All but five of the trails in this book end up following the ancient Inca road from the village of Huayllabamba to Machu Picchu, the route trekkers call ‘The Inca Trail’. In 1911 the Hiram Bingham expedition began to uncover this route and Dr Paul Fejos discovered more of it in 1944. The trails that don’t follow this route are the two-day route to Machu Picchu from Km104, the Riverside Trail from Km88 (for both see ‘Shorter trails’, p204), the Santa Teresa trek (see p226), the Vilcabamba Trail (see p238) and the Choquequirao trek (see p263).
The classic Inca Trail (3-4 days) (see pp185-200)
The classic Inca Trail starts at kilometre 88 (Km88) on the railway line that runs from Cusco to the jungle town of Quillabamba – the foot of Machu Picchu mountain is at Km113. The first part of the walk, from Km88 to the village of Huayllabamba, is a relatively gentle stroll taking you through eucalyptus groves and past the extensive ruins of Patallacta. The hike from Huayllabamba is more gruelling but it’s a superb walk through varied scenery and vegetation, travelling from barren grassland to encroaching jungle, through stone-hewn tunnels and over 4200m/13,750ft-high passes. At the end of your journey lies the legendary Machu Picchu, Lost City of the Incas.
The walk’s tough: it’s only 43km (261/2 miles) long but you walk up 2150m/ 7000ft and down 2100m/6880ft. Incidentally, the record time for running (yes, running) the trail is held by Edgar Rodríguez, the President of the Cusco Athletic League, who is said to have completed the trail in 3 hours 50 minutes.
Variations on the classic trail
Chilca (km77) along the Urubamba (4-5 days) (see p200)
Instead of starting at Km88, you can start further up the Urubamba at a village called Chilca (at kilometre 77 on the railway, so it’s also known as Km77). It’s a small place – blink and you’ll miss it.
The hike from here along the Urubamba to Huayllabamba takes a full day, but it’s not really worth it – you’ll see nothing along this route that you wouldn’t see if you started at Km82. Although it’s a pleasant stroll, the only real reason to do this trek is if you’ve got time to burn, or if your tour starts from here.
Km82 along the Urubamba (31/2-41/2 days) (see p202)
The compromise between starting at Km88 and Chilca is to start at Km82. This walk takes you further along the banks of the Urubamba than the Km88 hike, rewarding you with wonderful views down the valley; it isn’t so wearing as starting at Chilca. You’ll also pass the Inca hill fort, Inca Raccay, which provides a breathtaking view over Patallacta.
Shorter trails
Km104 and the Purification Trail (2 days in all) (see p205)
The path from the Inca site of Chachabamba (at Km104) to Huinay Huayna and the last part of the Inca Trail is a short exposed walk across an open hillside, not worth doing if you can afford the time to walk one of the other routes.
Alternatively, from Km104 you could follow the path along the river for 3km to the ruins of Choquesuysuy (see p207) and take the three-hour climb up the ‘Purification Trail’, an Inca path up to Huinay Huayna. The trail has been so named because Choquesuysuy is thought to have been a place of ritual cleansing for those approaching Huinay Huayna.
In the past you used to be able to stay at the Trekkers’ Hostel at Huinay Huayna, but these days trekkers from Km104 must push on to Machu Picchu and either camp below the ruins (see p278) or stay at Aguas Calientes (see p167) before returning to visit the site the following day.
The Riverside Trail from km88 (2-3 days) (see p237)
Rather than following the Urubamba river from Km104, you could simply follow it all the way from Km88. Though it avoids the passes involved on the Classic Trail it also misses out on all those dramatic views; it’s really just a pleasant hike along the river valley across forest- and grass-clad slopes rather than over mountain passes.
Chilca (km77) up the Silque Valley (5-7 days) (see p208)
This is a very beautiful valley walk on which you’re unlikely to meet many gringos. The area around here was once the land of the Bethlemites, the wealthiest religious group in the province, and the walk up the verdant Silque valley takes you through their rich and fertile old farmland. There’s a 4700m-/15,740ft-high pass to climb, and if you tell people you’re walking that way they’ll think you’re mad – it’s much quicker to get to Huayllabamba along the Urubamba.
The Mollepata Trek (6 or 7 days) (see p217)
Along with the Vilcabamba Trail (see below), this is the most difficult and most dramatic of the hikes in this book. You start in the village of Mollepata, and walk from the valley of the Apurímac to the valley of the Urubamba, over the shoulder of Mt Salcantay. There’s a 4950m-/16,235ft-high pass, and you pass within touching distance of the glacier that gives birth to the river Cusichaca. If you’re a glutton for punishment you can start in the desert heat down by the river Apurímac and add another day to this hike.
The Santa Teresa Trek (3-4 days) (see p226)
Closed by giant landslips in 1988, this recently reopened alternative route to Machu Picchu is not subject to the Inca Trail regulations (see p182), and has consequently become popular with those who have fallen foul of the rules. It is also less heavily used than the traditional route.
The trek begins from Mollepata and climbs over a pass (4700m/15,420ft) on the shoulder of Mt Salcantay before descending into the beautiful forested Santa Teresa valley. From here it clambers over a ridge into the Aobamba Valley and then joins the Urubamba valley, finishing at the foot of Machu Picchu mountain. Although there are few Inca ruins along the way, it is a very scenic walk through some of the region’s most picturesque landscapes and it does finish at one of the finest archaeological sites in the Americas.
The Vilcabamba Trail (6-9 days in all; 4 days walking) (see p238)
This trail takes you between the remote villages of Huancacalle and Chaunquiri via the ruins of Espíritu Pampa, believed to have been the site of Vilcabamba, the legendary last capital of the Incas.
This is a much tougher challenge than the classic Inca Trail: there are no designated campsites, the path is often very muddy in places and can be overgrown and the ruins themselves are nowhere near as spectacular as Machu Picchu. It’s the trek itself that makes this route really worthwhile, a remote and beautiful hike through many of Peru’s vegetation zones. Much of the trek is low-lying: altitudes range from 3800m/12,465ft down to 1000m/3300ft.
While there are only about four days of actual walking involved, you’ll need to add on the time it takes to get to and from the trail, plus perhaps a couple of days in Quillabamba or Huancacalle, meaning that the whole expedition could take anything between six and nine days to complete.
The Choquequirao Trek (4 days) (see p263)
This trek goes from Cachora to the ruins at Choquequirao, the first major Inca site uncovered outside Cusco, yet one which remains largely unexplored. Having reached the ruins at the end of the second day, you then retrace your steps and walk out along the same trail.
The trek is physically quite demanding as it involves a steep descent of 1500m/ 4920ft into the Apurímac valley to cross the river, followed by an 1800m/5900ft haul up the other side. It’s hot and dry, and there are few water sources along the route. However, the vertiginous Apurímac valley is spectacular and the ruins themselves, perched on a magnificent ridge like Machu Picchu, are fascinating.
Combining or altering routes
There’s scope for linking together many of these routes, or doing different bits of them, or doing them in a different order. See the map on pp22-3. There are also many other hikes you could take in these hills and many other places to explore. However, you should bear in mind that the park authorities don’t allow you to start at Machu Picchu and walk in the direction of Huayllabamba.
Two obvious alternative hikes are a Chilca circuit, and a hike from Mollepata to Machu Picchu via Chilca (see p236).
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