Inca Trail Trek
Ultimate Peru + Inca Trail Trek
2023 Highlights: Week 2
After an amazing first week in Peru, I was thrilled to welcome my second group to Cusco and trek the Inca Trail for the third time, wheww!
Yet again, the week was full of belly laughs, amazing new friendships, jaw dropping views and overall adventure! I couldn’t feel more thankful to have shared this adventure with this fantastic group of people.
Here’s everything we got up to in Peru!
Day 1: Arrival in Cusco
Everyone began arriving in Cusco for the start of the trip!
This super high elevation city can be a doozy to fly into, sitting at a whopping 11,152 feet above sea level.
For those who arrived early, we visited a local Peruvian animal sanctuary.
Read: INCREDIBLE AIRBNB EXPERIENCES IN CUSCO, PERU YOU CAN’T MISS
That evening, we had a welcome at our stunning hotel, Palacio Manco Capac to meet one another and toast to our upcoming adventure.
After some wine, we headed to Hanz for our welcome dinner located right in Cusco’s main square.
Day 2: Cusco Full Day Tour
For our first full day in Cusco, we were joined by our local Peruvian guide, Edy!
We toured the Cusco Cathedral, the Sun Temple, Saqsaywaman ruins and more. It was a jam packed day of Incan history, beautiful ruins and many alpacas.
That evening, some of us opted for a tasting of Peru’s national drink, Pisco!
Day 3: Sacred Valley & Traditional Peruvian Village
We left the hills and elevation of Cusco to go lower into Peru’s stunning Sacred Valley. We started the day by visiting an view point overlooking the valley, then the Pisac ruins.
After our tour, we drove higher up to visit a remote rural community in Peru. Here we learned about traditional clothing, potato harvesting, traditional dances and so much more!
The altitude was intense but the views, food and people were all more than worth it.
We ended the day by shopping at the vibrant Pisac markets for all sorts of Peruvian handmade goods!
That evening we spent the night in a historic monastery that has been converted to a beautiful hotel.
Day 4: Salt Mines, Ruins, Monastery Stay
That morning, we had another day of beautiful blue skies and sunshine so we took advantage of the great weather to get some shots in the garden of our hotel.
We started off the morning in the beautiful town of Chinchero for shopping, coffee, empanadas and a ruin visit.
After, we visited a co-operative where local women come together to demonstrate their weaving and craft skills. Our host Nellie had a sharp sense of humor and made the experience for us!
When we finished our shopping, Edy gave us a super interesting tour around the Circular Inca ruins at Moray.
After the circle ruins, we visited the visually stunning Maras Salt Mines which have massively produced salt for more than 500 years predating the Inca Empire!
For lunch, we ate at the oldest, historic restaurant in the Sacred Valley.
Tunupa is absolutely beautiful!
We ended the day with a visit to the town and Inca Ruins of Ollantaytambo. That night we had a pizza party in the hotel as we prepared and packed for the Inca Trail trek the following day!
Day 5: Start the Inca Trail
After breakfast in the hotel, we loaded up in the van to drive to the start of the Inca Trail.
We met our amazing crew of 20+ porters and had our duffel bags weighed to make sure they came in under the regulated weight.
Once the bags were weighed, we set off with just our daypacks.
The morning was super scenic and an easy beginning to the trek.
Read: 26 TIPS FOR TREKKING THE INCA TRAIL TO MACHU PICCHU
We passed ruins, wildlife and beautiful foliage until we arrived at our lunch site where TreXperience had everything ready for us!
After lunch, we continued our hike until we reached the bar located along the trail. Never have I seen a group throw a dance party before but this fun-loving group did exactly that! We ordered pisco sours and danced like crazy for a full 40 minutes! I couldn’t believe the stamina of this group because Day 1 is LONG!
We all agreed a “core memory” was formed at that dance party on the Inca Trail <3
Totally unforgettable!
That night we arrived at camp, exhausted after a long day of hiking, to all our tents set up and a fantastic dinner prepared by our chef.
Day 6: Dead Woman’s Pass
It was an early morning wake up on the second day of the trek!
At 4:30am the porters came to our tents with coca tea.
The longest, most grueling day of the trek includes not one but TWO difficult mountain passes. The most famous of which is known as Dead Woman’s Pass at a whopping 13,828 ft, far surpassing Machu Picchu in elevation.
I was so proud of the group for tackling this challenging day with such a positive attitude!
After tackling Dead Woman’s Pass, an insanely steep downhill section of stairs leads to the eventual lunch spot.
After a big meal and a brief afternoon rest, we set off to tackle the second pass!
It was quite the accomplishment when we made it to camp before dark!
Our chef prepared us another amazing dinner before we called it an early night.
Day 7: Hike the Cloud Forest
The third day on the trail is the most scenic and the easiest!
After a long day on Dead Woman’s Pass, hiking the cloud forest felt SO easy by comparison.
We got to camp by lunch and could enjoy the views, even take a nap, ha!
Read: 20 PHOTOS TO PUT PERU’S INCA TRAIL ON YOUR BUCKET LIST
Day 8: Machu Picchu & Panoramic Train
For our final day on the trail, we had a SUPER early wake up call!
After days of perfect weather, we did have some rain while hiking to the famous Sungate. When we arrived it was too foggy to see Machu Picchu Mountain but as we drew closer the fog began to clear!
We started our tour of this amazing World Wonder and came back up to the viewpoint once the fog had fully cleared.
It was a beautiful morning!
We had lunch together in town before boarding a first class car on Peru’s scenic panoramic train.
Inca Trail TrekTh
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Past group trips include: dog sledding in Minnesota, Southwest USA, Sail Croatia, backpacking the Superior Hiking Trail, Christmas in NYC, Iceland, Morocco, Turkey, Ireland, and more!
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