Short Inca Trail Trek

Pick up from your hotel at 5:00 am -2 hours, drive in a private van to the train station in Ollantaytambo. Here we board the Expedition train at 07.45 am, travel by train 1 hour and 45 minutes to Km 104 (start of our trek). It is a worth it the effort of getting up early and taking this train, which allows you to enter to this Park and begin your hike early. (You can also book this tour doing the Sacred Valley tour and staying the night at Ollantaytambo town and starting this nice hike from here).

At Km 104 after submitting passports at entry check point control, we began our hike near the Vilcanota or Urubamba River. After walking less than 10 minutes we will find the Incan ruins of Chachabamba, a stone altar -site that was used to worship the sun, the mountains and nature. After visiting Chachabamba, we continue the path south and started a gradual climb to the mountain, before entering a cloud forest, overgrown, then the trail leaves the forest and goes west while continuing uphill in an open meadow. After walking 3 hours, the road descends into a amazing forest. Here you will find a beautiful waterfall, then we get to see the lower part of the ruins of Winaywayna. Appreciate the beauty of this place, the architecture and design are amaizing, stone canals and fountains, the tranquility and stories from our expert guide. After a lunch at Winaywayna Incan town, we will continue our hike in the afternoon into the cloud forest, filled with bromeliads, orchids and tree ferns. As we walk the last part of the trail we pass many impressive features such as the stone stairs and resting places. Before you reach the (Inti Punku) the famous Gate of the Sun, you will need to climb 60 steep stone stairs. From here, you can see an spectacular views of this wonderful Machu Picchu citadel surrounded by mountains and a dense forest. Then we keep descending for another 45 minutes to arrive to a mirador near the -Guardian House, a breathtaking view of most of the citadel with temples and constructions built in white granite rock, plazas and terraces. After having enough time we start descending to the entry of Machu Picchu. We board the bus to Aguas Calientes. Our offitial guided tour and explore day will be the next day. Accommodation and Dinner included, rest, plans and arrangements for tomorrow. The thermal baths are a good choice (bring your bathing suit and 15 Soles pp). Overnight at Hotel Viajeros. (If you would like to up-grade accommodation in Aguas Calientes town, see our info and let us know so we can reserve for you.)

Breakfast from 04:30 am then board the first bus to Machu Picchu at 05:20, the park opens at 6:00 am . We have a guided tour of Machu Picchu, this enigmatic and mysterious city is explored for about 2-3 hours explained by your expert guide, you can visit the most amazing places as the Royal Mausoleum, the Temple of the three windows, the main temple, the Sacred Plaza, the famous Intihuatana where wise Inkas tied to the sun in the winter solstice in June, stairways, plazas, fountains, etc. In high season the train schedules may vary.) After finishing our guided visit, we walk down to Aguas Calientes town 1 hr, (option to take a bus down to AC -get a ticket directly there $ 12.00 pp) Hotel Viajeros await us with a delicious lunch with our group. Then we have some free time to explore this small village before boarding our train back to Cusco. The train departs Aguas Calientes in the afternoon at 15:45 pm and arrives in Cusco ( Poroy train station ) at 8:00 pm, then a transfer for 25 minutes to Cusco. (OR optional train to Ollantaytambo, then a 2 hour van to Cusco arrived at approximately 8:00 pm -Train return upon train tickets availability).