Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

Salka­n­tay Trek — 5 days, 4 nights, 80km hike to Machu Pic­chu. It was tru­ly an amaz­ing expe­ri­ence, but also quite tough. Par­tial­ly wan­der­ing through old incan trails, we could see the most stun­ning land­scapes of the andean regions. We start­ed at Lagu­na Human­tay — a turqoise glac­i­er lake at 4200m above sea lev­el. We spent our first night, in some mod­ern glass domes. Unfor­tu­nate­ly it start­ed “rain­ing” in the inside, caused by our own con­densed breath­ing moist.

At day two we walked up to 4600m through the Salka­n­tay Pass at Salka­n­tay Moun­tain. In such alti­tudes with less oxy­gen in the air, we had to walk very slow­ly. In con­trast hik­ing down was fare­ly easy. Day three was less hik­ing and more enjoy­ing a bath in the hot springs. Great for the mus­cles to pre­pare for the com­ing hike. On the fourth day we hiked 26km to Hidro­elec­tri­ca and Aguas Calientes over moun­tains at which top we could final­ly see Machu Pic­chu in the far. The last day we spent hik­ing up Machu Pic­chu — 1800 stairs — soak­ing wet through the rain. To sum­ma­rize, we definet­ly deserved being in Machu Picchu.

Additional insights of Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

Our agency, which orga­nized the whole Salka­n­tay Trek has the appro­pri­ate name Machu Pic­chu Reser­va­tions. The hike was well orga­nized. Hence, Que­cho our cook, pre­pared great and fresh food. At night we most­ly slept in tents with near­ly always access to some sort of hot show­er. We decid­ed for the more expen­sive option to get back to Cus­co by train (instead of bus) from Machu Pic­chu, because it‘s not just quick­er on the one hand, but you can spent more time at the his­tor­i­cal site as well.

All in all we paid around 400 US-Dol­lars per per­son — 210$ for the agency, includ­ing the entrance fee to Machu Pic­chu. Insane­ly 70$ for a 1,5h train ride (blame the train com­pa­ny). And 120$ for addi­tion­al food, entrance fee to the hot springs, tips for cooks and guide and water. Think­ing of what we have expe­ri­enced and the great orga­ni­za­tion, it is a quite rea­son­able price.

Are you inter­est­ed in fur­ther infor­ma­tion about beau­ti­ful peru­vian des­ti­na­tions. Then I rec­om­mend fol­low­ing gal­leries: Peru All, Col­ca Canyon, Lake Tit­ti­ca­ca