GuideMollepata, Cusco, Peru10 min read
Salkantay to Machu Picchu Without a Permit
The high alternative to the Inca Trail, over a 4,600 m pass
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2.01 review
Glaciers, cloud forest and coffee farms: the five-day Salkantay trek is wilder than the Inca Trail and needs no permit, which makes it our favourite last-minute option.
A different kind of hard
Nevado Salkantay, at 6,271 m, is the highest peak in the Vilcabamba range and was one of the most sacred apus of the Inca world. The trek that circles its southern flank reaches 4,630 m at the Salkantay pass, more than 400 m higher than anything on the Inca Trail, and then drops nearly 3,000 m in a day and a half into subtropical valleys of bamboo, orchids and coffee.
Because the route does not enter the Machu Picchu sanctuary until the very end, there is no permit quota. That makes it the trek we recommend when Inca Trail permits have sold out, and the one we recommend to people who care more about mountains than ruins.
The usual start is Mollepata or Soraypampa, three hours by road from Cusco. Most groups spend the first afternoon walking up to Laguna Humantay to acclimatise, sleep at Soraypampa at 3,900 m, and cross the pass early on day two before the clouds build. Days three and four follow the Santa Teresa valley through fruit farms to the hydroelectric station, then along the railway to Aguas Calientes.
Laguna Humantay
What makes Salkantay different
- No permit quota, so it can be booked a week ahead
- Higher pass (4,630 m) and colder first night
- Three climate zones in five days, from glacier to cloud forest
- Lodges or domes on most nights instead of tents
- You arrive at Machu Picchu by train or a riverside walk, not through the Sun Gate
Cold nights
Soraypampa camp
About this story
Mateo QuispeAuthor
Andes TrailsPublisher
Reviews
Write a reviewAverage rating 2.0 out of 5
1 review- AMArjun Mehta2 out of 5 stars4 Jul
Trail conditions were nothing like described after the rains. Some warning would have helped.
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