Short Inca Trail To Machu Picchu Day 01: Cusco – KM 104 – Inti Punku – Machu Picchu.
We will pass through your hotel at 04:15 am, and we will travel for 1 hour and 40 minutes to the Ollantaytambo train station, then we will travel by train for 1 hour until we reach KM 104 where we will get off our train to start our Short Inca Trail To Machu Picchu, once we pass the control, our chef will be waiting for us with the porters who will have our breakfast ready. After breakfast we will start our walk and just 5 minutes away is our first stop called Chichu Bamba, a beautiful archaeological center with water fountains and ceremonial places, our guide will give us the introduction to the road and tell us the history and use of this place. From this place our path will be a gradual ascent with stops along the way to enjoy beautiful panoramic views, we will arrive at a beautiful waterfall where we can enjoy our snack, then we will continue our walk to visit a beautiful archaeological site called Huiñay Huayna, this is one of the most beautiful places that you visit even in the classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. After that we will continue our hikee to enjoy our delicious lunch prepared by the chef.
After finishing our lunch, we will continueour Short Inca Trail To Machu Picchu for 1 more hour until we reach the Sun Gate or Inti Punku, from this point we will have the first view to Machu Picchu, we will take some time to rest and enjoy this beautiful view, then we will continue our walk 50 minutes more until you reach this magical sacred city of the Incas. The advantage of doing the Short Inca Trail To Machu Picchu is that we will arrive at Machu Picchu in the afternoon so there will be no people visiting the place, we will be almost the only ones and be able to take beautiful pictures of Machu Picchu without people. Once finished with our photos we must leave Machu Picchu and take our bus down to the valley and we will arrive to our camp where our walking team will wait for us with everything ready. After dinner we will say goodbye to them because the next morning we will leave very early, the tips will always be well appreciated by them, however, this is voluntary and according to your level of satisfaction.
- Walking distance: 12 km (miles)
- Estimated walking time: 07 hours
- Hotel: Inti Punku 3 *** or similar
- Altitude Machu Picchu Village: 2,050 meters above sea level
- Weather: Warm and Humid.
Short Inca Trail To Machu Picchu Day 02: Machu Picchu (World Wonder) – Return to Cusco.
This is one of the most important days of your stay in Cusco. After 1-day hike, we will finally visit the world wonder, the sacred city of the Incas, Unesco’s cultural and natural heritage; Machu Picchu. Our recommendation is to get up early to appreciate the sunrise at Machu Picchu (subject to weather conditions) and take the energies of this sacred place. Your guide will pass through the hotel and will go to the bus station, it will be a 25-minute trip to the entrance gate of Machu Picchu. Once there, do not forget to use the toilets for the last time since there are no toilets inside Machu Picchu. You will have a guided tour of approximately 3 hours visiting the temple of the sun, temple of the Pacha Mama, Inca house, chacana temple, the Intihuatana, the temple of the condor, etc. In our Tour to Machu Picchu, we do the most complete route so you do not miss any place, you will have time to take your pictures, enjoy beautiful views, etc.
If another extra walk is encouraged you can request the entrance to Machu Picchu Mountain or Huayna Picchu, however, this will be confirmed according to the availability of space at the time of booking, this mountain is quite popular and the entrance is limited to 200 people by group, from June to September is recommended to book at least 3 months in advance. In case we get space for this extra walk, your guide will show you the way you should take to make this extra hike. However, this has an additional cost of $. 75 dollars per person.
Whatever the case may be, once you have finished your Machu Picchu Tour, you must go down to Machu Picchu Pueblo to enjoy a lunch (Not Included) before getting on your train that will leave at 14:30 pm to Ollantaytambo, once you arrive to Ollantaytambo our staff will be waiting for you an transfer to your hotel in Cusco.
We are known for providing a personalized service and a unique experience, visiting the attractions in not overcrowded hours and for using out the beaten tracks, we guarantee 100% satisfaction and we care a lot for your safety during our tours. This Short Inca Trail is available from March to January, we do not operate in the month of February for your safety since there are lot of rains and landslides that may occur.
Group tour
$. 549 usd per person
Group tour means that your reservation is open so that other people can accompany you on your walk, however, our groups will never be larger than 14 people and with 02 guides, a guide can take a maximum of 08 people.
Private tour
Our specialty is private tours and we will provide you with the best service, the price depends on the size of your group. However, a minimum of 02 people is required to book a Private tour, unless you want to exclusively walk alone then please contact us at info@pptoursperu.com
02 people $. 859 usd per person
03 people $. 799 usd per person
04 people $. 749 usd per person
05 people $. 699 usd per person
06 people $. 649 usd per person
07 people $. 599 usd per person
08 people or more. $. 549 usd per person
Discount for students
Discount $. $ 25 per person.
The student discount applies to those who have CURRENT STUDENT CARD or are under 17 years old, whatever the case, we need that at the time of booking you send us a copy of the passport and the student card, and must bring the originals to use the ticket purchased as a student. Please send the copy to info@pptoursperu.com. If you are traveling with children under the age of 8, please contact us and send your travel document to obtain a higher discount.
Additional services
For this tour you can hire some additional services available that we detail below:
Entrance to Huayna Picchu $. 75 per person
Entrance to Machu Picchu Mountain $. 75 per person
360º train only return $. 65 per person
Round trip 360º train $. 95 per person
Walking steaks (a pair). $. 15 per person
Single room the last night $. 49 per person
Breafing (Previous Information)
All information sessions are held in our office at 06:00 PM the night before your trek. If you cannot assist to this talk please contact our office staff to serve you better.
Arrive in Cusco
The airport in Cusco is currently quite small and only for domestic flights, so all international travelers by plane must disembark in Lima and go through Customs. Even if your flight to Cusco is the same day by the same airline, you must pick up your bags in Lima and then register them again.
The best way to get to Cusco is by air and there are several airline options. LATAM tends to be the most expensive, but it has more flight options. But you also have PERUVIAN, AVIANCA, STAR PERU, LC PERU to choose according to your preference. Expect flight delays or cancellations, due to the high altitude of Cusco, tends to be difficult to land so that on rainy days you can paralyze air traffic. Bus tours are always available and although the journey may be long, especially from Lima, Peru buses are well maintained and are comfortable. This option is recommended if you come from a city closer to Cusco like Puno or Arequipa. Buses from Lima will take around 20 hours to arrive to Cusco.
Pick Up from The Hotels.
We pick up all our clients from the hotel for all tours. While your hotel is in the center of the city of Cusco, we will coordinate this pick up with the guide at the information session. Pick-up times may vary between 20 and 30 minutes depending on traffic conditions and hotel locations.
Cusco is an ancient city with cobblestone streets and very narrow corridors. Very small hotels and Air BNBs are often located on streets that cars cannot pass through. They are also usually located on the side of the hill, with long and steep climbs to the property, difficult to maneuver with luggage. We recommend that you do not stay in one of these places and try to find places where there is easy access to carry your bags.
Leaving Machu Picchu requires a lot of logistics, but everything is included in your journey.
From Machu Picchu Ruins to Machu Picchu Pueblo, you will take a 25-minute bus. The buses are in order of arrival and you can take any of those in turn.
From Machu Picchu Pueblo, you will take a train to Ollantaytambo or Poroy station. Your guide will give you your train tickets. Make sure you get to the platform 30 minutes ahead of time.
- The train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo is 2 hours.
- The train from Aguas Calientes to Poroy is 3.5 hours.
Once you arrive at the train station, look for our staff with a PPT sign. He will take you to the Plaza San Francisco, Cusco.
- The trip on the van from Ollantaytambo to Plaza de San Francisco is 2 hours
- Travel by van from Poroy to San Francisco Plaza is 30 minutes
Once you arrive at the Plaza San Francisco our staff will be waiting for you to separate you and send in pre-paid taxis to your respective hotels.
Entrance fees to Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu now has two hours to visit: morning or afternoon. Your ticket will be for a single entry, in the morning, once your time is done, the guards will ask you to leave.
Morning turn: 6AM – 12PM
Afternoon turn: 12PM – 5:30 PM
NOTE: If you have tickets to climb to Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain, you will have additional time until 2:30 PM. And you can re-enter for a single time as long as it is within the time of re-entry (05 hours from the first entry)
If you want to spend all day at Machu Picchu, we can add a ticket for the afternoon group to your reservation for $ 50 per person.
Huayna Picchu / Machu Picchu Mountain
Machu Picchu is more beautiful when viewed from above, so it is very popular to hike one of the mountains next to the ruins after your guided tour.
Huayna Picchu is the most popular and must be booked in advance … it sells very fast. This hike takes approximately 50 minutes to the top and 40 minutes downhill to the bottom. There are 2 schedules or groups to enter this mountain. The first group is 8-p am and the second is 10 am to 11 am. Again, this refers to when you can start your hike and normally we reserve the second option so you can first enjoy your tour with your guide in Machu Picchu. This walk will be done on your own, but your guide will show you where to start.
The Machu Picchu mountain is a little longer and less popular. It takes 2 hours to reach the top and 1.5 hours to reach the bottom. There are also 2 visiting hours: from 7-8 am and from 9 am to 10 am and we usually buy for the second group.
Health Concerns
It is important that you be honest with your guide about any health problems you may suffer. Although the guides are not medical professionals, they are trained in first aid. We also work with a clinic in Cusco that can help our team.
You are responsible for evaluating if a trek is suitable for you. You should consult your doctor to confirm your physical condition to travel and participate in any planned activity. You should seek advice from your doctor about vaccinations and medical precautions. Peru Private Tours will not provide medical advice. It is your responsibility to assess the risks and requirements of each aspect of the Tour based on your own circumstances, limitations, fitness level and medical requirements.
If during the trek you get sick of extreme altitude or any other illness that not allows you to continuing with the journey, but you want to visit Machu Picchu by train, we will work with you to coordinate this trip. This will be a new trip and may involve additional costs. We will use as much of the logistics purchased from the original route to keep rates low.
If you experience problems while walking and cannot continue, a porter will escort you to the nearest road and wait while a car comes to pick you up and take you to the nearest health clinic.
Group trips
Group tours are made up of different types of people, with different walking skills and ages. By accepting a group trip, you understand that some people may be slower or faster than you. Everyone can make their own pace for the walk, the guide will work through the group to spend time with everyone. Groups can request some modifications to the tour and the guide will work with everyone to make the best decision for the group.
Strikes
Unfortunately, strikes are very common in Peru and can cause many interruptions in our Tours. Roads are often blocked, trains stopped. We will do everything possible to operate your Tour, even before the start date. Some tours may be canceled under these circumstances. Our Operations Department will coordinate with you in this situation. Your safety is always our main concern and will determine how we decide.
Lost Items
You are responsible for your personal items throughout the Tour. Be diligent about where you leave your stuff and remember to remove all items from our vans, tents, restaurant, etc. Do not leave anything involuntary while walking. Other hikers or teams can pick it up without knowing to whom it belongs.
Weather
The climate in Cusco and Machu Picchu is unpredictable. In general, the dry season in Cusco is from April to October, but this does not prevent the rain from falling in June or the sun coming out in December, just prepare for any weather condition. No matter which month you take the hike or excursion, or which tour you are on, make sure you have adequate clothing that includes a waterproof jacket, pants, poncho and waterproof gloves.
Also be prepared for four seasons in a day. Many of the excursions through the Andes involve many microclimates and you will have to be prepared for all seasons. The layers are always key because they are easy to adjust to different temperatures. And the nights will always be cold, so get ready with a warm jacket.
Altitude sickness
As soon as the people reserve the trip to Peru, specifically to Cusco, they begin to wonder about altitude sickness. High altitudes contains less oxygen than at sea level and forces your body to work harder to get the oxygen it needs. For few days at high altitude your body adjusts to the least amount of oxygen in the air.
The first symptoms of altitude sickness may be; headache, fatigue, followed by loss of appetite, nausea or vomit, dizziness, trouble sleeping, difficulty breathing during exercise. If any of these effects worsen, contact our office and we will help you get to a doctor.
Most of the time, these symptoms will be mild. We always recommend easy activities and walk slowly, allowing your body to adapt. Drink plenty of fluids such as water or coca tea. Coca tea has been used since ancient times to help prevent altitude sickness. The leaves of the coca plant contain alkaloids that help carry oxygen to the blood, helping your body avoid the effects of altitude sickness. Avoid drinking a lot of alcohol and coffee because it will make you urinate more often and you will become dehydrated. Avoid smoking, Smoking makes it difficult for your body to get oxygen. Avoid sleeping pills. They can cause shallow breathing at night, which makes it difficult for your body to absorb oxygen while you sleep.
Many people prefer to visit the doctor to give them a treatment with pills even before traveling to avoid problems during their stay. Your doctor may prescribe medications, such as acetazolamide and dexamethasone, to help prevent altitude sickness. Start the medicine two days before reaching a high altitude. Continue taking it while you are at high altitude.
Travel insurance
To protect your travel investment, we recommend buying travel insurance. Getting travel insurance before leaving home is highly recommended and very easy. There are many insurance companies depending on your country of origin and at different prices according to your time of stay, take some time to review them and hire the one that best suits you. This is an excellent way to protect yourself while visiting Peru.
Community
At Peru Private Tours (PPT) we are proud of the work we do for our community. This is the main objective for our company. We are working directly with the villages to help them meet the needs of their families. We support the children of the villages by giving them school supplies, books and clothes.
We buy all our food from farmers and local markets and serve the freshest ingredients. We offer constant training for all our team: guides, porters, chefs and drivers. We are a family born in the Andes and we want to work with them and for them. That is why once a year we bring our porters and their families to Machu Picchu. We want our team to know the world wonder, since they work tirelessly at the doors of this place without ever visiting it and showing them this place is our greatest honor.
Another advantage of booking with Peru Private Tours (PPT) is that we will provide you with the best camping equipment and fresh and quality food, probably one of the best you will have during your stay in Peru.
FOODS
All our walks have a professional chef included, one specialized in high mountain cuisine who prepares delicious dishes that you would have never imagined trying on an adventure route. We will provide you breakfast and lunch served in a family style where all meals will be in large trays in the middle and from there everyone will be served whatever you want, all will be served hot and fresh. The key to enjoy a walk is to be well fed and that’s what we take care of.
We gladly cater for food restrictions, it does not matter if you are vegetarian, celiac, gluten free, it will always be a pleasure for us to serve you.
More information about our meals you can check HERE.
Our adventure includes a porter, however, they will only accompany us on the first day and until lunch.
Our porters whom we affectionately call the super porters. They are the reason and pride of our company, without their hard work and help it would be impossible to make the walks in different places, for us more than part of the team is our family and they are the reason for us to be different from other companies.
Our porters
The owner and founder of Peru Private Tours (PPT) was born in one of the communities where most of our porters come today, worked on the Inca road as a porter from 2006 to 2008 and knows the hard work involved in being a porter, to walk every day with a heavy load on the back and when arriving at the camp where instead of rest continue working to prepare everything for our visitors. Likewise, he lived in his own flesh as some companies treated and paid better to their porters than others, however, not enough was done for them and their families. We could not have a company without them and that is precisely why we want them as our family, we want to know them, listen to them, help them in everything that is within our reach to improve the quality of their lives, of their children and their families in general.
All our porters range from 18 to 50 years old and come from different communities near Parobamba, where the founder of the company was born, we employ around 50 porters. Quechua is their main language and many of them do not speak Spanish, being a carrier is a secondary economic activity for them because they are mainly farmers.
- Inca Community Cancha 10 porters
- Yuraq Turuyoc Community 15 porters
- Parobamba Community 20 porters
- Community Bombón 5 porters
Our commitment to our porters.
As we said at the beginning we could not exist without our porters and they have promised us that they will work hard and do everything they can to make our visitors live a wonderful and unique experience, so we too have committed ourselves to do everything necessary and everything possible to help them and improve the quality of their lives. In addition to doing everything possible to make your job as difficult as possible at the same time as comfortable as possible.
The communities where our porters live are 3 to 4 hours away from Cusco, what we do is provide everything you need before, during and after the walks. To enter the Inca Trail, the porters must pay an income of S /. 45 soles or $. 15 dollars, we pay that income very apart from your payment for work that we always try to be better than any other company. Payment for your work is made on the last day of the walk directly in cash, avoiding you having to make a trip to our offices, so they can leave quickly with their families. All of them have health insurance that covers medical care because of their hard work, unfortunately this is not common since they are free workers and they are not on payroll, even so, we want them to be healthy and strong and we hope that other companies will follow us. We provide them with all the necessary equipment so that they can carry out their work in the most optimal way possible. We visit their communities to provide them with basic needs such as toothpastes, brushes, soap and school supplies for their children.
This is only the beginning for us, because we have so much to give back to them for the enormous work they do, we are sure that all this will continue, it would not be possible to do all this without the support of our clients who often send us donations of any kind to make them reach our porters.
Feeding of the porters.
Our porters eat as much as you do on the walk, our chef is responsible for buying enough food for everyone and prepares enough food so that we are all well fed at the end of the day. When you see that we serve large amounts of food, none of this is wasted because they will share it with pleasure, in addition to the products we buy and have not finished, the porters are distributed at the end of the walk and taken home to enjoy it with the family, we make a new purchase for each walk.
