4-Day Trek to Machu Picchu on the Lares Trail
Cusco, Peru
Trip Type: Multi-day Tours
Duration: 4 days
Enjoy a 4-day trek to Machu Picchu on the Lares trail. Being less crowded than the main trail provides for a complete experience with beautiful scenery, culture and history. This trek allows you to interact with local people along the amazing Andean mountains while ending up in Machu Picchu. Our route passes through two villages on the trek. These visits are authentic experiences and your guide will
be at your side helping you to communicate since Quechua is spoken
here, the language of the Incas.
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Enjoy a 4-day trek to Machu Picchu on the Lares trail. Being less crowded than the main trail provides for a complete experience with beautiful scenery, culture and history. This trek allows you to interact with local people along the amazing Andean mountains while ending up in Machu Picchu. Our route passes through two villages on the trek. These visits are authentic experiences and your guide will
be at your side helping you to communicate since Quechua is spoken
here, the language of the Incas.
Day 1: Cusco – Huaran – Cancha Cancha (B,L,D)
You will be picked up at 6:00am and travel by private bus for a 2-hour ride to the village of Huaran (2840m) located in the Sacrey Valley between Pisac and Urubamba. The start of the trail is in Huaran and you will meet up with the horsemen to pack the horses. Leaving the Sacred valley behind, you head northwards following a gentle climbing trail that runs parallel to the small Cancha Cancha River. It takes around 4-hour of walking to reach your destination. The small village also named Cancha Cancha (3800m) is where you will spend the night.
Day 2: Cancha Cancha – Quishuarani (B,L,D)
Leaving Cancha Cancha, you head northeast up the valley, passing small thatched stone houses. After 3-hour the path flattens out before climbing steeply for the 2-hour trek to the highest pass called Pachacutec Pass (4758m). From the pass, there is superb views of Pachacutec Lake and the snowy peaks of Pitusiray. The path continues for an hour along a narrow ridge until dropping down into a beautiful, secluded corrie filled with glacial lakes. There will be a stop for lunch here. The lip of the current descends into the next valley following a series of cascading waterfalls to the village of Quisuarani (3700m) about 1 hour of walking from the current. You will camp at the community of Quishuarani.
Day 3: Quishuarani – Cuncani – Lares (Hot springs) – Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes (B,L,D)
The trail goes up for 2-hour and then follows the river valley downhill for about 2-hour to the town of Lares (3100m). One hour before arriving in Lares town you will have to opportunity to enjoy a soak in some open air thermal springs (be sure to bring a swimsuit).
At about 1pm, after lunch, the bus will pick us up and leave for Ollantaytambo. There you will have some time to rest and see this amazing town before going to Aguas Calientes by train around 7:00pm.
Day 4: Machu Picchu - Cusco (B)
After an early breakfast, you will leave the hotel to take a bus for the journey up to the Machu Picchu ruins. Once there, you will visit one of the most important mystic centers of the world: Machu Picchu.
A three hour guided tour will transmit us into the history around this mysterious and charming ruin. After the guided tour you will have plenty of time for further exploring, taking photos and the option to climb Huayna Picchu Mountain or up to the Sun Gate before we head back to Aguas Calientes.
In the afternoon you take the return train to Ollantaytambo with a private bus connection to Cusco.
Day 1: Cusco – Huaran – Cancha Cancha (B,L,D)
You will be picked up at 6:00am and travel by private bus for a 2-hour ride to the village of Huaran (2840m) located in the Sacrey Valley between Pisac and Urubamba. The start of the trail is in Huaran and you will meet up with the horsemen to pack the horses. Leaving the Sacred valley behind, you head northwards following a gentle climbing trail that runs parallel to the small Cancha Cancha River. It takes around 4-hour of walking to reach your destination. The small village also named Cancha Cancha (3800m) is where you will spend the night.
Day 2: Cancha Cancha – Quishuarani (B,L,D)
Leaving Cancha Cancha, you head northeast up the valley, passing small thatched stone houses. After 3-hour the path flattens out before climbing steeply for the 2-hour trek to the highest pass called Pachacutec Pass (4758m). From the pass, there is superb views of Pachacutec Lake and the snowy peaks of Pitusiray. The path continues for an hour along a narrow ridge until dropping down into a beautiful, secluded corrie filled with glacial lakes. There will be a stop for lunch here. The lip of the current descends into the next valley following a series of cascading waterfalls to the village of Quisuarani (3700m) about 1 hour of walking from the current. You will camp at the community of Quishuarani.
Day 3: Quishuarani – Cuncani – Lares (Hot springs) – Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes (B,L,D)
The trail goes up for 2-hour and then follows the river valley downhill for about 2-hour to the town of Lares (3100m). One hour before arriving in Lares town you will have to opportunity to enjoy a soak in some open air thermal springs (be sure to bring a swimsuit).
At about 1pm, after lunch, the bus will pick us up and leave for Ollantaytambo. There you will have some time to rest and see this amazing town before going to Aguas Calientes by train around 7:00pm.
Day 4: Machu Picchu - Cusco (B)
After an early breakfast, you will leave the hotel to take a bus for the journey up to the Machu Picchu ruins. Once there, you will visit one of the most important mystic centers of the world: Machu Picchu.
A three hour guided tour will transmit us into the history around this mysterious and charming ruin. After the guided tour you will have plenty of time for further exploring, taking photos and the option to climb Huayna Picchu Mountain or up to the Sun Gate before we head back to Aguas Calientes.
In the afternoon you take the return train to Ollantaytambo with a private bus connection to Cusco.
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