day one is the gentlest: from Km82 at 2,600m along the river, about 12km, camping around 3,000m.
Day two is the hard one. A long climb to Dead Woman’s Pass at 4,215m, then a steep descent. This is where altitude decides how the trek goes for you.
Day three is the best: a second pass, then a long descent past three ruins with the cloud forest closing in.
Day four starts around 3.30am to reach the Sun Gate for sunrise, then down into Machu Picchu.
Fitness and altitude
The fitness required is moderate; the altitude is the real variable, and it does not correlate with how fit you are. Spend at least two nights in the Sacred Valley — Ollantaytambo at 2,800m is better than Cusco at 3,400m — before you start.
The stone steps are the thing people are unprepared for: thousands of them, uneven, steep, and worse going down than up. Trekking poles with rubber tips (required — metal tips damage the stone) make a real difference to knees.
The porters
Your kit is carried by porters, who are legally weight-limited and whose conditions vary substantially by operator. Ask a company directly what it pays, what it provides for footwear and sleeping equipment, and whether it uses the legal weight limit as a maximum or a target. The cheapest quotes are cheap for a reason.
Tipping at the end is expected and is a meaningful share of their income.
If you cannot get a permit
The Salkantay trek — five days, higher at 4,630m, wilder, no permit cap, and many people prefer it.
The Lares trek — three days, lower, through weaving villages, more cultural than archaeological.
Choquequirao — a four to nine day trek to a site nearly as large as Machu Picchu with a fraction of one per cent of the visitors.
All three end with a train or bus to Aguas Calientes rather than the Sun Gate, which is the one thing only the Inca Trail gives you.
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Torres del Paine
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