Inca Trail
& Machu Picchu
Passport & Entry
A valid U.S. passport is required, with at least six months' validity beyond your return date. No visa is required for U.S. citizens traveling to Peru. Peru requires a completed online health declaration (Declaración Jurada de Salud) before arrival — your travel documents will include instructions. Keep your passport on you at all times in Lima and Cusco; it is required to enter Machu Picchu.
Altitude
Cusco sits at 11,152 feet (3,399m). Lima, where you spend the first two nights, is at sea level — use that time to rest and hydrate before the climb. Symptoms of altitude sickness (soroche) include headache, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Coca tea is widely available and genuinely helps. See your primary care physician if you have concerns about the elevation or have a history of difficulty adjusting to high elevation environments. The Inca Trail reaches nearly 14,000 feet at Dead Woman's Pass. If you have cardiovascular concerns, discuss both route options with your physician.
Currency & Payments
Peru's currency is the Peruvian Sol (PEN). Restaurants and shops in Lima and Cusco accept credit cards; smaller vendors, markets, and many sites along the tour will be cash-only. Plan to carry $100–200 USD for exchange, plus additional PEN drawn from an ATM — Peruvian ATMs dispense both PEN and USD, so select carefully. Gratuity for transfers and local guides is not included in tour pricing and is paid in cash. Tipping your G Adventures CEO (guide) at tour end is customary.
What to Pack
For the Inca Trail, think layers. Mornings start cold at altitude; afternoons warm considerably in the cloud forest. A waterproof outer layer is essential — the trail passes through cloud forest, and "partly cloudy" in the Andes means unpredictable. Broken-in hiking boots are non-negotiable; blisters on Day 1 make Day 2 miserable. The trail porters (included) carry up to 7kg of your gear — plan accordingly and leave the rest in secure storage at the hotel in Cusco or Ollantaytambo. Trekking poles are strongly recommended.
Inca Trail Permits — Book Early
The Inca Trail is permit-controlled. The Peruvian government limits access to 500 people per day on the trail (including guides and porters), and the permits for popular departure dates sell out months in advance — sometimes well over six months out for peak season (May–October). Once permits are sold out, they cannot be obtained at any price. This is the single most important planning item for anyone considering the Inca Trail route. If you're set on trekking to the Sun Gate, start the conversation with us early. The Cusco Stay option has no such constraint and can be arranged on a shorter timeline.
G Adventures · Inca Discovery
The Inca Discovery tour runs both the Inca Trail and Cusco Stay options simultaneously as parallel tracks within the same group. Travelers make their choice at booking — the two tracks split on Day 4 and reunite at Machu Picchu on Day 7, then travel together for the remainder of the tour. A G Adventures Chief Experience Officer (CEO) manages each track separately. Group size across both tracks is capped at 16 travelers.
G Adventures built its reputation on small-group adventure travel with strong community partnerships. On this tour, those partnerships are visible — the Sacred Valley day on Day 3 visits a women's weaving cooperative and a community pottery workshop that G Adventures has supported since 2005, and lunch is at a community-run farm-to-table restaurant in Huchuy Qosco. These aren't photo stops; they're working programs with real economic impact on the communities involved.
Lima · Pre-Tour
2 NightsArrival in Lima
Lima sits at sea level — use your time here deliberately. You will be flying to Cusco at 11,000 feet in two days; rest, hydrate, and don't do anything strenuous. Lima rewards that approach anyway. The city has one of the best food scenes in South America, a serious museum collection, and neighborhoods worth walking — Miraflores along the Pacific cliffs, Barranco with its painted walls and bridge-spanning tradition of holding your breath while making a wish. The obligation here is to arrive in good shape for what comes next, not to sprint through every sight on TripAdvisor.
Lima is internationally recognized as one of the world's great food cities, and that reputation is deserved. For a proper introduction to Peruvian cuisine, the Lima City Tour optional add-on includes a pisco sour demonstration and Peruvian tapas tasting — a reasonable orientation to what you're eating for the next nine days. For those more inclined to self-directed exploration, the Miraflores neighborhood has no shortage of outstanding restaurants at every price point. Ask the hotel concierge for current recommendations; this city moves quickly.
Optional tours from Lima: Lima City Tour (half-day, ~$65–85 includes pisco tasting); Magic Water Circuit evening show (~$68); Pachacamac temple and Paso horse show (~$98); Lima cooking class (4 hours, market visit included); Barranco bohemian neighborhood walking tour (~$45).
Don't squander your sea-level days. Avoid alcohol and heavy meals on the flights and in Lima — both compound the effects of the altitude change you're about to experience. Sleep. Drink water. Start the altitude medication your doctor prescribed, if applicable, at least 24 hours before ascending to Cusco. When you land in Cusco, move slowly for the first few hours, regardless of how good you feel.
Day 1 · Lima
Tour Begins · 18:00Group Orientation
You have the full day free in Lima. Be in the hotel lobby by 18:00 for the Inca Discovery orientation — this is where you'll meet your CEO and the other travelers in your group. The CEO will cover logistics, answer questions, and set expectations for the days ahead. Use this meeting to introduce yourself to the people you'll be spending the next nine days with; the Inca Trail contingent will want to confirm their gear and permit arrangements, and the Cusco Stay travelers will want to know what the day-trip schedule looks like.
If you haven't already, this is the time to confirm your track selection — Inca Trail or Cusco Stay — with your CEO. Switching after the orientation is complicated; switching after Day 3 is not possible.
Day 2 · Lima → Cusco
Altitude DayFlight to Cusco · Acclimatization Begins
The group flies from Lima to Cusco together — a 90-minute flight that covers the altitude change that would otherwise take days by land. Cusco sits at 11,152 feet (3,399m) in the Andes, and you will feel it when you step off the plane. Move slowly, drink water, skip the run. Most travelers experience some degree of headache or fatigue on the first afternoon; this is normal and usually resolves by the second morning.
Your CEO will provide excellent dining recommendations for the evening. The group typically decides collectively where to eat — go, eat simply, and get to bed early. You have a full day in the Sacred Valley tomorrow, and the altitude will feel less dramatic after a night's sleep at elevation.
Your CEO will have suggestions, and there are pre-bookable options if you want to fill the afternoon: the Cusco City Tour (45 PEN) covers the Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral, and the Qorikancha sun temple. The Inka Museum (10 PEN) houses artifacts from the Inca Empire including mummies, jewelry, ceramics, and skulls — a proper archaeological collection in the former palace of Inca Huascar. The Cusco Tourist Ticket (130 PEN) provides admission to 16 sites across the city, Sacsayhuaman Archaeological Park, and sites in the Sacred Valley — worth purchasing if you plan multiple visits over your Cusco days.
Sacsayhuaman, the massive Inca fortress above the city, is included in the Cusco Tourist Ticket and is one of the most impressive archaeological sites you'll see on the trip — the scale of the stonework defies explanation. It's a steep uphill walk from the city center. Save it for Day 3 or later, when you've had one night at altitude to adjust. Going straight from the airport to the fortress on Day 2 is how headaches become emergencies.
Day 3 · Sacred Valley
Last Shared DaySacred Valley — Community Day
A full-day guided tour of the Sacred Valley — the heartland of the Inca Empire, a broad river valley between Cusco and the mountains, dotted with ruins, farming communities, and markets that have operated continuously for centuries. This is not a scenic drive with stops; the G Adventures Sacred Valley day is built around three community partnerships that put you in direct contact with the people who live and work here.
Ccaccaccollo Community Center and Women's Weaving Co-op: G Adventures traveler donations helped establish the Ccaccaccollo community center in 2005, creating a permanent venue where local women could sell traditional textiles to visitors. You'll see the full process — dyeing techniques using plants and minerals, backstrap loom weaving, and finished garments produced using methods unchanged for generations. The Panterra weaving cooperative now includes alpaca herd ownership, looms, and small business training. The quality of what's produced here is notable; if you're going to buy textiles in Peru, this is where to do it.
Cuyo Chico Pottery Making Demonstration: The rural village of Cuyo Chico, in the Sacred Valley, is home to a cluster of families who have built a small business around traditional adobe ceramic production. Clay sourced from the surrounding hills is shaped by hand into bowls, plates, and decorative items. The same technique used to fire the ceramics is used to make the adobe brick walls of the houses throughout the valley — the demonstration covers both. The Pisac ruins across the valley make a dramatic backdrop.
Parwa Community Restaurant, Huchuy Qosco: Lunch is at the Parwa Community Restaurant in the small village of Huchuy Qosco — 65 families, a farm-to-table program co-launched by G Adventures and the Multilateral Investment Fund in 2010. The menu is local, the ingredients are grown by the community, and a meaningful portion of what you pay goes directly back into the village economy. This is not a tourist performance. The food is genuinely good.
After lunch, the option exists to hike up to the Pinkuylluna Incan storehouses perched on the hillside above Ollantaytambo — a steep, short climb that rewards you with an unobstructed view across the Sacred Valley and down onto the famous Ollantaytambo temple ruins below. If the altitude is still affecting you, the cobblestone streets of Ollantaytambo and the local Chicheria (corn beer bar) offer a more horizontal alternative. The trail group will want to conserve their legs for tomorrow.
🥾 Trek to Machu Picchu
Four days on the Classic Inca Trail from Ollantaytambo to the Sun Gate — 26 miles of mountain terrain, cloud forest, and Inca ruins leading to the most dramatic arrival in travel. Maximum elevation: 13,780 feet at Dead Woman's Pass. Porters carry your gear; you carry your day pack.
🏛 Sacred Valley & Scenic Train
Three days of guided day trips from Cusco exploring salt mines, ancient ruins, and Andean landscape — followed by the panoramic train journey to Aguas Calientes and a guided visit to Machu Picchu. No camping, no altitude extremes, no less remarkable at the end.
Trek to Wayllabamba Camp
The trail begins in earnest at Km 82, the official trailhead reached from Ollantaytambo. The first day is the gentlest of the four — a 12km walk through the Urubamba River valley and past the village of Wayllabamba, gaining elevation gradually as the valley narrows and the mountains close in. The landscape shifts from open farmland to scrub forest; you'll cross the Llullucha River and begin to feel the altitude in your lungs. The Inca stonework is already visible well before you reach camp.
The porters — included in the tour price — carry a remarkable amount at altitude. Their presence is not an abstraction; watch what they carry, how fast they move, and recalibrate your complaints accordingly. Dinner and breakfast are prepared at camp. Tipping your porters at the end of the trek is customary and important — they make the experience possible.
Camp: Wayllabamba, approximately 9,711 feet (2,960m). Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.
Maras Salt Mines & Moray Ruins
The Cusco Stay group returns from Ollantaytambo and heads out on the first of three Sacred Valley day trips. The Moray archaeological site is a roughly 90-minute drive — a circular set of Inca terraces cut concentrically into a natural bowl in the earth, at 11,483 feet elevation. The rings descend approximately 30 meters from the outermost to the innermost terrace, creating a microclimate difference of up to 15°C between top and bottom. The current interpretation is that Moray served as an Inca agricultural experiment station — a controlled environment for testing how crops grew at different temperature and humidity levels. The engineering involved is exceptional.
After Moray, the Maras Salt Mines: thousands of individual salt pools cascading down a hillside, fed by an underground saltwater spring that the Inca first developed over 500 years ago and that still operates today. Local families hold hereditary rights to specific pools and manage them by hand. The pink salt from Maras is sold internationally and worth bringing home. The visual effect of the pooled terraces against the mountain backdrop is striking in any light, extraordinary in late afternoon.
The afternoon returns to Cusco via a scenic Andean drive with a stop at the Piuray Lagoon — one of the high-altitude lakes that punctuate the plateau above the Sacred Valley. Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch.
Dead Woman's Pass · Highest Point
The hardest day. The trail climbs from Wayllabamba through increasingly steep terrain toward Warminwanusca — "Dead Woman's Pass" in Quechua — the highest point of the Classic Inca Trail at 13,780 feet (4,198m). The name describes the profile of the ridgeline as seen from below: a silhouette that resembles a reclining figure. The climb takes most hikers four to five hours from camp. The scenery is extraordinary; the altitude makes itself known. Slow and steady is not a metaphor here.
Above the tree line, the landscape becomes open moorland — puna grassland, with the sound of wind and the occasional condor. On a clear day the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Vilcabamba are visible in every direction. The descent to Paqaymayo Camp on the other side is steep and hard on the knees. Trekking poles earn their keep today.
Most hikers arrive at camp by early afternoon — time to rest, eat, and appreciate having done it. Camp sits at 11,975 feet (3,650m). Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.
Free Day in Cusco
A free day, which is exactly what Cusco deserves. The city was the capital of Tawantinsuyu — the Inca Empire — and its center has been continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years. The Spanish built their colonial city directly on top of Inca foundations, and in many places the seams are visible: a Spanish baroque church rising from Inca stone walls that survived the earthquakes the Spanish buildings did not. The Plaza de Armas is worth a full morning.
The Cusco Tourist Ticket (130 PEN, purchasable from the tourist office on Avenida El Sol) covers 16 sites including the Qorikancha sun temple, Sacsayhuaman fortress, and several valley sites. If you buy it today, you have multiple days to use it. Sacsayhuaman is the most dramatic site in the city — three massive zigzag terrace walls of fitted limestone, some blocks weighing over 100 tons, assembled without mortar with tolerances that a sheet of paper cannot pass through. Budget two hours and comfortable shoes; the site covers a large area at altitude.
For those who want more physical activity: full-day whitewater rafting on the Upper Vilcanota River, Class III–IV rapids for approximately 11km, riverside picnic lunch included. Pickup is early morning; the day is full. This is available through G Adventures or local operators — ask your CEO for the current recommended outfitter.
Meals included: Breakfast.
Cloud Forest · Wiñay Wayna
After the severity of Day 5, Day 6 offers a change of character. The trail descends from the high puna into cloud forest — the vegetation shifts dramatically from open grassland to dense subtropical growth, with orchids, bromeliads, and tree ferns appearing in the mist. The sound changes. The air is thicker. Two more passes cross the route: Runquraqay (13,113 ft), where on clear days the snow-capped Cordillera Vilcabamba comes back into view, and a second pass at 12,136 feet before the descent to the valley floor.
At 11,975 feet, the ruins of Phuyupatamarca — "the town above the clouds" — offer the first glimpse of the cloud-filled valley below that leads toward Machu Picchu. The site itself is a terraced ceremonial complex with five ritual baths, largely unrestored and therefore more atmospheric than the more frequently visited sites. Continue another 90 minutes through the cloud forest to reach Wiñay Wayna ("forever young") at 8,694 feet — a remarkably well-preserved ceremonial complex of tiered fountains and residential terraces built directly into the steep hillside. Camp here, or at a hostel adjacent to the ruins depending on tour configuration.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.
Train to Aguas Calientes
The Cusco Stay group departs Cusco by van for Ollantaytambo — a roughly two-hour drive back through the Sacred Valley. From Ollantaytambo, the scenic train to Aguas Calientes departs on a 90-minute journey through increasingly dramatic terrain as the valley narrows and the Urubamba River drops in elevation. The train descends from 9,160 feet at Ollantaytambo to 6,690 feet at Aguas Calientes; the vegetation visible through the windows shifts from Andean scrub to subtropical cloud forest within the span of an hour. This is one of the better train journeys in South America, and it is not an exaggeration to say the scenery justifies it on its own terms.
Aguas Calientes — officially named Machu Picchu Pueblo — sits at the base of the mountain and exists almost entirely to serve visitors to the ruins above. The town is small, lively, and positioned on the confluence of two rivers. The hot springs for which the town is named (aguas calientes = hot waters) are available as an optional soak this evening. Your CEO will indicate the preferred hotel.
The thermal baths in Aguas Calientes are a legitimate pleasure after a day of travel — communal pools fed by natural hot springs, modest entry fee, towels rentable on-site. The water temperature varies by pool. Bring sandals or flip-flops. The baths close at 22:00.
Meals included: Breakfast.
The Sun Gate · Arrival at Dawn
Wake at 3:30am. The final approach to Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail begins before sunrise, because the point is to arrive at the Sun Gate — Inti Punku — at the moment the light first reaches the citadel below. The path from camp to the Sun Gate is well-marked and takes roughly two hours in the dark, headlamps on. You will reach the checkpoint and line up with other trail-finishers, waiting for the gate to open at 5:30am.
What you see when you pass through the Sun Gate and the clouds part below you is the view that has ended a four-day walk and justified every blister, every sleepless cold night, every step above 13,000 feet. Machu Picchu spreads across the ridge below, the terraces dropping away on both sides, the peak of Huayna Picchu rising behind. On a clear morning this is one of the transcendent views in travel. The trail group descends to the citadel (approximately 45 minutes) for a guided tour with the CEO before free time to explore.
Optional: the Inca Bridge, a 15-minute walk one-way from the main ruins — a narrow path cut into a vertical cliff face with a retractable log bridge that served as a guarded entry point to the citadel from the south. No additional charge. Catch the bus from the Machu Picchu gate for the 25-minute descent to Aguas Calientes to meet the Cusco Stay group. Return to Cusco by evening train.
Meals included: Breakfast.
Guided Visit · Machu Picchu
Rise early to catch the first bus from Aguas Calientes up to the Machu Picchu gate — a 25-minute switchback road up the mountain. The Cusco Stay group enters with their CEO for a comprehensive guided tour of the citadel at a pace that allows for genuine understanding of what you're seeing: the Inti Mach'ay cave (where the Inca marked the winter solstice), the Inti Watana (the ritual "hitching post of the sun," one of the few not destroyed by the Spanish), the Temple of the Three Windows, the Temple of the Condor, and the agricultural terraces that produced enough food to feed the religious and astronomical community that lived here year-round.
The guided tour takes approximately two hours, followed by free time to explore independently, find a quiet corner, and sit with the place. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and it earns both designations. The crowds at midday are real; the way to avoid them is to arrive with the first bus and stay through the first hour of open access. After the guide is done, you'll have the place mostly to yourselves while the tour buses are still loading below.
Return to Aguas Calientes by bus, train back to Cusco in the evening. The two groups reunite here for the remainder of the tour.
Meals included: Breakfast.
Day 8 · Cusco → Lima
Return to Lima
The group flies from Cusco back to Lima — the same 90-minute flight in reverse, and the altitude drop is immediately noticeable. Lima feels different after nine days in the Andes: warm, humid, urban, the sound of the Pacific. You have another night here before the long flight home, and Lima after an experience like this one rewards a proper final dinner. Miraflores has what you need.
Day 9 · Lima · Tour End
Post-Tour Day · Lima
The final day of the tour and the first day of your post-stay. The group disperses at the hotel; your CEO officially closes the Inca Discovery tour. You have the full day to continue exploring Lima — or to do very little, which after nine days is a legitimate and honorable option. Miraflores is an excellent neighborhood for that.
International departures from Lima's Jorge Chávez International Airport typically require arrival two to three hours before scheduled departure. If your flight departs late at night, you may have the entire day free before your airport transfer. Lima's Miraflores neighborhood, within walking distance of the hotel, has enough to fill it.
The honest answer to "Inca Trail or Cusco Stay?" is that it depends on what you want to carry home. The trail gives you an arrival at Machu Picchu that no bus can replicate — four days of earned effort paid off in a single moment at the Sun Gate. The Cusco Stay gives you more time in one of the most historically layered cities in the Americas, a train journey that is genuinely beautiful, and a guided visit to Machu Picchu that is arguably more thorough than the one trail-weary hikers get at 6am on their fourth day of sleeping in a tent.
Neither is the wrong answer. The permits situation is the deciding factor for many people — if the dates you want are already sold out, the choice has been made for you. Call us early.