Inca Trail route: 43 kilometres, two passes, and the morning at the Sun Gate

The profile: a gentle day, a hard one, a beautiful one, an early one

Day one is a warm-up: gently rising along the Urubamba, with the view of the Llactapata terraces and lunch at Hatunchaca, then two hours up to Ayapata camp. Day two is why the Inca Trail counts as strenuous: four hours of steps up to Dead Woman's Pass, 600 m down to lunch at Pacaymayo, then up again to Runkurakay Pass and down past Sayacmarca to Chaquicocha. Day three is the one everyone means: cloud forest, Phuyupatamarca, the Intipata terraces, Wiñay Wayna. Day four starts at half past three because the checkpoint opens at half past five and everyone wants to be first at the Sun Gate.

What the profile does not show: the stairs. Long stretches of the Inca Trail are original paving, and the Incas built steps, not switchbacks. Downhill on day three this taxes the knees more than any pass taxes the lungs.

Itineraries of the two products

From the operators' Viator product data, shortened. Apart from the pickup time the itineraries are identical, because path and camps are prescribed.

Day 1 · Km 82 → Ayapata · ≈ 12 km · 6 h

The trail starts at the checkpoint. From here on, your passport counts.

At the Km 82 checkpoint your passport is matched against the permit – the same passport used to book. Then a gentle first day along the Urubamba, with the view of Llactapata as a foretaste.

3,300mAyapata

What differs here✓Permit expressly included by TreXperience?Alpaca: permit not named in the inclusions

Day 2 · Warmiwañusca · Dead Woman's Pass · ≈ 11 km · 7 h

Four hours up. Then you know why it has that name.

The highest point of the route, and the only one where altitude really bites. Then 600 m of steps down to Pacaymayo and a second, shorter pass in the afternoon. Whoever gets through this day well has the trek.

4,215mWarmiwañusca · Dead Woman's Pass

What differs here✓Oxygen and satellite phone with both operators

Day 2 · Sayacmarca · Nachmittag

Ruins in the mist, and nobody but your group.

After Runkurakay Pass begins the part that exists only here: Inca sites right on the trail, no bus, no turnstile. Sayacmarca sits on a spur above the valley; Chaquicocha camp is an hour further.

3,600mSayacmarca

Day 3 · Phuyupatamarca · über den Wolken · ≈ 10 km · 5 h

The morning the clouds lie below you.

Day three is the one people mean when they rave about the Inca Trail: cloud forest, orchids, original Inca paving and the view from the “place above the clouds” down to the Urubamba.

3,600mPhuyupatamarca · über den Wolken

Day 3 · Wiñay Wayna · Abend

Terraces on the slope, Machu Picchu a day away.

The last night is beside a site that would be world-famous without its neighbour. Evening guided visit of the terraces, then the farewell dinner with porters and cook – this is where tips are given.

2,650mWiñay Wayna

What differs here✓Private chemical toilet with both products

Day 4 · Inti Punku → Machu Picchu · ≈ 6 km · 3 h

On foot through the Sun Gate. Only this route has it.

The checkpoint opens at 5:30 am, two hours later you stand in the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu lies below you before the first buses arrive. Then circuits 1 and 3, bus down, train to Ollantaytambo.

2,720mMachu Picchu

What differs here✓Bus and Vistadome included by TreXperience?Alpaca: train class stated twice, bus not mentioned

The route in stages: altitudes and itineraries from the operator data, photos illustrate the places. The boxes show where the four compared offers differ at the same spot.

Stops and walking times from the operator's Viator product data, edited for length. Maps and figures illustrate the route and are not for navigation.

The ruins along the way – and why they make the trail

Llactapata from above on day one, Runkurakay as a round watchpost at the pass, Sayacmarca on its spur, Phuyupatamarca with its fountains, the terraces of Intipata and Wiñay Wayna on the third evening: none of these sites can be reached by bus. Whoever sees them walked here – that is the difference no other trek in the region offers. The guide leads you through each site; if you want detail, ask about the water channels that still run at Phuyupatamarca and Wiñay Wayna.

When to go: dry season, rainy season, February

May to September is the dry season with clear days, cold nights (below freezing at Chaquicocha camp at 3,600 m) and the most trekkers; this is when permits go first. October and April are the shoulders with changeable weather and better permit odds. November to March it rains, hardest in January and February; the cloud forest on day three is then green and wet, the steps slippery. In February the classic Inca Trail is closed for maintenance; the short trail from Km 104 stays open.

Questions about the route

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