In shortThese five tours all reach Machu Picchu on foot and run from 18.5 hours to five days, from $480 to $760 per adult. The two Salkantay departures suit fit walkers with no Inca Trail permit, one with a professional bilingual guide and sky domes on three nights, the other in a small group with a 3-star hotel in Aguas Calientes. The four-day Lares trek has a professional guide in English and Spanish and suits travellers who want farming hamlets and alpacas rather than busy trails, while the two-day and one-day Inca Trail trips, the shorter one with a private English or Spanish-speaking guide, suit anyone with little time who still wants to walk in through the Sun Gate.
5tours compared
from $480per adult
★ 5.05257 reviews
Salkantay Trek, 5 days
5 days · from $480 · ★ 4.9 (250)
For fit hikers who want the lowest price of the five, sky domes on three camping nights, a hotel room with private bathroom in Aguas Calientes and mules carrying up to 7 kg of personal gear.
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Salkantay small group, 5 days
5 days · from $760 · ★ 5.0 (5257)
For walkers who want a small group with an experienced mountain guide, a chef and porters, a coffee-farm visit, a night in a 3-star hotel in Aguas Calientes and Circuit 2 admission on bookings made five months ahead.
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Lares Trek, 4 days
4 days · from $602 · ★ 5.0 (17)
For hikers who want stone-and-thatch villages, people in traditional ponchos and free-roaming llamas and alpacas away from the busy routes, with a professional guide in English and Spanish and one night in Aguas Calientes.
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Short Inca Trail, 2 days
2 days · from $675 · ★ 4.8 (87)
For travellers who want the Inca Trail and the arrival at Inti Punku without four nights of camping: group service, Inca Trail and Machu Picchu tickets, and the train and bus back to Cusco.
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Inca Trail day hike, 18.5 hours
18.5 h · from $629 · ★ 4.6 (14)
For families and beginners: 10.5 km from km 104 at 2,150 m up to the Sun Gate at 2,720 m, about 6 hours at a moderate pace, with a private English or Spanish-speaking guide and Circuit 1-1b admission.
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What a Machu Picchu hiking tour involves
Every Machu Picchu hiking tour on this page ends at the same gate, and what separates them is the number of days, the altitude you cross and how much of the walking follows Inca stone. The two Salkantay departures take five days and go over the Salkantay pass at 4,650 m, the highest ground on any of these itineraries, dropping to around 2,000 m at Aguas Calientes. The Lares trek spends four days among farming hamlets with mules and muleteers carrying the gear. The two Inca Trail trips are the short versions, starting from the railway: the one-day hike covers 10.5 km from km 104 at 2,150 m to the Sun Gate at 2,720 m in about six hours at a moderate pace, and the two-day trek follows the same route with a night in Aguas Calientes.
Permits decide the choice more often than price does. The Inca Trail network closes every February for rain-season maintenance, so no reservations exist for that month, and 2026 permits were released month by month between 27 October and 4 November 2025 at 9:00 a.m. local time. Daily carrying capacity is 500 users on routes 01-04 and 250 on route 05, the km 104 start used by both short Inca Trail options. From 2026 everyone arriving on the Inca Trail network enters the citadel on Route 3-B, under a reserved daily quota that is booked and paid only through agencies authorised to do it.
Salkantay and Lares are the routes to take when Inca Trail permits for your month have gone. For Salkantay the official recommendation is April to November, with temperatures from -5 C to 26 C, so expect sub-zero nights near the pass and warm, humid walking lower down. Both Salkantay departures finish with a tourist train from the Machu Picchu side back to Ollantaytambo and road transport to Cusco, and the Lares trek returns by train to Ollantaytambo and private car to Cusco.
Spend your first days in Cusco, not on the trail. Cusco stands at 3,399 m and the citadel at 2,340 m, so the thin air bites at the start of a trip and acclimatising before you walk is the sensible order. Trekking poles with metal or hard tips are not allowed inside the citadel, and bags larger than 40 x 35 x 20 cm have to stay outside; the station at Aguas Calientes stores luggage from 05:00 to 22:00. Walkers who come in on foot via the Inca Trail network do not pay the SERNANP sanctuary conservation amount.
Which one fits you
Fit walkers watching the budget: the Classic Salkantay Trek over five days, from $480, with a professional bilingual guide, private transport from Cusco to Mollepata, sky domes on three nights, all meals with vegetarian options and a private room with bathroom in Aguas Calientes.
If you would rather walk in a small group with more support, the five-day small-group Salkantay from $760 adds an experienced mountain guide, a chef, porters and horsemen, walkie-talkies and oxygen, a visit to an organic coffee farm, Humantay Lake and Salkantay trail entrances, and a 3-star hotel in Aguas Calientes. Its Machu Picchu admission is Circuit 2 on bookings made five months ahead, then Circuit 3 or Circuit 1 if that is unavailable.
Travellers after village life rather than high passes should look at the four-day Lares trek from $602, guided in English and Spanish, with camping tents, mattresses, a cook, mules and a night in Aguas Calientes before the citadel.
Short on days: the two-day Inca Trail from $675 includes Inca Trail and Machu Picchu tickets plus the return train and bus to Cusco, and the one-day version from $629 fits the whole hike into 18.5 hours with a private guide, hotel transfers in Cusco, the Expedition train to km 104 and a lunch box.
Families and first-time trekkers are better served by the one-day hike, which the operator recommends for exactly that, with a first aid kit, an oxygen bottle and a bus down from the citadel to Aguas Calientes included.
Before you book
- Go to the briefing. The five-day Classic Salkantay holds its session at 17:00 in the operator's office two days before departure; the small-group Salkantay briefs at 17:00 the day before.
- If your Cusco hotel is outside the centre, the Classic Salkantay meets at Plaza de Armas, by the water fountain. The other treks include hotel pickup or transport from Cusco.
- Cancellation terms are the same on all five: all sales are final and no refund is available, so fix your dates before you pay for any Machu Picchu hiking tour here.
- Pack to the weight limits. Mules on the Classic Salkantay carry up to 7 kg of personal equipment; the small-group trek gives you a duffel bag of up to 5 kg.
- Budget for the extras on the Classic Salkantay: first-day breakfast and last-day lunch in Aguas Calientes at $30.00 each, the bus from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes at $12.00, a sleeping bag at $20.00, and the train from Hidroelectrica.
- Sleeping bags and trekking poles are rentals or your own kit on both Salkantay trips and on the Lares trek; the small-group Salkantay also has optional horseback rides from Soraypampa to Humantay Lake and to the Salkantay pass, paid separately.
- On the Lares trek the thermal baths cost 10 soles at the entrance, and a Huayna Picchu ticket has to be booked in advance; the last lunch in Aguas Calientes is not included.
- Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain are not included on the two-day Inca Trail either, and breakfast on day 1 plus lunch and dinner on day 2 are on you.
- Travel insurance is excluded on every one of these treks and the operators of the Inca Trail options strongly recommend it.
Tour details from the operator's listing, checked 9 October 2026. Prices and times can change; the booking page has the current ones.
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