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Inca Trail 4-Day Trek Cusco to Machu Picchu & Sun Gate

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1/10

Duration4d

GroupUp to 12

LanguagesEN · ES

PickupAt your hotel

Four Days Walking the Inca Trail: What It Takes to Reach Machu Picchu on Foot

You hike 26 miles over four days from km 82 to Machu Picchu, sleeping in camps with a professional guide, chef and porter team. Groups stay under eight people. You cross two high passes, explore Inca ruins along the way, and enter Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate at sunrise on the final morning. Hotel pickup in Cusco, all meals, permits, camping equipment and the return train are included, so the only thing you manage is your own pace.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Cusco to Ayapata campsite

Pick up from Cusco hotel at 4:30 a.m.
Breakfast in Ollantaytambo
Drive to km 82 (Piscakucho) checkpoint
Meet expert team and start trek
Hike 3 hours to Llactapata ruins
Drive 1 hour to Hatunchaca camp
Lunch at Hatunchaca camp
Hike 4 hours to Ayapata campsite
Set up tents and serve hot tea

Day 2 — Ayapata to Chaquicocha campsite

Wake up with hot or coca tea
Hike 4 hours to Dead Woman’s Pass
Guide performs offerings at pass
Descend 2 hours to Pacaymayu Valley
Lunch prepared by chef
Hike 1.5 hours to Runqurakay pass
Explore Runqurakay Inca site
Descend to Sayacmarca ruins
Reach Chaquicocha campsite
Enjoy sunset and Milky Way

Day 3 — Chaquicocha to Wiñaywayna campsite

Hike 2 hours on flat terrain
Descend to campsite with glacier views
Explore Phuyupatamarka and Intipata ruins
Arrive at Wiñaywayna campsite by 12:30 p.m.
Lunch and siesta at campsite
Short hike to Wiñaywayna ruins
Free time for photography
Return to campsite and farewell porters
Dinner and early rest

Day 4 — Machu Picchu visit and return

Early start and pass checkpoint at 5:30 a.m.
Hike 1 hour 20 minutes to Sun Gate
View sunrise over Machu Picchu
Descend 45 minutes to Mapi checkpoint
2-hour guided Machu Picchu tour
Bus to Aguas Calientes for lunch
Train departure at 14:55 or 15:20 p.m.
AB team meets at station
Return to Cusco or Sacred Valley hotel

The Experience

"How early do we start?" That's the first thing most people ask when they realize the pickup is 4:30 a.m. on day one. The answer is: early enough to eat breakfast in Ollantaytambo, drive to km 82, meet your guide and porters, and begin the 26-mile Inca Trail trek before the sun gets high. You're walking a path the Incas built, and the only way to enter Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate is on foot. The first day moves at a manageable pace — three hours to Llactapata ruins, then a drive to Hatunchaca for lunch, then four more hours to Ayapata camp where your tents are already pitched and hot tea is waiting around 5 p.m. Your porter has carried your gear. Your chef has cooked. You just walk.

Day two is where the Inca Trail earns its reputation. You wake to coca tea or hot tea, then climb four hours to Dead Woman's Pass at 4,215 meters — the highest point on the trek. The air is thin and the views are wide, and your guide will explain what you're seeing instead of just pointing. After that peak comes a descent to Pacaymayu Valley for lunch, then another 1.5 hours to Runqurakay ruins and the second campsite at Chaquicocha. You'll see the Vilcabamba mountain range at sunset and the Milky Way after dark. It's a long day, but the camp is set, the food is hot, and you're not thinking about logistics — the team handles that.

Day three is easier by design. Five hours of hiking, with the first two on gentler terrain, takes you past Phuyupatamarka and Intipata ruins to the final campsite by 12:30 p.m. You have time to shower, rest, and then hike to Wiñaywayna ruins for photos before dinner. This is when the rhythm of the trek shifts — you're close now, and the landscape is changing as you descend toward the cloud forest. You say goodbye to your porters here, which matters because they've been carrying your load the whole way and treating the work with dignity, not like a transaction.

The last morning you leave at 5:30 a.m. for the final checkpoint, then hike 80 minutes to the Sun Gate. Machu Picchu appears below you in the sunrise, and you descend 45 minutes to the site itself. Your guide leads a two-hour walk through the citadel, then you take the bus down to Aguas Calientes for lunch. The train departs at either 14:55 or 15:20, and you're back in Cusco or the Sacred Valley by 7 p.m. The whole thing — pickup, permits, camping gear, all meals, the guide, the porters, the chef, the train back — is included. You don't arrange any of it. You just show up at your hotel at 4:30 a.m. ready to walk.

What’s included

Your four days include private hotel pickup and drop-off in Cusco, private transport from Cusco to km 82, the Inca Trail permit and Machu Picchu entrance ticket, all meals on the trail (three breakfasts, three lunches, three dinners), boiled drinking water, a professional English-speaking guide, porter service for up to 7 kg of gear, a chef, quality camping equipment with tents and mattresses, a dining tent, portable toilets, satellite phone and emergency oxygen, a two-hour guided tour of Machu Picchu, the bus from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes, the Expedition train back to Ollantaytambo, and an Inca Trail T-shirt. A pre-departure briefing in Cusco is also included.

Good to know

Demanding physical levelNot for pregnant travelersNot for heart conditionsNot for back problems

Operated by AB Expeditions

Is this one for you?This trek suits travelers with high cardiovascular fitness who want to reach Machu Picchu on the original Inca path without arranging permits, transport, camping or food — the guide and porter team handle all logistics so you focus only on walking and acclimatizing to the altitude.