• After breakfast, you will be picked up from your Cusco hotel and transferred to the train station. You’ll take the train through the stunning landscapes of the Sacred Valley to the station at KM 104. Here you will begin your hike following the original path of the Incas through the beautiful Andean mountains.
• The first Inca ruins you will encounter are those of Chachabamba, a small archaeological complex believed to have once been a guard house to Machu Picchu. From here the trail ascends at a gradual incline for three hours until you reach 8,690 feet (2,650 meters). You will visit the site of Wiñay Wayna, which means “Eternal Youth” in the indigenous Quechua language. The name comes from the perennial orchids that speckle the landscape, making Wiñay Wayna perhaps the most beautiful place on the Inca Trail. It is also the last urban center before arriving to Machu Picchu.
• Wiñay Wayna consists of 4 main sectors: the urban sector, located in the lower part and containing more than 20 buildings; the ritual sector; the terraced sector for crops; and the tower sector, which boasts the site’s finest architecture and was probably a place of religious or social importance.
• After touring the site and lunching, you will continue on to the Inti Punku or the “Sun Gate,” from where you can see Machu Picchu in all its majesty and grandeur. From Inti Punku you will hike downhill for roughly 30 minutes toward the citadel’s principal ruins, taking in magnificent panoramic views along the way. You will then take a bus into the mountain town of Aguas Calientes, where you will have dinner and spend the night in a comfortable Machu Picchu hotel.

Hike Distance to Machu Picchu: 6.8 mi (11 km)
Minimum Altitude: 6,660 ft (2,030 m)
Maximum Altitude: 8,690 ft (2,650 m)
Approximate Time: 6 to 7 hrs