In shortInca Trail permits are capped and issued in one walker's name: 500 users a day on routes 01 to 04, 250 on route 05 from km 104 and 100 on route 06. Booking and payment run through agencies registered with the Ministry of Culture, since individuals cannot buy a place. No February dates appear on the permit calendar at all, because rain-season maintenance shuts the route, and the 2026 places came out in monthly batches between 27 October and 4 November 2025, each one at 9:00 a.m.
500 users a dayRoutes 01–04 capacity
250 users a dayRoute 05, km 104
100 users a dayNew Route 06
9:00 a.m.Permit release hour
How Inca Trail permits are capped and named
Inca Trail permits are capped by resolution and issued in one walker's name. Each place carries the holder's full name and ID document number, cannot be renamed later and cannot be handed to a friend who takes the spot instead. Individuals do not buy them at all. The reservation and the payment both run through agencies registered with the Ministry of Culture's Cusco office, and nothing you do on your own speeds that up.
February is missing from the reservation calendar on purpose. The network closes for the whole month for rain-season maintenance and rehabilitation work, so no trail dates exist between the end of January and the start of March.
Daily carrying capacity by route
Capacity is counted in users, which means trekkers, porters, cooks and guides all draw on the same daily figure. Routes 01 to 04, the classic trail, take 500 users a day. Route 05, the short walk that starts at km 104, takes 250. Route 06, still in preparation at the Ministry, is set at 100 and has no opening date.
Because the crew counts against the cap, the walking places on the classic routes fall well below 500 on any date. Route 05 brings its own paperwork: Chachabamba entry uses Annex B-1, for a group of four tourists with official guides.
| Route | Daily carrying capacity | Notes |
|---|
| Routes 01–04 (classic trail) | 500 users | Figure includes porters, cooks and guides |
|---|
| Route 05 (km 104, short trail) | 250 users | Chachabamba entry uses Annex B-1, for a group of four tourists with official guides |
|---|
| Route 06 (in preparation) | 100 users | No opening date announced |
|---|
Inca Trail 4-Day Trek
The classic four-day walk on routes 01 to 04, governed by the 500-user daily cap and the monthly permit release, with the Machu Picchu entrance fee included: 4 days, from $835, rated 5.0 ★ (11551 reviews).
★ 5.0/5 · 11,551 reviews
When Inca Trail booking opens each year
For 2026 the calendar opened in monthly batches, starting on 27 October 2025 and ending on 4 November 2025, with each batch going live at 9:00 a.m. local time. Treat that as the shape of the year: settle your month about a year before you walk, then have an authorised agency ready on the morning its batch opens. The 2027 dates have not been announced.
You cannot check trail availability yourself the way you can for a citadel ticket, since the places never reach public sale. Ask an authorised agency to look at the exact days you want and to report what is left on routes 01 to 04 and at km 104. If the answer is nothing, decide on the alternative straight away rather than waiting on a cancellation that may never be put back on sale, because the month you want will keep filling while you wait.
Entering the citadel on Route 3-B
From 2026 everyone arriving on the trail network enters the citadel on Route 3-B, Realeza Diseñada, under a reserved daily quota rather than a general-sale ticket. Those places are booked and paid for only through authorised agencies, and the entry holds validity for up to five business days.
SERNANP has charged a separate sanctuary conservation amount on top of the Culture Ministry ticket since 1 May 2026. It does not apply to visitors who arrive at the citadel on foot via the Inca Trail network.
Route 06 is the Ministry's way of spreading the load across more circuits, and its daily figure of 100 users is already fixed. No opening date has been published.
Documents and official contacts
The ID number your agency enters on the permit list is the number that has to be in your hand at the control point, so travel with that same document and no other. The checkers accept a valid DNI, carné de extranjería or passport. A student rate needs a valid higher-education card behind it, and anyone aged 3 to 17 walks accompanied by an adult. Give your agency the passport you will actually travel on, spelled exactly as it appears in the document, because the name cannot be corrected later.
The Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura de Cusco deals with permit and ticket problems from Calle Maruri 340. Its public lines are (084) 582030 and (084) 321 5555, or +51 1 321 5555 from abroad; ticket questions go to [email protected].
What to do when your month is full
Two answers hold up here. Book a permit for a month you are certain of, on the morning its batch opens, or accept that the classic trail is closed to you this time and walk a route the daily caps do not govern.
The Inca Trail 4-Day Trek to Machu Picchu returns by Vistadome train: 4 days, from $835, rated 5.0 ★ (11551 reviews). The price covers a personal porter for up to 7 kg, all meals, camping in four-man tents used by two people, drinking water along the trek, an oxygen tank and satellite phone with the group, and the Machu Picchu entrance fee. The briefing runs the night before at 6pm. The Vistadome train is used on departures through January 2027 and the Expedition train from March 2027, with an upgrade at +$20 per person.
If the permits are gone, the Classic Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu 5 Days is the walking alternative: 5 days, from $480, rated 4.9 ★ (250 reviews). The route covers about 70 km of highland and Amazonian trail, with its high point at the 4,650 m Salkantay pass and its lowest point near 2,000 m at Aguas Calientes. It sits outside the Inca Trail network, so the 500, 250 and 100 carrying capacities and the February maintenance month do not touch it. Official advice puts the crossing between April and November, with temperatures from -5 °C to 26 °C. Entrance tickets to Salkantay and Machu Picchu are included, along with sky domes on three nights and a hotel room with private bathroom in Aguas Calientes.
Questions people ask
Can I buy an Inca Trail permit by myself?
No. Permits never go on public sale, so booking and payment go through agencies registered with the Ministry of Culture's Cusco office. The reserved citadel slot on Route 3-B that trail walkers use is handled the same way, booked and paid only through authorised agencies.
Are there any permits for February?
February is excluded from the reservation calendar because the network closes for rain-season maintenance and rehabilitation, so no trail dates exist for that month. Plan the classic trek for any other month, or take a route outside the Inca Trail network.
Can my group join another agency's group on the trail?
No. Once a party has passed the control point and is inside the trail network, merging it with another is not allowed, whether both parties booked with the same agency or with different ones. Agencies also submit full nominal lists of tourists, guides and support staff at entry and at exit, so the people on the paperwork are the people who walk.
Can the guide named on my booking be changed?
Yes, up to a deadline. A registered guide may be swapped as late as 24 hours before entry through the official ticket system, and that is a job for your agency rather than for you. After that window the name on the list stands.
When will the next year's permits be released?
Release dates for 2027 have not been announced. For 2026, each month's permits went on sale on its own date in a run that started 27 October 2025 and finished 4 November 2025, always at 9:00 a.m. local time, so a late-October to early-November window is the pattern to watch and to brief your agency on.
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