You came to the right place if you are going to Peru and planning Inca Trail on your itinerary.
- Arriving to cusco
- Inca trail overview
- Money saving tips
- Tips and insights for Inca trail
- NOT TO DO list on Inca Trail
- Additional usseful links
I’ve heard about Inca trail to Machu Picchu from my colleague in London. He was telling stories how he was camping and porters were carrying his stuff and making all those amazing food and how amazing sunrises were with a golden Andes mountains. I’ve started dreaming about this kind of trip to Machu Picchu. I had this dream even in 2012 before London, when I put Machu Picchu on my credit card and when the bank lady asked me why? I said it was my dream to visit it. It took me 11 years to make this dream true!
Two friends and me started planning this journey in April, which was 6 months before the actual hike on 10th of October. We did the research which company to book with and decided to go with Alpaca Expeditions as it was the one truly Peruvian company with a lot of experience. It was a total of 990 USD each. Note that you cannot do this trek on your own and it must be with certified company. I will tell you some tips on how you might save a little bit, or at least something to be conscious, in the end of this article, but definitely start planning at least 6 months ahead (in high season probably even earlier) as permits to Machu Picchu sell out quickly and only around 200 hikers and 300 of staff are allowed to hike on the same day (500 total).
Arriving to cusco
We arrived to Cusco straight from London (~12h) via Lima with a 12 hours overlay (just to be safe if there is any delay), just 3 days before the hike, to acclimatize to high altitude which is 3.4km (~ 11,000 feet). We did start taking Acetazolamide 2 days before coming to reduce symptoms of altitude sickness. Do consult your doctor before taking this medication as it can interact with other medications or can have contraindications to your medical condition. Stupidly enough, we’ve chose an Airbnb on top of the hill, in front of the entrance stairs to Saqsaywaman archeological site, in Cusco! I took those stairs only once and it was on the first day and it was difficult! If you go to Saqsaywaman or Statue of Christ you will understand what I meant by that! Luckily, Uber was very easy to call from our mobiles and get us to our Airbnb in 10-15 min and only 15 PEN per ride. However, It kind of made me scared if I can make it to the end on Inca Trail if I was struggling the stairs in Cusco and some of us were worried about that. The place we stayed did have amazing views of Cusco though, but I will tell more about it in another post about Cusco, so stay tuned!
I knew that we have to go to a briefing in Alpaca Expeditions office at 6:00pm a day before the hike, but I have totally missed out that we had to their office to register on the day we arrive! Thankfully one of my friends read the entire email and saw that! So we went to their office first thing in the morning a day before a hike to register. They did register with no problem, but they did ask to show the actual ticket when we actually arrived to cusco, which was enough to proof, that we were fine with altitute. Actually, I was struggling breathing with that altittude, so I wouldn’t say fine. Sometimes I was waking up at night gasping air, with a very dry mouth. Well at least no headaches thanks to the pills, just a weird tingling, like ants on my skin, in my feet.
We arrived to our induction a little bit before 6:00 pm. People started gathering in a small room, with chairs arranged in ‘U’ shape. We made some coca tea (from leaves of Coca tree) while waiting for others. We all had to double check our passport details that passport numbers match (those are very important for Inca trail permit and for Machu Picchu entrance ticket) in the spreadsheet and to confirm the things we’ve ordered additionally (mattress, sleeping bag). Some people did order matress and sleeping bags in the spot, but had to pay there (probably cash?). After all the checks were done, the guide Elisban continued introducing the hike plan, which was 42km and we had to reach Machu Picchu archaeological site in the morning of the 4th day. First day, 12km, second 18km, third 10km and last 5km, which was slightly adjusted from their map. I think that depends on the camping sites available. Some questions were asked about additional porter if needed (150 USD extra porter for a hike) etc and we were told to wait for pickup in our Airbnb from 4:00 to 4:30 am.

day 3 and day 4 coming!!!!
Inca trail overview
Money saving tips
- Sleeping bags were quite small, and me being 183cm (6’00”), had a big difficulty to sleep in it. Yes it was warm, but you were wrapped like a potatoe in a skin, so you might consider bringing your own instead of renting. Just make sure it is sufficient for low temperatures! That will save you 25 USD and you probably will have a better sleep in your size sleeping bag (especially if you already own it).
- Air mattress they provided for 20 USD, was quite bulky as someone mentioned that it weights 1kg. If you want to put more things in your duffel bag, you can easily save 0.5kg. You can buy (or maybe you already have one) a light terkking matress, which normally can weight from 0.5-0.6kg instead. This would be more cost effective than hiring an extra porter, which was mentioned to be 150 USD for the hike. This probably can give you better sleeping comfort than the mattress they provide, though it was sufficient.
- Consider carefully if you really want to do the optional Huayna Picchu hike, when booking as you can add it for 75 USD, but it is not refundable. In our case we were too tired and also we didn’t want to miss Machu Picchu guided tour. It all depends on your circumstances and physical strength, but think through before booking! We sacrificed those 225 USD among us three. If we had an extra day there, we probably could have done it the next day, but given we had barely 3 hours in Machu Picchu site it was not sufficient.
- You can pay in cash the remaining amount for the Inca Trail (minus the deposit) in cash if you want to save 5% of overhead for paying by credit card. We’ve decided to pay by card instead of bringing loads of cash felt unsafe and easy to lose (the outstanding balance was 2,370.00 USD). Also consider that most ATMs do charge a commission fee and they are limited to 400-700 PEN (Peruvian Sol) per transaction. So taking out 3000 PEN per person might cost you from 125 PEN to 180 PEN.
- Most of the ATMs do take commission, but it depends 25 (Scotiabank) or 35 PEN (most of other ATMs) per transaction. Also the maximum you can withdraw varies from 400 – 700 PEN. We also found out that our bank wasn’t charged the commission when using Banco de la Nación ATMs.
Tips and insights for Inca trail
- The most important is your daypack weight and your duffel packaging. I’ve made my packing list, but I will need to revise it as I’ve greatly overpacked. I would suggest using Alpaca packing list, which would have been sufficient.
- The second most important thing is the shoes. Make sure they are waterproof and protects your ankle and that they are comfortable and provides a good grip! I had Salomon Quest 4 GTX and I was very happy with them! Though we didn’t have rain, but I tried them out in another hike going through puddles of water up to ankles and it was perfectly dry!
- Choose your socks wisely! I did this mistake and took too warm socks for October. Yes merino wool socks are the best, but make sure the thickness is the right one as there are 3 level sof thickness: thin, medium, thick. I would say thin one would have sufficed for those boots, as I had medium ones and I was sweating, which caused some blisters. One pair of thin ones were perfect!
- Install and setup Whatsapp app on your mobile phone as that’s how you can contact the guides after briefing if any questions arise.
- Normally, the guides do provide coca leaves in the hike, which does really help with altitude and apparently all kinds of joint pains (according to locals, though there is no scientific evidence to support that), especially when hiking down the stairs. You can get them in the market if you want to have your own stash. Also you can buy the black charcoal, whis is typically made from illama or quipha plants. These plants are burned to create ashes, which are then formed into small pellets or cakes. The ashes contain alkalis, such as potassium and sodium, which help to release the alkaloids in the coca leaf, enhancing their effects. The coca leaves in Coca museum in Cusco had a really bad quality, so I wouldn’t recommend buying them there (more suitable for tea, than chewing as it becomes mush very quickly).
- If I would ever go again, I would probably take my own coffee, as the instant coffee they provide wasn’t something I like to drink. However, not sure if a normal coffee would be hot enough to brew in a cup just pouring on the coffee (due to lower pressure, lower boiling temperature of the water), but there is a handy portable espresso device (very pricy and extra weight, so be warned!).
- Pack your most important medicines and compeed plasters (there are different sizes or mixed one). Make sure you have medicine to stop diarrhea (such as Imodium, which helped me a lot) as all 3 of us did have it, just in different times. The guides do have some medicines during the hike too if needed, but it is good to have your own too.
- I’ve heard in one of the podcast that Pepto Bismol is good idea to carry around in Peru as Bismuth subsalicylate has antacid and antimicrobial properties. However, they mentioned to take it as prevention, instead of only when you have symptoms. According to UK healthcare provider NHS, you shouldn’t take it more than 2 days as it reduces stomach acidity, which can lead to other health issues. Please consult your doctor before taking it as it can have interactions with your other medication. I guess it is a good medication to have if you have upset stomach. I didn’t have it unfortunately.
- Last, but not the least if you are like me and cannot tolerate dry air, and it is quite dry in those altitudes, make sure to pack some almond oil (it has no smell or taste) or something like Rinopanteina, which essentially will do the same, just for much higher price. Also, from experience, don’t use vaseline for your nose as it is not safe to use in the nose and can have nasty side effects, even making you out of breaths, which can impact your hike too! I did try vaseline as I had nothing else to do, but I think it just made things worse in general.
NOT TO DO list on Inca Trail
- Don’t pack too much weight! The hike will be much more enjoyable with less weight! In my opinion the good weight would be around 4-5 kg with the water. I took two power banks (each 20mAh) and one of them I’ve never used as well as many spare batteries for Gopro and bridge camera and my bag was weighting 8kg! So pack wisely, but do prepare with a dry set of clothes for the unknown occasions, such as rain! I also witnessed couples where the man was carrying their partner’s backpack as they couldn’t carry it, so at least be prepared to carry your own water camelbag in a separate backpack if you decided to load it all on your partner (poor them!).
- Don’t use plastic bags to insulate water on your shoes as it will make them slippery and can cause injury. The same goes for using them inside of shoes as it will cause sweating and will likely result in blisters. Just get good quality waterproof hiking shoes!
- Leave you cigarettes at home. It is not allowed to smoke on Inca Trail and strictly no smoking or e-vapes in Machu Picchu. I did see some guys smoking last evening in the camp, but definitely no one smoked on the path as it is extremely dangerous and also you can cause wild fires, which can spread very quickly with dry grass and leaves.
- Don’t forget to take out any Coca products out of your bags, when flying back as Coca leaves and their products are illegal in most countries except Peru, Bolivia, Chile and some parts of Argentina.
Additional usseful links
- Why not to do Inca trail
- Salkantay trek review and comparing other trecks
- Use Mapcarta website to lookup archaeological sites as many won’t be found in Google maps
- Archaeological Complex of Torontoy descriptions
- The Ultimate Guide for the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
- Inca Trail detailed map
- Useful map of all Inca Sites and other archaeological sites