The Salkantay Trek

Trek amid the Vilcabamba mountains of Peru, then join the classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

This ultimate Inca Trail trek spends four days trekking deep in the majestic Vilcabamba mountain range before joining the classic Inca Trail for the approach to Machu Picchu. This high route skirts many of the great peaks and passes close to Mount Salkantay (20,574ft/6,271m) and its creaking glaciers. The trek continues through remote villages and crosses the spectacular Inca Chiriasqa Pass to finally join the classic Inca Trail before finishing at the famous Inti Punku (Sun Gate).  This trek also allows plenty of time to explore the Inca temples and fortresses of Cuzco and the Sacred Valley.

Our classic Inca Trail trip is designed to give you more time to enjoy the trail by arriving to Machu Picchu in the afternoon for iconic photos and overnight in Aguas Calientes.  We return the next morning, fresh and well rested, for our in-depth tour of Machu Picchu and train back to Cuzco.

People, Places & Planet

We work hard to create trips that improve life for the people and places we visit and look after the planet we explore. Find out more about our sustainable travel ethos and practice here and find out about the work of the Exodus Travels Foundation here.

Some sustainable travel highlights of this trip include:

People

How this trip helps improve life for local communities.

• The use of a local guide means our customers will be well informed about local traditions and cultural-social sensitivities.
• This trip brings income and opportunity to the destination community through the inclusion of locally owned hotels and restaurants, the emphasis on eating locally produced food, and by supporting other local enterprises.
• The porters we work with are not directly employed by our local partner, but we work with the same communities each year; they are fairly paid and we supply uniforms, walking shoes and provide safe transport and community support for them. Our trek manager is a leading figure and consultant for the Porters’ Federation, which campaigns for the fair treatment of porters in the region.
• We’re passionate about the welfare of our porters. Alongside setting the golden standard for fair treatment, we’ve taken the next step with our pioneering Porter Project. In Peru, despite trekking the Inca Trail numerous times, most porters never have the opportunity to visit Machu Picchu. We’ve taken the initiative to fix this and in 2018 started a project to ensure each of our porters has the opportunity to experience an important part of their own cultural heritage. We can now proudly say that more than 164 porters have been involved in this project and our mini-documentary, Carried Away, about our porters has helped raise awareness of the awesome job they do.
• Funded by the Community Kickstart Project, our operator is working with Medlife to deliver emergency food parcels to the households of porters and other staff members who have continuously worked hard to guide our clients along the iconic Inca Trail.

Places

How this trip helps protect and conserve local landscapes and nature.

• By travelling in a small group, led by a local guide, we ‘tread lightly’ to minimise our impact on local resources and the environment.
• Trekking trips have little detrimental impact on the environment and our entrance fees for the archaeological sites, museums and churches we visit, including Machu Picchu, help support their maintenance, restoration and upkeep.
• We work with our partners on the ground to proactively eliminate or reduce waste, for example eliminating all single-use plastic water bottles and instead providing refills for reusable bottles.
• We operate a zero-impact policy on the Inca Trail removing all waste from campsites and separating it so that it can be easily recycled or composted. This ensures no rubbish or plastic is left behind in the places we visit.
• Our local operator has been certified and verified by Rainforest Alliance since 2015.
• Our Animal Welfare Policy ensures all our trips adhere to ABTA’s industry-leading animal welfare guidelines to ensure the best possible practices with regards to working animals and wildlife viewing.

Planet

How we seek to keep the carbon footprint of this trip low.

• Through our Planet Promise, we have pledged to halve the carbon footprint of our trips by 2030 and made rewilding and carbon compensation commitments for every customer who travels.
• Accommodation and restaurants in the itinerary use locally sourced food which has not been transported long distances.
• Vegetarian and vegan options are available at majority of accommodation and restaurants.

Tips for sustainable travel on this trip

• Leave no trace: We do all we can to ensure we leave no rubbish behind in the wild and beautiful places we visit; we ask that you do the same. If there are no recycling facilities in-country, we’d ask you to consider bringing recyclable materials home with you.
• Plastic waste reduction: Please bring your own reusable water bottle on this trip; filtered water will be provided where tap water is not drinkable.

Is this trip for you?

This trip is graded as Activity Level 5 (Challenging). For more on our trip gradings, visit our Activity Level Guidelines page.

There are seven days of point-to-point walking with full porterage, reaching a maximum altitude of approximately 16,275ft (4,960m), average 11,645ft (3,550m). More strenuous and at higher altitude than the classic Inca Trail, this trek has sections with difficult underfoot terrain, particularly on the descent from the high pass, which has a lot of loose gravel. The walking days are generally not long but there are some steep climbs and descents. The paths are well maintained on the main Inca Trail, but there are a lot of irregular stone steps, which can be tiring on the knees, so we recommend walking poles.

Please note, it is essential you read the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu regulations in the Important Information section of the Trip Notes before you book this trip.

Some nights can be very cold (below freezing) and over the last few years there have been a few occasions where heavy snowfall has closed the Inca Chiriasqa Pass (Day 7). If this happens, the leader takes an amended route to join the Inca Trail. If the snow is very heavy, the group may retreat to Mollepata and then join the Inca Trail at Km82, the start of the normal Inca Trail. This is not a common occurrence but you should be aware it does occasionally happen (most likely in July and August although it is very unpredictable).

As this trip spends considerable time at altitude, we ask you to refer to the altitude warning within the Trip Notes. We spend three days in Cuzco (11,155ft/3,400m) acclimatising before starting the trek.

Protest action/strikes are not uncommon in Peru and, while these are generally peaceful, they can involve roadblocks and cause disruption to travel. Occasionally, your leader may have to adapt your itinerary in response to this.

Walking hours stated within the itinerary are given as approximates only. Timings stated include lunch and photo stops and vary depending on the group’s pace.

Following a review of all our trips we have categorised this trip as generally not suitable for persons of reduced mobility. However if you are a regular traveller on such trips, please contact customer services to discuss the trip and your personal condition.

Vaccinations and Health

Peru

There are no required vaccinations. However, recommended vaccinations include tetanus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rabies, typhoid, tuberculosis and yellow fever. Additionally, Zika fever, a mosquito‐borne viral disease, is a known risk in Peru. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available, so you should take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Please check all vaccination recommendations with your doctor or travel clinic.

Amazon: If you are travelling to the Tambopata reserve in the Amazon rainforest, the risk of malaria is slight, but you may wish to consult your doctor or travel clinic for further advice. We also strongly recommend that you obtain a yellow fever vaccination. Additionally, dengue fever and chikungunya are known risks in the Amazon region. Both are tropical viral diseases spread by daytime biting mosquitoes. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available for either, and therefore the best form of prevention is to take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites.

Visa

Peru

Travellers from the UK, US and EU normally do not need a visa to enter Peru. Please note, visa requirements often change and it is your responsibility to obtain any required visas for this trip. Therefore, we recommend that you check with the nearest embassy or consulate of your chosen destination(s), including any countries you may be transiting or transferring through.

Some local governments provide guidance on what visas their citizens need. To help, we’ve gathered a selection of useful links below.

• Australia: www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/americas/peru
• Canada: www.travel.gc.ca/destinations/peru
• United Kingdom: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/peru/entry-requirements
• USA: www.travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Peru.html

Food & Drink

All breakfasts, nine lunches and seven dinners are included in the tour price.

Peruvian cuisine is loved for its flavours and originality; it’s well worth digging into the local delicacies. Among these are ceviche (seafood or fish marinated in lime juice), lomo saltado (a Peruvian take on a beef stir-fry), and various hearty soups including the delicious quinoa soup. Other dishes include roasted cuy (guinea pig) and alpaca steak. To drink, there’s pisco sour, the national beverage.

Drinking water is provided as tap water in Peru is not safe to drink; boiled and filtered drinking water is provided on the trek and elsewhere your leader buys large water containers from which you can refill your bottle.

Hotel breakfasts are normally simple buffets, usually including bread/toast and jam, cereal, sometimes eggs or a cooked dish, sometimes fruit, tea/coffee and fruit juice. We cannot guarantee that wheat-/gluten-free products are available for breakfast in all locations – if you have an intolerance you may wish to bring your own breakfast food.

Where lunch and dinner are not included in Cuzco/Aguas Calientes, we visit a variety of cafes and restaurants.

During the trek, hearty breakfasts are served and good quality cooked lunches and dinners are provided. These usually consist of soup or a starter, a main course with meat/fish and some form of carbohydrates, followed by a dessert. Snacks are also provided. Tea/coffee is brought to your tent each morning and juice or hot drinks are provided with all meals during the trek.

Weather

The diverse geography of Peru results in a very varied climate between different regions.

Cuzco and the Andes have a temperate climate. December to March is the rainy season in Cuzco/the Andes and April to November is the dry season, characterised by clear skies and strong sunshine in the mornings, sometimes clouding over as the day progresses. Daytime temperatures are usually pleasant (approximately 20C/68F on average) but night times only 5C-10C (41F-50F), except for May, June, July and August when days are cooler and nights on trek are often below freezing, particularly at the highest camps where it may be around -10C (14F). In the Andes, anything is possible at any time of year, including cloud, rain or even snow, and rapid and unexpected changes!

Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu are in the cloud forest and, as such, attract large amounts of precipitation all year as clouds move up from the Amazon Basin. Rain here can be heavy but is seldom prolonged. Cold fronts sometimes occur from July to August.

Peru is affected by El Niño, a weather phenomenon whereby warming of Pacific Ocean surface water off South America drives a shift in the atmospheric circulation resulting in abnormally high levels of rainfall over parts of South America. These events occur at irregular intervals of two to seven years, and last nine months to two years.