Peru Guide
The Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu
Trekking the Inca Trail
For a basic Inca Trail tour a reasonable price to pay is from around $300 (low season) to as much as $400 (high season) for a standard three- or four-day trek. If you want the best, expect to pay more. Frequently, those around the $350–450 mark offer good value in their guiding service, food, camping equipment quality and the all-inclusiveness of their price offers. If you have to pay for entry separately, the cost is $88 or $55 for the one-day pass from Km104 to Machu Picchu via Wiñay Wayna.
Even doing the Inca Trail with a guide, you will still benefit from a map, and you should be aware that within the Santuario Histórico de Machu Picchu, which incorporates the entire trail, you must only camp at a designated site.
So many people walk this route every year that toilets have now been built, and hikers are strongly urged to take all their rubbish away with them. Trekking companies will organize porters and maybe mules to help carry equipment. It is still possible to hire pack horses ($8–12) yourself – if they're available you'll spot them by the ticket office (or ask in the village of Huayllabamba) close to the start of the trail – to help carry your rucksacks and equipment up to the first pass, but beyond this pack animals are not allowed. Porters are used by most trekking companies and they normally charge a minimum wage of at least $10 a day for carrying up to 25 kilos, though they clearly deserve more. Porters are usually encountered in the plaza at Ollantaytambo, or in Huayllabamba, distinguished by their colourful dress.
If you can only spare three days for the walk, you'll be pushing it the whole way – it can be done but it's gruelling. It's far more pleasant to spend five or six days, taking in everything as you go along.
It's important to make time to acclimatize to the altitude before tackling the Inca Trail or any other high Andean trek, especially if you've flown straight up from sea level.