Short Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

According to the agreed-upon time, we will pick you up from your hotel and take you to the train station in Ollantaytambo. From there, we’ll board the train heading to the town of Machu Picchu or Aguas Calientes. Our stop will be at KM 104, which is about 20 minutes before reaching the town, where we’ll begin our hike.

After presenting passports and documents at the checkpoint, we’ll start our trek by crossing the Urubamba River bridge in a westward direction. Following the path, we’ll visit the ruins of Chachabamba, a stone altar still used by locals to worship the Sun and the mountains.

Continuing south, the trail gradually ascends the mountain before entering a cloud forest. The path then turns west, continuing uphill through an open meadow. After about 3 hours of walking, we’ll descend into an incredible forest with a beautiful waterfall, eventually reaching the archaeological site of Winay Wayna. You’ll be awed by the beauty of this place and the impressive engineering developed by the Incas.

After enjoying a snack at Winay Wayna, we’ll continue through the cloud forest, filled with bromeliads, orchids, and ferns. In the final stretch of the trail, we’ll pass through many stone stairs and “tambo” resting places. Finally, we’ll climb about 50 stairs to reach Inti Punku, the “Sun Gate.”

From this point, you’ll have a stunning view of the Wonder of the World – Machu Picchu. Next, we’ll descend for about 45 minutes to a viewpoint where we can observe the sunset.

Finally, we descend to the entrance gate of Machu Picchu where we’ll board a bus to Aguas Calientes.

THINGS TO DO IN AGUAS CALIENTES:

The thermal baths are a great option (entrance fee of 10 soles).

Very early in the morning, we will take a bus that will take us to the famous Lost City of the Incas, we will be able to observe the sunrise and then begin a guided tour of about 2 hours through the areas of greatest importance and interest. Later we will descend by bus to the town of Aguas Calientes to finally board the train to Ollantaytambo where a bus is waiting to take you to your hotel in the city of Cusco.

The archaeological center of Machu Picchu was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983. Machu Picchu is a word in Quechua that means old mountain and in Inca times it was probably one of the main cities built in the process of conquering the jungle. and lowlands, rich in food, medicinal plants and coca. Considered a religious and astronomical sanctuary of the Incas and one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering of all time and all this added to all the enigmas and mysticism that it contains.

Machu Picchu was abandoned after the arrival of the Spanish and was quickly covered with thick and dense vegetation for the next almost four centuries, until 1911 when the American Historian Hiram Bigham made the scientific discovery of the Lost City of the Incas.