5 Day Salkantay Trek: Our Personal Experience on the Trek to Machu Picchu

We love to combine fitness and adventure so when a friend of ours brought up the Salkantay Trek, we knew we had to join her! The Salkantay Trek is a 40+ mile trek from Cusco, Peru to Machu Picchu. You hike through the Andes Mountains to the Amazon jungle and end at the marvelous Machu Picchu. The biggest problem, you’re starting the hike at 11,000 feet and getting as high as 15,000 feet elevation, which for us was a huge change because we sit at sea-level.

Since we aren’t super experienced altitude hikers, we decided to join Salkantay Trekking for the guided tour, and while this trek was super challenging, we absolutely loved it! When doing the Salkantay Trek, you have the chance to do classic 5 day trek and the premium 5 day trek. Here’s a rundown of what the premium 5 day Salkantay Trek was like for us.

The Night Before the 5 day Salkantay Trek Starts

The night before the trek starts, you’ll meet up at the Salkantay Trekking Company offices in Cusco, Peru and have a brief overview of what to expect. Here you will meet your guide, get your duffle bags and trekking poles, and go over any questions you may have. They will brief you on what to expect over the next couple days and your pickup time in the morning. Then you’ll want to pack everything you will be needing in the next 5 days into either the duffel bag they provide or your day pack.

Day 1 – Cusco to Soraypampa 6.2 miles

We got picked up at 2:30am (I think this was a little earlier than normal because of roadwork, but it’s still usually a really early morning), and drove from about 30 minutes where Salkantay Trekking has a storage area where you will leave all your luggage that you didn’t pack for the trek. Then back on the bus for about 2 hours before we stopped for breakfast. We stopped at Sarawasi for a quick buffet breakfast, before heading out for another hour to where the trek official begins.

The trek officially starts in Challacancha, elevation 12,467 feet. The van drops you off, you have the chance to go the bathroom, and have a quick chat with your guide and then you’re off! And I will tell you, I thought there would be a little warm-up to this trek, and there absolutely was not! The first 45 minutes or so, you are just trekking uphill. It was basically like “Welcome to Peru!” But after the initial incline, the rest of day 1 was pretty flat.

You’ll arrive at Day 1 base camp, the beautiful igloo Sky Camp, after about 4.5 miles. You have some time to relax a little and then get some lunch. In the afternoon, there is an optional hike to Humantay Lake. I will say, the hike to the lake is WAY harder, as you hike another 1000 feet from the base camp, up to 13,780 feet. Unfortunately, Tip started getting some altitude sickness when we got to base camp, was feeling really nauseous and weak, so he didn’t go up the lake. The lake is beautiful, but ready for a HIKE! Then once you come back down to base camp, you’ll have dinner and go to bed, because you’ll start again early the next day!

The Sky Camp igloos are really cool – you can even see the stars if it’s clear! However, this is the only accommodation that doesn’t have its own bathroom, and there are no showers. Electricity is on for only a few hours before bed, so make sure to charge everything ahead of time. It can get very cold at night, so bundle up, but they will give you a heated water bottle to add to your sleeping bag, which was glorious!

Day 2 – Soraypampa to Collpapampa 14.6 miles

Day 2 is by far the hardest day. It is the longest day, but also this is the day where you’ll climb the Salkantay Pass, which is the highest point on the trek at 15,190 feet. Day 2 is basically 4.5 miles straight up to the pass, and then another 9 miles downhill. If you struggled on Day 1 or are feeling uneasy at all, you do have the option to take a horse up to the pass (you will still have to walk down the other side).

If you’ve done any reading on this trek, you know that they say the weather can change at any time and you could really get a little bit of everything. And today was the day that we had the worst weather! Day 2 starts out cold, but not too bad, but you should wear layers because you will be hiking up into the mountains, so it will get colder. As we got closer to the pass, we actually had some rain and sleet coming down, which means we didn’t stay at the top very long.

I, honestly, was pretty miserable today. I think a mixture between how long it was, the altitude, the weather, and then I was alone. When I say I was alone, my tour guide, Julio was still around, but Tip and our friend, both took the horses up, so I was trekking up the mountain without my friends. And if you’ve ever done some serious hiking, you know how mental challenging that can be. And then you get to the top, and go right back down the other side, which might have sucked even more, because downhill is no joke! And we pretty much had rain all day, so we were thrilled when we arrived at the base camp for the night, which was the mountain sky view.

The mountain sky view lodge had a gorgeous view. If only we had a clear view out of our big windows! But you have your own bathroom and shower, with hot water, which was needed after the day we had! In the restaurant, there is also a small bar, where you can get some drinks. The youngsters were all having fun, but we were so tired, we ate and went to bed!

Day 3 – Collpapampa to Lucmabamba 10.56 miles

Day 3 is a good day, it’s not as long as Day 2, definitely not as challenging, plus you get to stop at a passionfruit plantation, a coffee farm to make your own coffee, and if you booked the premium trek you get to experience the hot springs. This day you’ll start hiking more into the jungle, so the temperature warms up, and you’ll start to see more bugs around.

You’ll walk for about 2.5 hours before arriving at the passionfruit farm, where you can buy some fruit, smoothies, snacks, or drinks. Then you’ll continue on to the coffee farm, which was a cool experience. You get to learn how to make and try the coffee, plus you can purchase a cup of coffee or some beans to take home with you. And then you’ll arrive at the base camp for the night, which is the Super Jungle Dome, before you head off to the hot springs.

Because we booked the premium trek, the hot springs admission was included. If you booked the classic trek, you have the option to add on the hot springs at an additional price. We were excited for this after all the hiking and how sore our legs were, but to be honest, the hot springs weren’t all that hot. We would call them more “warm”. We were here on a Sunday, and I think because of that it was super busy! We could barely enjoy it because there were so many people. But I think if this day lands on a weekday for you, it won’t be as busy.

The super jungle dome is Salkantay Trekking Company’s newest accommodation, they added on to their jungle domes. It’s a huge round igloo in the middle of the jungle. Again, you’ll have your own bathroom, hot shower, and electricity. All the accommodations that they have, are definitely worth doing this trek for!

Day 4 – Lucmabamba to Aguas Calientes 9 miles

This is the last big day before reaching Machu Picchu. You are so close, yet so far! Today is exciting because you get to see Machu Picchu from the outside. However, there are also some stretches of the trek that are quite boring today. You do have some elevation gain today, as you’ll go up and over the Llactapata pass, where you’ll be able to see the Llactapata ruins, and get a glimpse of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu.

I started coming down with a cold on this morning, so my breathing really struggled on this day. So going up the elevation on this day sucked for me. However, this day is NOTHING compared to day 2! Plus you know you are SO CLOSE to seeing Machu Picchu up close!

Because we booked the premium trek, we actually skip out on what we hear is the most boring part of the trek, walking along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes. The premium booking trek is a little shorter than the classic trek, because you get to ride the train from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes, and that train ticket is included in your booking.

Because we took the train from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes, we actually arrived in AC at around 330 and were able to explore the town, do some shopping or just hang out before dinner that night. We actually met up with the rest of the members of our group for a celebratory drink, as all our hard work finally paid off, and then had a nice big dinner with the group and our tour guide.

Day 5 – Entry into Machu Picchu

This is the day we’ve been working towards! You’ll wake up early and eat breakfast at your hotel, then head to Aguas Calientes city center where you’ll catch the bus up to Machu Picchu. There will be a lot of people there waiting for buses or even tickets, but that’s what is nice about booking with a company like Salkantay Trekking because the bus tickets and the entry tickets are already included. The bus ride takes about 25 minutes to get up to Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu is a timed entry, so you’ll already have your time to go in, and because our tour group bought our tickets, we had a 6am entry time! We weren’t able to get Circuit 2 (which is the most popular entrance, but we did get tickets to Circuit 1 and 3, which we thought were still great options! To begin, our whole group went into Circuit 3 together, where Julio, our guide, walked us around and shared more history on Machu Picchu. Then we went back outside the gates, where we waited for our next entry for Circuit 1.

While there is not as much “hiking” inside Machu Picchu, there are some serious steps, especially if you are going up to Circuit 1, so be prepared for that.

Then after you’re done with your circuits, you’ll wait in line for the bus to take you back to Aguas Calientes. You’ll meet back up with your group and your guide and then at some point you’ll begin your train ride back to Ollantaytambo and eventually Cusco. We did have some more time in AC to do some more shopping or get some food.

With the premium booking, we were able to take the Vistadome Observatory train ride back to Ollantaytambo, which had huge windows and great views, plus the service and the entertainment was great! They take you into another train car for a little song and dance, and then do an Alpaca shopping spree- it was a cool experience! The buses will pick you up in Ollantaytambo and take you back to Cusco, where you’ll pick up your other belongings, and get taken to your hotel.

Review of Salkantay Trekking Company

We wrote a whole review of our time with Salkantay Trekking Company, if you want to read more, but we can’t say enough good things about them! We were so happy with the hospitality, food, and service throughout our trek. We are inexperienced trekkers, so having the guide was super helpful. But also, the food was amazing, and our tour guide, Julio, really taught us so much about the history and culture of Peru, Machu Picchu and the surrounding areas. Plus, with Tip experiencing some altitude sickness on Day 1 and Day 2, it was really helpful to have someone with experience and knowledge. In our eyes, what we paid for the 5 days was definitely worth it – heck even those awesome accommodations were worth the price!

Differences between Classic and Premium 5 Day Salkantay Trek

When we booked our trek, we had a hard time deciding between the classic and premium booking, and we ended up going with the premier booking, which at the time was $300 more than the classic. After the trek, we were really happy with our decision.

The premium 5 day trek is 40 miles of walking and includes 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 4 dinners. The classic 5 day trek is 48.8 miles of walking and includes 5 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 4 dinners.

Here are some of the differences between the classic and premium trek for each day:

	Classic 5 day trek	Premium 5 day trek
Equipment	-only duffle bag	-sleeping bag -trekking poles -duffle bag
Day 1	all same	all same
Day 2		-emergency horse to Salkantay Pass
Day 3	-Jungle Domes at base camp	-Super Jungle Domes -transport and entrance to hot springs
Day 4	-must walk from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes -basic hotel in Aguas Calientes	-train ticket from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes (excludes 7 miles of walking on train tracks) -upgraded hotel in Aguas Calientes
Day 5	-only breakfast included -one way bus ticket from AC to MP -basic train ticket back to Ollantaytambo	-breakfast and lunch included -round trip bus ticket from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu -upgraded train ticket back to Ollantaytambo with Vistadome Observatory

As well as these add-ons, you also get things like prime dinner location and the best views from basecamp. In our opinion, the premium trek was well worth the price! You basically get spoiled even more than you do on the classic trek (we think Salkantay Trekking Company does such a good job making your experience a 10/10)!

We also felt that most people that do this trek were in their early 20s, as 2 late 30’s (and a friend in her late 60s, we thought the premium is targeted towards the older clientele, as the other couple in our premium group were in the 30s and 40s as well.

Things to Know About Entering Machu Picchu

• You obviously want to secure your tickets to Machu Picchu early, which if you’re doing a tour, that shouldn’t be an issue.
• There is no bathroom INSIDE Machu Picchu, so make sure you use the restroom before you go inside – however, if you have multiple circuit entries, you will come out of MP before reentering so you’ll have time to use the restroom again
• There is a little restaurant with food and drinks outside MP
• You can’t bring in drones or large backpacks
• Pack or wear layers, as the weather changes quickly