Lima

Travelers' Takes

Rates and Deals

Inca Trail

More Photos
dconlisk
dconlisk
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
5
Photos
Editor Pick

Four Fabulous Days on the Inca Trail

  • March 22, 2002
  • Rated 4 of 5 by dconlisk from Dublin, Ireland
Four Fabulous Days on the Inca Trail

An amazing trek. The trekking itself is reasonably easy, anyone who is aerobically fit and willing to walk for a couple of hours can do it. You spend most of the time walking on Incan-built steps and paths. There was a 55-year old German housewife in our group, and she managed it - with the help of a porter and plenty of coca leaves.

The toughest part of the four days is day 2 - you hike up steps to an altitude of 4,200 metres. This one's a real battle in your mind; each step up meaning thinner air, less oxygen, and harder to climb. However, I've never hiked much before, and I managed it ahead of most of our group, and it's so worth it. The view from the pass was spectacular, amazing, superlative. The views on this trail are impossible to describe, and it's even harder to capture them on camera. The rest of day 2 is downhill as well, so after a suitably long rest the remainder of the day is easy.

It's called a four-day trek, but in reality you only spend a couple of hours trekking, on the difficult day 2 most people had reached camp by early afternoon. At the end of day 3 was one of the nicest parts of the journey - arriving at our campsite to find a bar there! How nice was it after three days to take the boots off, and kick back with a cold beer and some amazing view from the bar's balcony.

Day 4, up at 3.30am for a 1-hour dash to the Sun Gate to watch the sunrise over Macchu Picchu. We were incredibly lucky, not a cloud to be seen, beautiful day. Spent a few hours wandering about the ruins and then feeling ultra-fit after our exertions, we decided to climb Huayna Picchu - the mountain overlooking the ruins that you see in every photo of Macchu Picchu. This was fantastic, 360 degree views of the valley, plus a unique angle on the ruins themselves. When we had finished we hiked down to the town of Aguas Calientes ("Hot Waters") to soak those aching muscles in the hot baths. Blissful. All in all a fantastic four days, it's obvious why this is South America's most visited tourist attraction.

From journal Ten Weeks of Madness in South America

Compare Lima Rates

1. Enter travel information

City

2. Select websites to compare rates

Each selected website will open a new window.

Lima Travel Deals