Inca Jungle Trail to Machu Picchu 3 days / 2 nights

At Inka Trail Backpacker, providing a personal experience and ensuring you are thoroughly prepared for your trek is very important to us. Before you depart on the Inca Trail trek, you will receive a briefing in our office. At the briefing, you will get to meet our staff, receive maps and a detailed description of each day of your tour, be given duffel bags if you have hired a porter, and have the opportunity to ask questions.

Our team of guides are all local to the Cusco area and speak both Spanish and English fluently. Many of them also speak Quechua (the native language of Peru). With degrees in tourism and with two years minimum of experience under their belts, they are full of energy, information about the native flora and fauna, and the Inca sites, with a vast knowledge of Andean stories and legends.

The size of your group depends on the day’s activity. The maximum size of our group service is fourteen people, and the minimum is two to three people. For groups of over eight people, we also employ an assistant guide to help out (the assistant guide is a fully qualified guide but may lack some of the experience of the main guide or still need to improve his/her English skills.)

Yes, you must be moderately fit and exercise regularly to do this trek! Your first day will be spent bike-riding downhill on the road; the second day will involve several kilometers of walking over “Andean flat” terrain.In preparation, try walking ten kms per day or go to a fitness club in the months leading up to the trek. It is also important to be well acclimatised to the altitude. Try to spend at least three or four days in Cusco (3350m/11,047ft) prior to starting the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu.

If you plan to renew or change your name on your passport between making your trek booking and starting your trek, you can book your trek or tour with your current passport number or name, but you must send us a copy of your old passport and a copy of your new passport when you have them. We can then make the change with the government before you arrive. The extra cost to make the change is US$25 per person. (This will cover the change in number or name for your Inca Trail Permit, Machu Picchu Entrance, and train.)

If you do not advise us of the change or do not want to pay the fee, bring the original of both passports (the old and new one). You can enter Peru with your new passport but you must show the government authorities your old passport in order to enter the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu or train. If you cannot do so, you will not be allowed to start your trek by the government officials. All names and numbers must match!!

Your return train to Cusco is the Expedition train, which departs either at 7:00 pm or 8:20 pm. We can also book an earlier train (2:55 pm, 4:35 p.m, or 6:20 pm) for you if you prefer, at an extra cost of US $25. The train we will book depends on availability and will be confirmed at your briefing. There is also an option to upgrade your train to the Vistadome train which is an extra US $65 per person. Please let us know your preference at the time of booking the tour. Unfortunately, none of the trains go straight to Cusco—they run either to Ollantaytambo or Poroy. In either case, we will transfer you back by bus to your hotel in Cusco.

It may still be possible to make changes to your return train ticket if you don’t want to take the train you originally booked. You will have to take your train ticket personally to the train station in Aguas Calientes and ask them to change the return ticket for an early one. You will probably be asked to pay an extra administration fee, which will depend on the train service and departure time. Changing the ticket will be subject to availability of spaces on the train.

All of the hostels have clean, private bathrooms. However, bathrooms along the trail are limited, and you may have to pay (usually 1 sol) to use them. If you do need to use the toilet between sites, please defecate away from the trail and water supplies; you can dig a hole, or cover your feces with a rock, and take the paper with you in a bag to deposit in one of the several bins along the way.

Ziplining is available as an optional activity on this tour. It is not included in the cost of your trek and is an additional US $30 per person. River-rafting is not available on the three day Inca Jungle Trek.

In the hostels, there are three types of room available: matrimonial (one double or queen size bed), double (two beds), or triple (three beds). If you are traveling alone, you will share a room only with other members of the same sex. A private room can be made available for an additional cost. Each room has a private bathroom.

No, you can put your daypacks in the support vehicle, which will follow behind us as we ride down the road. However, you will not be able to access the packs during the ride. Therefore, if you have an extremely small or light backpack which will not interfere with your riding ability, you may want to carry it to hold sunscreen, water, or other essentials. (There are water bottle holders attached to the bikes).

The bike ride portion of the first day will last approximately three hours which is 55 kilometer approx

To avoid altitude sickness on the trek, we recommend that you spend time in Cusco or in the Sacred Valley beforehand. If you have never been in high altitude, we recommend that you first spend a day in the Sacred Valley, because it is at a lower altitude than Cusco city.

Yes, you must be moderately fit and exercise regularly to do this trek! Your first day will be spent bike-riding downhill on the road; the second and third days will each involve several kilometers of walking over “Andean flat” terrain.In preparation, try walking ten kms per day or go to a fitness club in the months leading up to the trek. It is also important to be well acclimatised to the altitude. Try to spend at least three or four days in Cusco (3350m/11,047ft) prior to starting the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu.

As of July 1st, 2017, tourists will be able to access Machu Picchu from either 06:00 to 12:00 or from 12:30 to 17:30. Given this limit, we highly recommend that you book your tour far in advance, especially if you are interested in going during the peak tourist season (May to September). Machu Picchu entrance tickets and train tickets are often sold out weeks in advance.

Yes, all our tour guides take an oxygen bottle with them along the trail and will provide oxygen as needed.

On the morning of the trek departure, we will pick you up from inside your hotel in Cusco (don’t wait outside in the street) and drop you off either in the Plaza de Regocijos ( next to the main square) or Plaza San Francisco (two blocks from the main square) upon your return to Cusco. You won’t be dropped off directly at your hotel/hostels.

It helps us if you try to stay in a hotel/hostal that is within a few blocks of the Plaza de Armas (Main Square). If your hotel/hostal is far away from the main square we will ask you to come to our offices with the exact location and name of your accommodation. If you are not staying in the city center, we cannot pick you up from your hotel. You must take a taxi to the center.

The guide will come into your hotel and ask for you at reception. Because the centre of Cusco is full of small cobblestone streets, our larger bus/van is not permitted to enter certain zones in the city centre, so you will then have to walk a short distance to where the bus/van will be waiting for you. Traffic regulations prohibit large buses/van from entering the main square but usually after 10pm we don’t have a problem and will be able to drop you off in the main square upon your return. You can then take a taxi back to your hotel (between US$2 to US$4 for a taxi).

If we have to drop you off in Plaza San Francisco, you may be a bit disoriented (some people may need to be woken up!!) but we recommend that you ask for directions to the Plaza de Armas and our guide or driver will be happy to help. It’s only two blocks away, but usually it’ll be quite late at night so it is best to walk together as a group back to the Plaza before taking a taxi or walking back to your hotel.

Yes, the Machu Picchu entrance is included in the tour package. However, if you want to add any extra activities like climbing Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu mountain, it will cost 20 dollars extra per person, but please note that the 20 dollars is valid only before we book your entrance fees. If for some reason you want to add this extra climb once we have booked the ticket, it will cost you 65 dollars per person.

No, as a company, we do not have any hidden costs which is why we list everything that is not included in our tour on our own website. However, we highly recommend that you take some extra money with you on the trek (about 300 soles, at least). Small bills in soles are recommended.

Yes, all meals are included except the first breakfast on the first day, and lunch/dinner on the last day.

At meal times we will give you tea, coffee, etc to drink. During the trek, you may have to buy water directly from the local people, which is possible approximately every two hours. Remember that the price of the water will be more expensive than in the city.

We recommend bringing no more than a 35 or 40L backpack to carry your things, as you will carry it yourself on the second day.

We require a minimum group size of just two people. During the last few years, Inka Trail Backpacker has always managed to meet the minimum group size for ALL of our departure dates and has never had to cancel any group departures due to group size.

In the unlikely event that we do not reach the minimum required number of persons, we reserve the right to combine our clients with another trekking company of similar cost.

No, transportation to and from the airport is not included in your tour. Please plan accordingly.