Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

Early morning transfer from your hotel with private transport driving approximately 2.5 hours to the village of Mollepata (2,800 masl) .. Hopefully you can continue to rest until about 5.00 am when you can enjoy the views and then around 7am we will have breakfast and a brief look around the village with time for you to buy any last minute provisions.

It is a further 1.5 hours to Soraypampa, (3,800 masl) and we hope to start hiking from here around 9am. We begin with a gentle climb for about 3 -4 hours to Soyrococha, (4400 masl).

Stunning area for lunch at the base of Salkantay mountain with time to rest with vista to the glaciers. From Soyrococha we continue to climb steeply for 1 hour to the Salkantay “Apacheta” Pass (4,600 masl) where your guide will lead you in some traditional rituals at this the highest point of the trek. From here we descend for 2 to 3 hours to the campsite at Huayracmachay. (3,800 masl) or another 40 minutes down hill walk to the cozy “Andenes” campsite.

After early breakfast we depart our campsite around 6-6.30, descending approx 1 -1.5 hr to Arrayanniyoc (3,300 masl). From here we start seeing the changing vegetation, indication of the high Jungle zone called or Cloud forest and we often see humming birds and varieties of orchids. We continue through the Ceja de Selva with gradual descent and enjoying level areas of “pampa” for approx 2 .5 hours to Challhuay 2,920 mt observing different kinds of plants, fruits, flowers and birds plus coffee and banana crops. Another 1 km gentle walk to Collpapampa 2,800 mt and then a further 40 minutes to Wiñaypoqo (2,600 masl) where we will have lunch around noon and rest near the waterfall here.

The afternoon follows a gentle descent through 300 metres for approx 4 – 4.5 hours to the small high jungle village of La Playa 2,300 mts where we will spend the night.

Approx 07:30 am we begin our trek to the village Lucmabamba where we see the remains of an Inka trail. We follow this rising trail, from which we will see coffee, banana and passion fruit plantations and a lovely view of the Santa Teresa Valley. After climbing for 4 hrs to reach Llaqtapata 2,700 masl we can enjoy some free time to rest and observe the mountain of Machupicchu (Inca city) and some of this archaeological site from afar. Then 2 hours down-hill to the Hydroelectric Plant at 1,870m where we have the last lunch with all of our staff. The arrieros, horses and donkey herders will prepare their return back to Soraypampa and we head to Aguas Calientes town. At 16:00 pm we will take a 45 minute train journey to Aguas Calientes town 2,000 msl. Hotel night

arly bus for 25 minutes to the Citadel of Machupicchu, guided tour for 3 hours and plenty of free time for further exploring. Bus down to Aguas Calientes town and lunch then get on board to the train back to Cusco and to the hotel.