Peru » Cusco | 🏛 Hiking Tour Machu Picchu

Cusco: 4-Day Salkantay Trek & Machu Picchu with Sky Camp

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.97 (3,840 reviews) 98% rated it 5 stars

Travelers' pickLikely to sell out

1/17

Duration4d

GroupUp to 12

LanguagesEN · ES

PickupAt your hotel

Four Days Climbing to Machu Picchu Through the Andes, Sleeping Under Stars

You trek four days from Cusco over Salkantay Mountain to Machu Picchu, sleeping one night in Sky Camp igloos with stargazing, visiting Humantay Lake and a coffee farm, and arriving at the ruins before sunrise on day four. All meals, accommodations, guide, transport, and entrance fees are included; you carry only five kilos of personal gear. The group size stays under twelve, and you need to be in solid physical shape and arrive in Cusco two days early to adjust to altitude.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Cusco to Sky Camp via Humantay Lake

Pickup from accommodation at 5:00 a.m.
Drive to Mollepata
Breakfast in Mollepata
Drive to Challacancha
Hike three hours to Soraypampa
Lunch at Sky Camp in Soraypampa
Afternoon hike to Humantay Lake
Return to Sky Camp for dinner and rest

Day 2 — Sky Camp to Collpapampa via Abra Salkantay

Wake up and drink coca tea
Breakfast at Sky Camp
Ascend to Abra Salkantay summit
Enjoy mountain views at summit
Descend to Huayracmachay for lunch
Hike through cloud forest to Collpapampa
Dinner and overnight at Mountain Sky View Camp

Day 3 — Collpapampa to Aguas Calientes via coffee farm

Wake up and breakfast at 6:00 a.m.
Five-hour hike through Santa Teresa Valley
Arrive Granadilla, transfer to La Playa
Visit organic coffee farm
Lunch at La Playa
Travel to Hidroelectrica train station
Walk to Aguas Calientes
Check in hotel and relax in hot springs
Dinner at local restaurant

Day 4 — Machu Picchu visit and return to Cusco

Early light breakfast
Bus from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu
Two-hour guided tour of Machu Picchu
Optional hike to Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain
Return to Aguas Calientes for lunch
Train to Ollantaytambo
Private transport to Cusco

The Experience

You land in Cusco, and the altitude hits you the moment you step outside. The air is thin, the light is sharp, and you're standing at 11,000 feet. If you've given yourself two days to adjust — which the guides will tell you to do — then on day three you're ready for this: a 5 a.m. pickup from your hotel, a drive to Mollepata, and the start of a four-day trek to Machu Picchu that doesn't follow the crowded Classic Trail. Instead, you're going over Salkantay Mountain, past Humantay Lake with its turquoise water reflecting glaciers, and down through cloud forest to the ruins. The group stays under twelve people, which means the pace is real and the camp feels like yours.

Day one is the hardest part of the decision, not the hike. You leave Mollepata after breakfast and walk three hours along an ancient Inca canal to Soraypampa, a high plateau at 12,795 feet where lunch is waiting. Then you climb to Humantay Lake in the afternoon — the water is so bright it doesn't look real — and return to Sky Camp for dinner. That's where you sleep in an igloo, which sounds like a gimmick until you're lying there at night with almost no light pollution and the Milky Way so clear you can see why the Incas called these mountains sacred. The camp has a dining room and kitchen; the porters have carried your gear (you pack only five kilos of personal stuff), so you just show up and eat.

Day two starts with coca tea at dawn. You climb to Abra Salkantay at 15,190 feet — the highest point — where you can see Salkantay, Humantay, and Pumasillo all at once, all of them considered apus, sacred peaks. Then you descend through the cloud forest, and the landscape changes completely. Tropical plants, waterfalls, rivers. You might see the cock-of-the-rock, Peru's national bird, if you're lucky. Lunch is in Huayracmachay, and you sleep that night at Mountain Sky View Camp, another private facility with a guide and cooks on staff.

Day three is the longest walk — five hours through Santa Teresa Valley with coffee plantations, banana trees, wild orchids. You reach Granadilla and get picked up by private transport to visit an organic coffee farm, where you learn the whole process from harvest to export. Lunch happens there, then you're driven to the train station at Hidroelectrica. From there, a final walk along the river brings you to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. You have the evening free; some people soak in the hot springs. Day four is the sunrise visit to the ruins themselves — you take the first buses up to beat the crowds, get a two-hour guided tour of temples and terraces, then train back to Ollantaytambo and drive back to Cusco. The whole thing includes your accommodations, all meals on the trail, the guide, entrance fees, and the train ticket. If you want to hike Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain on the final day, you can book that in advance.

What’s included

Your trek includes hotel pickup and drop-off in Cusco, all meals and snacks on the trail, three nights' accommodation (one at Sky Camp with igloos, one at Mountain Sky View Camp, one at a hotel in Aguas Calientes), entrance fees to the Salkantay route and Humantay Lake, Machu Picchu entry, a one-way bus ticket from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu, the train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo, private transport throughout, an experienced mountain guide, experienced cooks and porters, camping facilities and equipment, five kilos of porterage for your personal gear, water and tea on the trail, and a cultural visit to a local coffee farm. A pre-departure briefing is also included.

Good to know

Demanding physical levelPets welcomeNot for pregnant travelersNot for heart conditionsNot for back problems

Operated by Salkantay Trekking

Is this one for you?Right for trekkers who want to reach Machu Picchu on foot without the crowds of the Classic Trail, and who are willing to train hard and arrive early to adjust to altitude — the remote route and small group size are what make the four-day pace possible.