Explore the Andean mountain ranges, scenic landscapes and dense rainforests on this picturesque hike to Machu Picchu via the less crowded Salkantay Trek!
I’ve always thought of multi-day hikes as an activity for “more adventurous people” — a category I wouldn’t consider myself to fall under. It wasn’t till I noticed more people attempting overseas multi-day hikes like Mt. Rinjani that inspired me to embark on my first one.
Knowing almost nothing about hiking, I opted to join TTI Experiences on their recent hike to Machu Picchu for some help. It’s a great starting point for anyone looking for travel companions to explore lesser-known places with!
Having started off a little unsure myself, I hope this guide can inspire you to take that leap of faith and start your first multi-day hike too!
Where is Machu Picchu?
Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage site and also one of the New 7 Wonders of the Modern World. Often referred to as the “Lost City of the Incas”, the ruins are located northwest of Cusco, Peru, and within the Andes Mountains.
You can visit this site on a day trip via train or bus from Cusco. But if you have time and are up for more adventure, consider a hike on one of the many trails leading to Machu Picchu.
My package with TTI Experiences covered the longest and most challenging one — the Salkantay Trek.
Locals highly recommend this 74km hiking trail for the scenery and diversity, and it offers a good spread of Peruvian nature, wildlife and architecture. You’ll also find it way less crowded compared to the other trails.
I’m not going to sugarcoat the hike though — the Salkantay Trek is tough 💦. But this guide will help set some expectations and give you some tips to prepare for your ascend!
What to expect on the Salkantay Trek?
Photo credit: Salkantay Trekking
Salkantay Trek — Hike to Machu Picchu (5-Days)
Day 1: Challacancha (3,800m) to Soraypampa (3,900m)
Day 2: Salkantay Pass (4,630m) to Collpapampa Mountain Sky View (2,950m)
Day 3: Santa Teresa Valley (1,550m) to Lucmabamba (2,000m)
Day 4: Llactapata trek (2,800m) to Aguas Calientes (2,040m)
Day 5: Machu Picchu (2,430m)
That’s me!
What made the Salkantay Trek most challenging for me was the altitude. The trek starts off at 3,800m, followed by a continuous, steep uphill climb on the first two days to the summit at 4,630m. With little time to acclimatise, this left us almost consistently breathless throughout the ascend.
The trail descends quickly after, but we face new battles against constant uphills and downhills. Uneven ground and loose gravel on some sections also had some strain on our ankles and knees.
On the bright side, higher altitudes meant cooler weather during the hike! We were there during the dry season in June, where temperatures ranged from 5°C to 18°C.
Day 1: Challacancha (3,800m) to Soraypampa (3,900m)
Total hours of walking: 6hrs, 10km (optional 3km to Humantay Lake)
We set off at 4:30AM from our hotel in Cusco, and got a light breakfast at Mollepata around 7AM. At 9AM, we reached our starting point at Challacancha.
A local crew is tagged to our group, consisting of our guides, cooks and horsemen. They took care of our larger duffel bags so we only had to carry lighter day bags during the hike.
The first section serves as a good warm-up, with mostly flat ground and some gradual upslopes. But at 3,800m, it left us feeling way more breathless than expected.
I started panicking a little for the rest of the hike, but felt a bit better seeing everyone else heavily panting. The altitude affects even the fittest of the group so you’re definitely not alone 😆
The beautiful, vast mountainscapes in the region serve as a great distraction. Spot the snowy Humantay Mountain in the distance!
We took several pit stops with toilet breaks done in 🌿nature🌿 and our guides often took the chance to share interesting facts about Peruvian culture.
Peruvian “Snacks”
Unlike our Snickers bars, trail snacks look a little different in Peru. To keep our spirits up, our guide pulled out a huge green bag of coca leaves (placed beside his right foot in the pic above).
The leaves are chewed on like gum for an energy boost — to be spat out after. Locals often take it with ilucta (a soft granite-looking ball), made from the ashes of the quinoa plants. Fun fact: It’s a way to soften the bitter taste of the leaves!
FYI, coca leaves are the raw materials which cocaine is extracted from. It’s banned in Singapore so don’t bring any coca products home!
As a picky eater, I plucked up the courage and attempted eight leaves with a pinch of ilucta. I thought it was a pretty brave number… till I got humbled real quick by our guide who casually chewed 30 leaves in one go :’)
The coca leaves taste bitter and “grassy” at first, but have a pleasantly sweet aftertaste! Locals also brew them as tea, serving as a remedy for altitude sickness.
Then, we walked along a restored Inca water channel where our guide shared stories about how the Incas used to live.
He also plucked these Andean mints along the trail — a local remedy for stomach cramps!
3.5 hours later, we collected our keys to the Sky Domes at Soraypampa near 1PM. After lunch, we got ready for the highlight of our first day: the hike up to Humantay Lake!
Humantay Lake
It’s optional, but I highly recommend this ~4-hour round trip hike up to Humantay Lake (~4,200m) to acclimatise. It’ll help regulate your breathing at the high altitude for a more manageable Day Two!
The scenery is a sight to behold, with pristine turquoise waters nestled against the glistening Humantay glacier. The best reward to wrap up a long first day!
The journey up is short (~3km), but took some time as we went slowly at the high altitude. The trek up is also quite steep and rocky, but intermittent breaks helped make it manageable!
Accommodation — Sky Domes
The domes at Sky Camp have entrances the height of hobbit homes, so we had to duck walk to enter. After 4PM, the covers were removed and we were in for a beautiful night under the stars. We even caught sight of the Milky Way during our stay!
This comes at the cost of privacy though, as the domes are transparent. It also means no changing in the rooms — only in the toilet!
The temperature drops by night time (~5°C on our trip), and unfortunately, the rooms don’t have heating. But we did have basic necessities like pillows and blankets.
*Pro-tip: You can pre-rent sleeping bags before the trip, but also prepare heat packs and warm clothes for night time. There are also no showers at this accommodation, so bring wet wipes to wipe down.
Day 2: Salkantay Pass (4,630m) to Collpapampa Mountain Sky View (2,950m)
Total hours of walking: 12hrs, 22km
Day Two brought us along the Salkantay Pass to the summit, and is my self-declared “toughest day of the hike”. That said, it also offered the most stunning views of the trip (in my POV). Grit your teeth Trust in the process and your hard work will pay off!
We started off from the Sky Domes at 7AM. The trek to the summit is broken down into four sections with back-to-back steady and steep inclines.
The steeps are a killer. One of them even has its own name “The Seven Serpents” 🥲. It aptly comes from the seven sharp turns on the trail — designed to help hikers navigate the steep trek.
On the upside, the trek overlooks an almost fairytale landscape of snow-capped mountains and fascinating rockslides to distract you from the pain. We even saw a few wild llamas along the way!
Alternatively, there’s an option to ride a horse up to the summit to avoid the steep 7km ascend, which costs 80 soles (~S$29).
5 hours later, we reached the summit and were starstruck by the craziest front-row views of Salkantay Mountain.
Summit
As part of Peru’s traditions, our guide brought us through a ritual using coca leaf offerings to thank Mother Earth (also known as Pachamama).
We took three coca leaves and said our well wishes while holding them in the shape of a “heart”. Each leaf represents the three different worlds of the Incan religion: the underworld of the dead, Pachamama (or the surface world we currently reside on as humans), and the upper world of the gods.
Then, we built our stack of stones, nestled amongst many others around. For those who feel uncomfortable with joining in the ritual, feel free to sit out! Do try to be respectful about it 🙂
With the tough journey uphill, we reached the summit much later than expected and spent the rest of the day catching up along a long 15km trek back. And so began our steep and rocky climb downhill.
Racing against the sunset, we had a quick 30-minute lunch at Huayracmachay near 3PM. We soon entered the cloud rainforest where the trek got more manageable, and reached our accommodation 5 hours later after dark.
Accommodation — Mountain Sky View
The Mountain Sky View camp faces Collpapampa’s vast Andean ranges. A unique combination of a hut and a glass dome, it comes with full-length windows, giving panoramic views of the star-filled night sky and the sunrise.
The interior is really clean and spacious, and comes with hot showers for a great end to a long day. WiFi, basic toiletries and towels are provided.
Day 3: Santa Teresa Valley (1,550m) to Lucmabamba (2,000m)
Total hours of walking: 5hrs, 16km
We rose near sunrise at 5:30AM and had breakfast before setting off from Mountain Sky View camp. The first section is a hilly trek along the Santa Teresa Valley.
The path is quite hilly and cuts in and out of the forest. At times, we also walked by the cliff alongside the valley. Where the trail is occasionally blocked due to landslides, our guides would bring us onto alternate routes.
The soft jungle trek is softer on the knees (compared to the gravel on Day Two), but nonetheless quite tiring. As though they could foresee our incessant whining, our guides turned our morning hike into a mini Peruvian excursion!
Right after a tiring uphill climb, they whipped out a tiny bottle of red face paint extracted from local-grown berries. We took turns painting our faces with unique tribal-looking designs. And while I can’t speak for everyone, I grew no new pimples after 😛
Passing by a few plantations, we also tried local fruits like the granadilla. It looks and tastes like passion fruit, eaten by peeling the hard outer layer and sucking the jelly-like pulp inside. Really sweet and yummy!
To the delight of all coffee lovers, our next checkpoint was an organic coffee farm. We got to learn how Peruvians produce their local coffee, and even roasted our very own coffee beans. And of course, the samples came after 😋
There wasn’t much hiking after our morning activities. At 12PM, we hopped on a 1-hour drive to our accommodation for the night — the Jungle Domes.
Accommodation — Jungle Domes
Located in the Lucmabamba cloud forest, these Jungle Domes are designed to mimic the surrounding nature with its green structures. Like the Sky Domes, they have hobbit-sized entrances so watch your head as you enter!
Each dome is quite cosy, complete with two beds and a common shelf. While it’s warmer at the lower altitude (2,000m), it gets chilly at night and the domes are not heated. So wear warm sleepwear!
After lunch and a short rest here, we headed off for the hot springs of Cocalmayo an hour’s drive away.
Cocalmayo Hot Springs
Photo credit: Salkantay Trek
Sourced by natural hot springs, there are four outdoor pools with temperatures ranging between 38°C and 44°C. They were less “hot” than we expected but did relieve some built-up fatigue from the hike.
As the Jungle Domes only had cold showers, we opted to bathe at the hot springs.
*Pro-tip: Bring along a set of fresh clothes and some soap if you plan on doing the same! Towels are available for rent from the shops outside at 20 soles (~S$7).
FYI: The hot water used for showering is recycled from the hot spring, but there are cleaner cold showers, with waters from the lagoons of Uripata. We recommend soaping in the hot water, before rinsing off with clean cold water for a refreshing end to the day.
Day 4: Llactapata trek (2,800m) to Aguas Calientes (2,040m)
Total hours of walking: 8hrs, 15km (excl. 11km optional hike)
We set off from the Jungle Domes around 7AM. The first section — the Llactapata trek — is along the popular Inca Trail, and here’s where the trek started getting more crowded.
Then, it’s a 2.5-hour uphill trek along jungle terrains (the path looked quite similar to MacRitchie), with occasional lookout points to take in views of the surrounding hilly landscapes.
At Llactapata Lodge, we stopped for some fun on this scenic swing at the higher landing area.
We weren’t too lucky with the weather at the summit though. Where there was supposed to be a faraway view of Machu Picchu on this hike, we saw just 🌥️. I suppose you’d also be able to see a landscape of mountains on a good day — courtesy of this sign pointing out the different landmark mountains.
Thankfully, there are plenty of lookout spots along the way. More chances for better views at the next one!
The next section is a long downhill along forest roots and muddy soil. This went on for a long while — long enough for our guide to ban us from asking: “Alex, how long more?”.
We were shocked to learn that the Incans used to run on these hilly paths we struggled with. And without smartphones or network connections in the past, messengers would bring along these rainbow ropes with knots that served as codes to relay important information.
We also saw some partially restored ancient ruins along the way!
Getting to Aguas Calientes
After 1.5 hours, we finally made it to Aobamba for lunch near noon. From there, there are two ways to continue your journey to Aguas Calientes:
1) A 40-minute train ride to Aguas Calientes
2) A 11km flat-ground walk
As the last train of the day departs at 2:50PM, you’ll have to reach Hidroelectrica (the train station) by 2:20PM to catch it. Tickets for a one-way ride cost US$40 (~S$52).
Keen to complete the entire journey on foot, we opted for the 11km last-spurt hike along the train tracks. Accompanied by more mountain valley scenery, we reached Aguas Calientes 3 hours later.
We stayed overnight at a hotel in the city — it was decent with the regular hotel amenities — and rested well to visit the main highlight the next day.
Day 5: Machu Picchu (2,430m)
Finally, it’s D-Day to Machu Picchu!
You can opt for a 2-hour hike up to Machu Picchu, but our group collectively decided on the bus ride up. We really needed the rest at this point of the journey >< and departed at 5:30AM from Aguas Calientes.
*Note: The tour package includes the fare for the bus ride up, but you’ll need to pay US$12 (~S$15.60) for the return ride to Aguas Calientes.
After getting our entrance tickets (incl. in our package) and some 15 minutes of stairs, we finally saw what we flew 26 hours across the globe for.
Seeing Machu Picchu in person felt quite surreal — especially since I’d only seen the ruins as stock images or display wallpapers. Considering the longer journey we took to visit, this made reaching our final destination much more bittersweet and fulfilling.
We explored the ruins for a good 3 hours as our guide gave us an in-depth tour of the ancient city and its fascinating stories.
My most shocking takeaway is a rather bleak one — that the Incas sacrificed hundreds of children and llamas as offerings to the gods! For more stories, I’ll leave you to discover them on your own visit.
Planning your hike to Machu Picchu
While the Salkantay Trek was admittedly a tough course for me as a beginner, the hike offered a good mix of rewarding scenery and insightful experiences that helped balance out the journey. Here are some tips that can help prepare you for a more enjoyable journey:
1) Book an expedition package
Our local guides on the trek!
No hiking permit is required for the Salkantay Trek, and it is possible to hike free-and-easy.
But to avoid the language barrier and stress of getting lost on the already physically demanding hike, I strongly recommend booking your expedition with a travel agency like TTI Experiences.
Our TTI facilitator, Timothy, took care of all the admin matters like domestic flights, hiking permits, trip essentials, transport etc, so I went on the trip pretty fuss-free. Onsite, our local guides Alex and Darwin, are seasoned facilitators on the trek so we knew we were in good hands.
As part of the package, every participant is given a duffel on Day Zero to store up to 7kg of belongings for the five days. As the amenities in the accommodations are quite bare, TTI also helped to reserve sleeping bags for US$10 (~S$13.50) prior to the hike.
2) Pre-trip preparations
While the Salkantay Trek is doable for beginner hikers, some pre-training is recommended for a more enjoyable hike. We averaged about 20km a day along the hilly trail.
TTI’s pre-trip briefing helped prepare us for the intensity. We were given suggested training programmes and even a local training hike at Bukit Timah carrying weights up to 8kg.
3) Packing List
Hiking Equipment:
Trekking Poles, Trekking Boots, Day Hiking Backpack (25L maximum), Water Bag & Water Bottle (~3L combined), Ankle/Knee Guard (if needed)
Attire:
Dry Fit Shirts, Waterproof Shell Jacket, Down/Fleece Jacket, Hiking Pants, Neck Buff, Cap/Sun Hat, Hiking Socks, Warm Sleeping Clothes (heat techs for Day 1/2)
A common mistake would be to spam the layers once it gets cold, but dressing like a dumpling is going to limit your movement and add to your weight. During the hike, I recommend starting with a short-sleeve dry fit that you can comfortably hike with once it gets hot. Layer with your fleece and shell jacket as necessary when it gets chilly.
FYI: TTI experiences will prepare a more in-depth packing list with tips on hiking gear and how to layer your attire!
Ticking an epic hike to Machu Picchu off my bucket list
Visiting the Seven Wonders of the World has long been on my bucket list, so it didn’t take much self-convincing before I said “okay lah I can try” to this five-day hike to Machu Picchu with TTI Experiences.
As an introvert who prefers free-and-easy trips, it did take a leap of faith to join my first community trip. Yet surprisingly, this made my trip much more memorable with new like-minded friends to plan future hikes with.
In fact, there are a few trips to less-travelled destinations like Nepal and Mongolia coming up for anyone keen!
And if you’re still on the fence about travelling with strangers in general, my take would be to just give it a shot. For all you know, you may just meet your travel buddies for a lifetime 🙂
If you have any questions about planning a hike to Machu Picchu, let us know in the comments below!
