Inca Trail Journey
From the Pacific to the Andes: Lima, Cusco at 11,150 ft, the Sacred Valley, and four days on the Inca road. Almost everyone arrives at Machu Picchu from below, off the train. You arrive from above, on foot, through the Sun Gate, and the same afternoon's train covers the way back to Cusco.
The trip
Day by day
Day 1 · Lima
Arrive in Lima
A late-afternoon landing and a straight run into Miraflores, the district Lima built along the cliff edge above the Pacific. The clifftop is a chain of parks the length of the neighborhood, with paragliders working the updraft off the face. The evening is open on purpose: two nights at sea level make Cusco, two miles higher, much easier.
Overnight in Lima
Day 2 · Lima
Lima City Exploration, Larco Museum, and Water Circuit
A guided day through Lima's historic center, laid out by Pizarro in 1535 and run as the capital of Spanish South America for the next two hundred years. Then the Larco Museum and its five thousand years of Peruvian gold, ceramics and textiles. The evening is the Magic Water Circuit, where the fountains in the old city park run to music after dark.
Overnight in Lima (Breakfast)
Day 3 · Lima to Cusco
Cusco City Tour and Sacsayhuaman Ruins Discovery
Cusco sits at 11,150 feet, so the first few hours are yours to settle in and the sightseeing waits until afternoon. It starts at Qoricancha, where the Spanish built a church straight onto the Temple of the Sun, then climbs to Sacsayhuaman, the fortress above the old capital, with the whole city open below. Last is the little lookout fort at Puka Pukara, out where the road turns down toward the Sacred Valley.
Overnight in Cusco (Breakfast)
Day 4 · Cusco
Sacred Valley: Pisac Market and Ollantaytambo
A full day down into the Sacred Valley, which runs lower and warmer than Cusco. The morning is Pisac, market stalls filling the square and Inca terraces curving around the hillside above it. Then the stone stairs at Ollantaytambo, the one place the Inca turned back Spanish cavalry, by flooding the plain below the fortress. Back in Cusco by evening.
Overnight in Cusco (Breakfast, Lunch)
Day 5 · Cusco to Inca Trail
Km 82 to Ayapata
Breakfast in Ollantaytambo comes before dawn, and the porters are loading while you eat. From the checkpoint at Km 82 (9,072 ft) the first miles run easy beside the river. They end at Patallacta, the terraced Inca checkpoint that controlled who came up this valley toward Machu Picchu. The climbing starts after lunch and finishes at Ayapata (10,830 ft).
Overnight: Campsite (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Day 6 · Inca Trail
Ayapata to Chaquicocha
Two passes in one day, and the trail never gets higher than the first. Warmiwañusca, Dead Woman's Pass, tops out at 13,829 ft after four hours of climbing, then gives back most of it into the Pacaymayu valley. The second pass drops to Sayacmarca, a village on a rock spur that a single stone staircase still reaches. Camp is twenty minutes further on at Chaquicocha (11,811 ft), the dry lake.
Overnight: Campsite (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Day 7 · Inca Trail
Chaquicocha to Wiñay Wayna
An easier day, and all of it losing height. The trail runs level through cloud forest to Phuyupatamarca, where Machu Picchu Mountain shows itself down the valley with the city still hidden behind it. From there it drops by stone staircase past the terraces of Intipata. Camp sits beside Wiñay Wayna, Forever Young, with time in the late afternoon to walk its terraces before the light goes.
Overnight: Campsite (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Day 8 · Inca Trail to Cusco
Wiñay Wayna to Machu Picchu
Camp is awake at three. The gate above Wiñay Wayna opens at half past five, the earliest the rangers will let anyone onto a trail this narrow. An hour of walking, the last of it up the near-vertical steps hikers call the Gringo Killer, ends at Inti Punku with the city laid out below. The Inca aligned the gate on the solstice sunrise, so the light comes through it and lands in the window of the Sun Temple. The last hour is downhill into the site, past the last of the terraces, for the guided walk through the ruins.
Overnight in Cusco (Breakfast)
Day 9 · Cusco
Departure
If the flight out is late enough, there is a last morning in Cusco: the steep lanes of San Blas, the artisan workshops, the market stalls off the main square. Then the transfer to the airport and your onward connection.
Meals: Breakfast
End of the adventure. Until the next one, bon voyage!
On the ground
Where you stay
- Lima (2 nights)
- Cusco (3 nights)
- Inca Trail · Campsite (3 nights)
4-star and 5-star hotel upgrades available on request.
The package
What's included
- 8 nights accommodation
- Meals: 8 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 3 dinners
- All ground transfers
- Guided tours and excursions
- Entrance tickets and permits
Not included
- Flights into Lima (LIM) and home from Cusco (CUZ)
- Meals not noted on the itinerary
- Travel insurance
- Tips and personal expenses
- International flights
Pricing
What moves the price
Season, hotel standard, and train class move the price most. Peak dates (Inti Raymi, Fiestas Patrias, Christmas and New Year) carry supplements.
Prices shown are for 2026. Inquire to check rates for future years.
Next step
Check my dates
Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and a trip specialist replies personally to confirm your dates and put the plan in writing.
- 1.A specialist checks your dates against the current access rules and what is still open: entry, train seats, and rooms.
- 2.You receive a written proposal with confirmed availability, your price, and payment timing.
- 3.A deposit reserves the trip and confirms your entry.