Glamping on the Inca Trail

This trip is graded Activity Level 4 (Moderate & Challenging). For more information on our trip gradings, visit the Activity Level Guidelines page. If you have any queries about the difficulty of the trip, please contact us.

• Walking days: Four with full porterage
• Average altitude: 10,000ft (3,050m)

Suitability: Though strenuous in parts, the Inca Trail is possible for anyone with good health and fitness; however, we would not recommend this trip to someone with no previous walking experience. Physical preparation beforehand is essential. The trek is also not suitable for those with bad knees due to the number of steep and uneven steps, particularly on the third and fourth days of the trek. Trekking poles will reduce strain on the knees.

Walking hours: The stated walking hours are approximations. Timings include lunch and photo stops and vary depending on the group’s pace.

Altitude: As this trip spends considerable time at altitude, we ask you to refer to the Altitude Warning within the Trip Notes. We spend two days in Cuzco (11,150ft/3,400m) acclimatising before starting the trek.

• Maximum altitude: 13,830ft (4,215m)
• Average altitude: 10,000ft (3,050m)
• Maximum sleeping altitude: 12,073ft (3,680m)

Delays: Protest action/strikes are not uncommon in Peru; while these are generally peaceful, they can involve roadblocks and cause disruption to travel. Occasionally, your leader may have to adapt your itinerary in response to this.

Please note, it is essential you read the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu regulations in the Important Information section of the Trip Notes before you book this trip.

Key information

Start hotel: Costa del Sol Wyndham, Sta. Teresa St 344, Cuzco 08002, Peru
Phone: +51 84 221269
Recommended arrival time: You can arrive at any time today. There is a welcome briefing around 6pm this evening.
Airport: Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)

Getting to the start hotel

The start hotel is approximately 20 minutes’ drive from the airport. Exodus provides free arrival transfers to the start hotel from the airport for all customers.

Collecting baggage in Lima
If you are flying via Lima, you need to collect your baggage in Lima, even if your bag has been checked all the way through to Cuzco. After collecting the bag, you are required to clear customs, and you should then drop it off at the bag drop for the onward flight. If you do not pick up your bag, there is a chance it may not reach Cuzco for the start of the trek. This is a requirement of Lima airport and also applies to your return flight.

Catching your return flight

Exodus provides free departure transfers for all customers to Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ) from the end hotel.

Please note, unless specified otherwise, the transfers will be to the start (or pre-tour) hotel and from the end (or post-tour) hotel and will be on the date on which the tour starts/ends; transfers to other hotels in the same city and/or on different dates may attract an extra charge. Transfers should be booked with your sales representative at least two weeks before the tour starts.

There are no required vaccinations. However, recommended vaccinations include tetanus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rabies, typhoid, tuberculosis and yellow fever. Additionally, Zika fever, a mosquito‐borne viral disease, is a known risk in Peru. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available, so you should take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Please check all vaccination recommendations with your doctor or travel clinic.

Methanol: The FCDO warns travellers to be cautious of methanol poisoning when travelling in destinations visited on the trip.

Peru

Travellers from the UK, US and EU normally do not need a visa to enter Peru. Please note, visa requirements often change and it is your responsibility to obtain any required visas for this trip. Therefore, we recommend that you check with the nearest embassy or consulate of your chosen destination(s), including any countries you may be transiting or transferring through.

Some local governments provide guidance on what visas their citizens need. To help, we’ve gathered a selection of useful links below.

• Australia: www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/americas/peru
• Canada: www.travel.gc.ca/destinations/peru
• United Kingdom: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/peru/entry-requirements
• USA: www.travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Peru.html

Peruvian cuisine is loved for its taste and originality; it’s well worth digging into the local delicacies. Among these are: ceviche, seafood or fish marinated in lime juice; lomo saltado, a Peruvian take on a beef stir-fry; and various hearty soups, including the delicious quinoa soup. Other dishes include roasted cuy (guinea pig) and alpaca steak. To drink, there’s pisco sour, the national beverage.

Drinking water is included throughout the trip as the tap water in Peru is not safe to drink; boiled and filtered drinking water is provided on the trek; elsewhere your leader buys large water containers from which you can refill your bottle.

Hotel breakfasts are normally simple buffets, usually including bread/toast, preserves, cereal, sometimes eggs or cooked dishes, sometimes fruit, tea/coffee and fruit juice. We cannot guarantee that wheat-free or gluten-free products are available for breakfast in all locations – if you have an intolerance you may wish to bring your own breakfast food.

Where lunch and dinner are not included in Cuzco, we visit a variety of cafes and restaurants.

During the Inca Trail, hearty breakfasts are served and good-quality cooked lunches and dinners are provided. They usually consist of soup to start, a main course with meat/fish and some carbohydrates, followed by a dessert. Between meals, snacks are also provided. Tea/coffee is brought to your tent each morning and juice or hot drinks are provided with all meals during the trek. The team can also accommodate for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or any specific food restrictions you may have – please notify us at the time of booking.

The diverse geography of Peru results in a very varied climate between different regions. Cuzco and the Andes have a temperate climate. December to March is the rainy season in Cuzco/the Andes. April to November is the dry season, with clear skies and strong sunshine in the mornings, sometimes clouding over as the day progresses.

Daytime temperatures are usually pleasant (20C/68F on average), but nights are lower (7C/44F), except for May, June, July and August when days are cooler and nights are often close to, or slightly below, freezing. In the Andes, however, anything is possible at any time of year, including cloud, rain or even snow, with rapid and unexpected changes.

Machu Picchu is in the cloud forest and experiences large amounts of precipitation all year as clouds move up from the Amazon Basin. Rain here can be heavy but is seldom prolonged. Cold fronts sometimes occur from July to August.

Peru is affected by El Niño, a weather phenomenon where warming of Pacific Ocean surface water off South America drives a shift in the atmospheric circulation, resulting in abnormally high levels of rainfall over parts of South America. These events occur at irregular intervals of two to seven years, and last nine months to two years.

As a certified B Corp, we’re on a mission to improve our social and environmental impact across all our adventures.

We do this through our innovative Thriving Nature, Thriving People plan.

This ‘nature positive’ approach is designed to help nature and communities thrive in harmony through practical solutions, such as reducing carbon and waste on our trips, supporting conservation projects through the Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation, and rewilding 100 square metres for every Exodus traveller.