Today is a  day  of moderate difficulty hiking to help us ease into the trek. We pick you up at 4 am from your hotel and take you on a 4 .5 hour bus ride to Soraypampa. After packing up all that we need for the day, we’ll begin our trek to the  Humantay Lake. The hike to the lake takes about  4 hours covering a distance of about 4 miles. This part of the day will signify our training for what is to come in the following days. After we reach the lake and enjoy the stunning beauty of this place, we will return for lunch to Soraypampa.  In the afternoon, we will continue our hike to Salkantaypampa 4200m where we will be camping in an “off the beaten path” area, surrounded by the most fantastic views of the snow-capped peak Salkantay 6276m.  It is worth mentioning that hardly anyone camps here, so we will be able to enjoy this beautiful spot in complete peace and tranquility.

From this point on we will be hiking on the “off the beaten path” area of the Salkantay Trek, while everyone else will be heading to Santa . Teresa, our trail will lead us to the Inca Trail. Climbing up the valley towards Salkantay Mountain we take a side path that leads us up and over the Incachiriaska Pass (Frozen Inca Pass, 5158m / 16495 ft.) which is the highest point on the trek.  This part of our itinerary will be the most challenging one in terms of the difficulty of the hike and the altitude we have to gain, but our expert guides will make sure you succeed at reaching the mountain pass.

The views in this alpine area are once again amazing.  The immensity of the Salkantay mountain makes you feel entirely dwarfed by the sheer size of this peak.  There you can get a sense of why the Inca’s worshipped it as a god. The whole area is adorned with small mountain lakes of varying hues and colors, with a bit of luck, we will hopefully see a variety of the Andean wildlife such as Viscachas (rabbit-like Chinchillas) and the White-Tailed Deer and perhaps even some Andean Condors, Guanacos and Vicunas. From the mountain pass, we will carry on down for about 2 hours till we reach our lunch place and from there another two more hours until we get to the small community of Pampacawana (4000m / 13123 ft.) where we will camp for the night.

Early in the morning we will leave our campsite at Pampacawana and make our way down the valley to join the Inca Trail at Wayllabamba. Along the way, we will visit many Incas sites that correspond to the greater Inca trail system, such as ‘Paucarcancha, Wayllabamba, and Patallaqta,  Our guides will make sure you explore these ancient sites and give you the proper historical and archaeological information about them.  Our goal for the day is to visit the most stunning Incan site of the Machupicchu Sanctuary called Wayna Qente. This beautiful place is a secred jewel hidden in the furthermost area of the Sacred Valley within the national park which is barely visited by tourists.  After lunch, We will continue our hiking for another 5 miles until we reach our campsite at Piscacucho. 

On this day we will go on a 30-minute car ride to the train station at Ollantaytambo, From here we will go on a 1.5-hour train ride to the starting point of the Short Inca Trail. This part of the itinerary will allow us to get the most out of Machu Picchu’s new regulations.  The walk to Machu Picchu Picchu takes about 6 hours. on a distance of 8miles or 12Kms.    We will arrive in Machu Picchu at sunset for our first visit to this wonder of the world.  After the city is closed, we will catch a 30-minute bus ride to our hotel in Aguas Calientes.   

Early in the morning we will walk from our hotel to the bus station for the shuttle buses to Machu Picchu.  The line to catch the bus takes approximately an hour, and the bus ride itself takes approximately 30 minutes.  Once we get to Machu Picchu, our guide will give us a final walking tour bringing together all the lectures we have listened to throughout our 4 days as we tour the most important sites of Machu Picchu. 

After the tour, people who booked their tickets in advance have the optional climb of Huayna Picchu mountain 2720m/8923ft. The whole circuit takes approximately  2 hours; 45 minutes to and hour to reach the top. and 45 minutes to go down the hill.

The trip back to  Cusco starts usually at 2:55PM. The ETA for Cusco is 7:30PM.