When the Journey IS the Destination
Most people visit Machu Picchu the easy way — a train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, a bus up the winding mountain road, a few hours inside the ruins, and back. And honestly? That version is spectacular too. But we didn’t do it the easy way.
We walked there. Forty-five kilometres across Andean mountain passes, cloud forests, and ancient stone pathways, carrying our daypacks while a remarkable team of porters moved everything else ahead of us. Four days, three nights, one dead woman’s pass at 4,215 metres, and one morning at Sun Gate when everything we had put ourselves through suddenly made complete sense.
This blog is the real account of that trek — what we actually did, what we wish we had known, and what we would tell our clients before they book. We did it as part of a 22-day South America trip covering Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Brazil in April 2026. Machu Picchu was the undisputed highlight.
Getting to Cusco — The Acclimatisation is Non-Negotiable
We flew into Cusco on 23rd April, arriving in the morning. Cusco sits at 3,400 metres above sea level — and your body knows it the moment you step off the plane. The air is noticeably thinner. Walking up a single flight of stairs leaves you slightly breathless. This is not something to take lightly.
We spent two full nights in Cusco before our trek began — 23rd and 24th April. We stayed at the Marriott Cusco, which is a solid base in the city centre with good facilities. After the trek, a spa session there was one of the better decisions we made on the entire trip.
During those two days, we explored the old town at a slow pace. Cusco’s Plaza de Armas is genuinely beautiful — colonial architecture built quite literally on top of Inca stonework. The markets are worth your time. Eat light, drink plenty of water, and avoid alcohol for the first day. The locals swear by coca tea for altitude acclimatisation, and it genuinely helps. Have it as often as it is offered.
Agent’s Advice: Do not let clients skip acclimatisation days to save money or time. Altitude sickness on Day 2 of the trek — at Dead Woman’s Pass — is a genuine risk. Two nights minimum in Cusco before the trek. Three is better.
Choosing the Right Operator — Why It Matters
We booked our trek through Alpaca Expeditions, one of the most reputed operators on the Classic Inca Trail. At approximately USD 850 per person, it is not the cheapest option available — but on a trek like this, the operator is everything.
The evening before the trek — 24th April at 6 PM — Alpaca Expeditions called all group members for a pre-trek briefing. This meeting covered everything: what goes into your daypack versus your duffel bag, poncho protocol (always accessible — it rains without warning), dietary requirements, daily timings, safety protocols, and an introduction to your guides.
This briefing is where they handed us our ponchos and our personal duffel bags. The rule: duffel bag weight cannot exceed 7 kg. The porters carry these. Your daypack — which you carry yourself — should have everything you need during the day: water, snacks, sunscreen, camera, layers, and your poncho within immediate reach.
Permit Reality Check: The Inca Trail is one of the most permit-restricted treks in the world. Only 500 people per day — 200 tourists and 300 porters. When we booked in early 2026 for late April, only 8 slots remained. May onwards was completely sold out. For clients wanting peak season dates, permits need to be secured 4–6 months in advance.
The Group Dynamic
Our group had 16 people — the maximum that Alpaca Expeditions runs per group. People had come from across the world: mainly the US, UK, and Europe, with one couple from Hong Kong. We were the only Indians in the group — and over 4 days on the trail, we did not encounter a single other Indian couple who had come from India specifically for this trek. We met a few Indian-origin NRIs, but as far as Indians living in India making this journey, we were genuinely rare.
The group had two expert guides and approximately 24–25 porters. The porters are the true heroes of the Inca Trail, and we will get to them shortly.
The Trek — Day by Day
Day 1: Finding Your Rhythm
Pickup was at 4 AM from our hotel — one of the advantages of staying centrally in Cusco is that the operator picks you up from your doorstep if you fall within their radius. We were driven to the trek starting point where porters were already set up and breakfast was being prepared.
Day 1 is designed to be manageable — a deliberate choice by experienced operators who know that easing into the trail builds confidence without breaking the body early. The terrain was mostly flat with gentle ups and downs. The landscape opened gradually — green valleys, mountain views, and the first hints of Andean altitude terrain.
After approximately four hours of walking, we reached the lunch stop. What makes the Inca Trail different from most treks is the hospitality layered into every meal. The lunch stops use actual homes of local families along the trail — the operator has arrangements with these households. When we arrived, our chef had already prepared a full meal. The porters greeted us with applause. Welcome drinks were waiting. Small green bowls with soap and sanitiser were laid out for handwashing before food.
As the only vegetarians in the group — and one of us strictly eggless — we had flagged our dietary requirements at the briefing. Every single meal, without exception, had a separate version prepared for us. The staple food on the trail is rice, which as Indians, suited us perfectly. Soups, curries, salads — the food was genuinely good. Hot, filling, and far better than you expect at altitude on a mountain trail.
The siesta ritual: Every day after lunch, the group gets 20–25 minutes of rest. On Day 1, we lay on the grass outside the lunch house under open sky. We were four hours into a four-day Andean trek and somehow already completely relaxed.
After lunch and siesta, another two to three hours of walking brought us to the first base camp. The tents were already pitched — the porters had run ahead with all the gear and had everything ready before we arrived. The camps were well-organised, with separate sleeping tents, a dining tent, and toilet facilities. The temperature drops sharply at night at altitude. Sleeping gear was adequate, but pack a warm layer that you keep accessible.
Base camp Day 1 — tents already pitched, mountain backdrop. Home for the night.
Day 2: Dead Woman’s Pass — The One Everyone Talks About
Wake-up call was at 5 AM. Coca tea was ready. Day 2 is the day the Inca Trail earns its reputation.
Dead Woman’s Pass — Warmiwañusca in Quechua — sits at 4,215 metres above sea level. It is the highest point of the entire trek, and the climb to reach it takes approximately four to four and a half hours of sustained uphill walking. There is no flat section. There is no shortcut. You go up, and you keep going up.
We will not sugarcoat it: it is hard. But manageable hard, not impossible hard. The trick is pace. Slowly and steadily, as our guides kept reminding us, is not a platitude on this trail — it is the actual strategy. People who try to push the pace at altitude pay for it within the hour. We kept our rhythm, stopped when we needed to, and got there.
The scenery on the climb to Dead Woman’s Pass is extraordinary. You are walking on top of Andean mountains surrounded by trees, with clouds literally passing through the path around you. There is a moment somewhere in the final hour where the cloud forest thickens and visibility drops, and you are just walking through white mist on ancient stone steps with the sound of your own breathing. It stays with you.
When we reached the top of Dead Woman’s Pass, we were surrounded entirely by clouds. We waited at the summit for about half an hour — partly for rest, partly hoping for a window in the clouds. The altitude, the exhaustion, the sheer physical achievement of having climbed there — it is its own kind of emotion.
The descent from Dead Woman’s Pass is two hours — and if you think going up was the hard part, the descent will correct that assumption. The path down is carved stone steps, uneven and steep. Trekking poles are not optional on this section — they are essential. Going down in this terrain requires more concentration than going up. Take it slow. Your knees will thank you the next morning.
Lunch was at the bottom of the descent, and it was deserved. That evening’s campsite was the most scenic of all three nights — beautifully situated with mountain views in every direction. The body was tired in the best possible way. Sleep came quickly.
For clients: Trekking poles are essential for Day 2. If your operator doesn’t include them, rent or buy before the trek starts. Also: altitude medication (Diamox) should be discussed with a doctor before travel and brought as a precaution.
On the climb to Dead Woman’s Pass — steep stone steps, cloud coverage. Caption: Dead Woman’s Pass. Every step earned.
Day 3: The Ruins Begin — Wiñay Wayna
Day 3 is the gift after Day 2. It is the shortest day of the trek, deliberately structured this way by experienced operators so that the group arrives at the final campsite well-rested before the 3 AM start on Day 4.
The hike is approximately five hours, the terrain is kinder, and the cloud forest has a different quality to it — lusher, quieter, almost otherworldly. But the headline of Day 3 is the Inca ruins of Wiñay Wayna, just a ten-minute walk from the campsite.
Wiñay Wayna means ‘forever young’ in Quechua. The site is a series of Inca terraces and structures built into the mountain slope, partially reclaimed by vegetation, partially exposed and restored. Our guides walked us through what was known about how people lived there — agricultural terraces, water channels still functioning, residential structures for different social classes.
Standing at Wiñay Wayna was the first moment the weight of where we were really landed. I have done multiple treks before — Himalayan routes, forest trails. But Inca ruins are different. The question that kept coming to mind was: how did people build this, and what was life like here? The ruins do not feel ancient in an abstract way. They feel like a place where people actually lived. That feeling is hard to explain until you are standing there.
That evening, the guides were clear: sleep early. Day 4 starts at 3 AM.
Wiñay Wayna ruins — terraces on the hillside, green surrounding. Caption: Wiñay Wayna. The preview before the main event.
Day 4: Sun Gate and the Lost City
Three AM. The camp stirs in darkness. Headlamps on, layers on, coca tea in hand. This is what the previous three days have been building toward.
Different companies camp in the same area and all target the checkpoint that opens at 5:30 AM. The strategy is to queue early — the trail from the checkpoint narrows significantly, and once the gates open, overtaking becomes nearly impossible. Our group was second in line.
The walk from the checkpoint to Sun Gate in darkness is an experience unto itself. The forest is completely dark except for the line of headlamps stretching ahead and behind. The trail climbs again — and somewhere in this final push, there is a section the guides call the monkey climb: approximately fifty stone steps, steep and high, where you are essentially using both hands and feet to get up. After three days on the trail, this is both absurd and entirely doable.
The checkpoint opened at 5:30 AM. Within one to one and a half hours of walking, we reached Sun Gate — Inti Punku.
Sun Gate is where you see Machu Picchu for the first time. It is far below you — the ancient city laid out on its mountain saddle, terraces cascading, the peak of Huayna Picchu rising behind it. When we arrived, it was just becoming light. We had walked four days to stand at this exact spot and look down at this exact view. The photos do not do it justice. Nothing does. You have to be there to understand why people do this.
We spent time at Sun Gate — took photographs, sat quietly, let the reality of it settle. Then we began the descent to Machu Picchu itself. The path from Sun Gate down to the ruins is mostly downhill, well-marked, and takes approximately one hour.
We entered Machu Picchu at around 8 AM on a beautiful, clear, sunny morning. April had given us the best possible day.
Inside Machu Picchu — The Lost City
We had two to two and a half hours inside Machu Picchu with our guide, followed by free time before heading down to Aguas Calientes.
The guided tour covers the key structures: the palaces of the Inca kings, the Temple of the Sun, the Intihuatana stone (a ritual astronomical calendar), separate schools for men and women, agricultural terraces, and the urban sector. The guide explained the discovery of the site by Hiram Bingham in 1911, and the current theories about its function — most likely a royal estate and religious retreat rather than a city in the conventional sense.
A word on the guided tour: it is worth doing. It is genuinely engaging, not a dry lecture. Understanding what you are looking at transforms the experience from impressive ruins to a window into a sophisticated civilisation that had running water, astronomical knowledge, and architectural precision that still baffles engineers today.
The llamas are real, and they are everywhere, entirely unimpressed by the thousands of tourists around them. They are also excellent for photographs.
The difference between people who had trekked and people who had taken the bus up was visible. Day-trippers arriving from Aguas Calientes had the same view — Machu Picchu looks the same regardless of how you get there. But the people who had walked had something different in their eyes when they looked at it. We had earned it in a way that is difficult to describe without sounding dramatic. It just meant more.
Trek vs Train — Our Honest Recommendation: For clients who are fit, adventurous, and have the time — do the trek. It is one of the great walks on earth and the experience is incomparable. For clients who want to see Machu Picchu without the physical commitment — the train and day trip option is absolutely valid. The ruins are spectacular regardless of how you arrive. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.
Aguas Calientes — The Town Worth a Few Hours
After Machu Picchu, we took the bus back down the winding mountain road to Aguas Calientes — the town at the base of the mountain that serves as the gateway to the ruins. It is a small, pretty town built along a river valley with bridges crossing the water and a waterfall visible from parts of the main street.
The closest comparison that came to mind immediately was a Himachali hill town — the river, the bridges, the narrow streets, the market selling souvenirs. It has that same feel of a place that exists entirely because of what is above it, but has developed its own charm in the process.
We had three to four hours free in Aguas Calientes. We found a restaurant by the river — proper sit-down, good food, cold drinks — and celebrated the completion of the trek with a proper meal. After four days of camp food, however good it had been, a restaurant meal by a river felt like a luxury.
The souvenir market in Aguas Calientes is worth a walk. Alpaca wool products, textiles, ceramics — and the prices are negotiable.
The Train Journey Back to Cusco
From Aguas Calientes, we took the scenic train back to Ollantaytambo, and from there a bus back to Cusco — arriving at around 8 PM after what had been the longest and most satisfying day of the trip.
The train journey itself is beautiful — two hours through changing Andean landscape, following the Urubamba River through the Sacred Valley. There are multiple train services operating this route, including Peru Rail’s Vistadome (panoramic windows) and Belmond’s Hiram Bingham (the luxury option). We would recommend looking at the Vistadome at minimum — the scenery earns the upgrade.
The Sacred Valley from a train window as the light fades on the day you walked out of Machu Picchu is one of those travel moments that stays in the memory for a long time.
For clients: Book train tickets in advance, especially for April onwards. The Vistadome and Belmond trains sell out. Peru Rail and Inca Rail both operate this route — compare schedules and classes before booking.
Everything You Need to Know Before You Go
| Best Time to Visit | May to September (dry season). April is shoulder season — fewer crowds, some rain possible but manageable. |
| Inca Trail Permits | Only 500 permits per day (200 tourists + 300 porters). Book at least 3–4 months in advance. May onwards sells out instantly. |
| Trek Duration | Classic Inca Trail: 4 days / 3 nights. Approx 45 km total. Day 2 is the toughest. |
| Highest Point on Trek | Dead Woman’s Pass (Warmiwañusca): 4,215 metres above sea level. |
| Alpaca Expeditions Cost | Approx USD 850 per person (April 2026). Includes permits, porters, guide, all meals, camping gear. |
| Acclimatisation | Spend minimum 2 nights in Cusco (3,400m) before the trek begins. Coca tea helps. |
| Altitude Sickness | Very common. Carry Diamox if prescribed. Take it slow on Day 1. Hydrate constantly. |
| Vegetarian Food | Fully manageable. Inform operator at time of booking. Eggless options available on request. |
| Visa for Indians | Tourist visa required. Apply in advance. Check current processing times before booking. |
| Flights from India | No direct flights. Common routing: Delhi/Mumbai → Dubai/Doha/London → Lima → Cusco. Budget 2+ days travel each way. |
| Currency | Peruvian Sol (PEN). USD widely accepted in tourist areas. Carry cash for markets and smaller towns. |
Who Should Do the Inca Trail — And Who Shouldn’t
Do the Trek If:
• You are reasonably fit and can handle 6–8 hours of walking per day
• You want more than just a sightseeing tick — you want an experience
• You have done any level of trekking before, even day hikes
• You are travelling as a couple, with friends, or as a small group
• You have time to acclimatise properly
Take the Train If:
• You have limited time and specifically want to see Machu Picchu
• You have knee, hip, or altitude-related health concerns
• You are travelling with children or elderly family members
• You have not done any prior trekking and are unsure about 4 days on a mountain trail
• You are doing a quick South America circuit and Machu Picchu is one of many stops
Both are valid. Machu Picchu does not require suffering to be extraordinary. But if you can do the trek, do the trek.
A Note for Indian Travellers Specifically
Peru is not a common destination for Indians travelling from India, which in itself makes it worth considering. We were the only Indian couple on our trek. We were among very few Indians we encountered anywhere in Peru who had come from India rather than being NRIs based abroad.
Vegetarian food is manageable throughout Peru, but requires communication. In Cusco restaurants, there are options. On the trek, inform your operator clearly at the time of booking — a good operator handles this without issue, as Alpaca Expeditions did for us.
The flight routing from India involves at least one major hub connection — Dubai, Doha, London, or the US. Budget two travel days each way. The journey is long, but Peru is not the kind of destination where you cut corners on time. Go for minimum three weeks if you are crossing continents to get there.
Peru as part of a South America circuit — Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil — is the best way to do the continent. Each country offers something entirely different, and the contrast between them over three to four weeks makes for one of the better extended trips available to Indian travellers.
Our Package: We offer curated South America circuits for Indian travellers including the Classic Inca Trail with Alpaca Expeditions, with full support on visa documentation, routing, and dietary requirements throughout. Contact us to plan yours.
The Honest Verdict
Forty-five kilometres. Four days. One dead woman’s pass at 4,215 metres. Ruins that made us question everything we thought we understood about ancient civilisation. A team of porters who ran up the same mountains we were struggling to walk up, carrying everything we needed, and greeted us at every camp with applause.
And then, at 8 AM on a sunny April morning, Machu Picchu.
Was it worth it? Without any hesitation.
Is it for everyone? No. But for the right traveller, there is nothing quite like it.
Machu Picchu is extraordinary however you reach it. But walking to it — through cloud forests and mountain passes and ancient stone paths — adds a layer to the experience that no bus or train can replicate. It is not just a destination at the end of the trail. By Day 4, it feels like something you earned.