Salkantay Trek To Machu Picchu: Our Honest Review of Salkantay Trekking Company

We have just arrived back from 10 days in Peru, which was absolutely amazing! We aren’t sure why we hadn’t made it to Peru yet, but we will definitely be going back. The main purpose for our trip to Peru was to hike the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu, and spoiler alert, the trek was life-changing!

Which Salkantay Trek Company is Best?

There are many options when hiking the Salkantay Trek, but we picked the 5 day Salkantay Trek with Salkantay Trekking Company. Salkantay Trekking Company has great reviews and we knew someone that had used them previously, so that’s why we ultimately picked them. Compared to some of the other popular trekking companies, it is a little more expensive, but when you compare everything you get with Salkantay Trekking, we thought it was well worth it!

How far is the Trek?

The 5 day Salkantay Trek is between 40-48 miles (depending on if you book the Classic or Premium package) over 4 days as the fifth and final day is in Machu Picchu. With this trek, you’ll begin the trek in Challachanca, make your way up to Salkantay Pass, through Lucmabamba and end at Aguas Calientes, before entering Machu Picchu on the last day. Be prepared for some serious altitude, as the Salkantay Trek starts at 11,000 feet and goes up to 15,100 feet!

What’s the difference between the Salkantay Trail and the Inca Trail?

If you want to do a multi-day trek to Machu Picchu, the Inca Trail is more popular than the Salkantay Trail. The Inca Trail is known for being the more historical route, with Inca ruins along the path and entering into Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate. The Salkantay trail is a more challenging route, with less crowds, but with better scenery. The Salkantay trail is also longer, with more elevation.

Salkantay Trekking Food

We knew that breakfast, lunch and dinner was included in the 5 day trek, but what we didn’t realize was how big the portions were going to be and how good the food was going to be! Each group has their own chef that comes with them on the trek (until they leave after breakfast on day 4), and they are cooking each breakfast, lunch and dinner for you as a group. You basically have 5 course meals at each meal, and you will NOT go hungry! We weren’t able to take full advantage of all the food, just because of how intense the hike was and our energy levels.

On top of the meals, every morning they give you snacks for the day to keep you sustained. The snacks usually include some sort of fruit, and a local bar like quinoa bar, and everything was so good! We did bring a few snacks, like dried fruit and jerky sticks, but we really didn’t need them with how much food Salkantay Trekking provides.

Salkantay Trek Accommodations

If you’re on the fence about booking with Salkantay Trekking Company or another company, I think the accommodations that Salkantay Trekking Company has will persuade you. You have 3 awesome basecamps along the trail, the sky camp, an awesome igloo in the mountains, the mountain sky view, with an awesome view up in the mountains, and then the jungle domes, a geodesic igloo right in the amazon jungle.

Personally, we think these accommodations are worth the price for booking with Salkantay Trekking.

To book with a tour or not?

If you feel confident in your backpacking skills, you don’t have to book a guide for the Salkantay Trek. While most people do the trek with a guide, it is possible to do it unguided. The paths are clear, and there are plenty of places to stop along the way for food and accommodation. There are also plenty of people doing it that you are likely to meet up and hike with other people, if you’d like.

The benefit of doing it with a guide or tour is that everything is already done for you, and you really just have to show up! With Salkantay Trekking, there is a chef included who cooks you 3 meals a day, they have horses to carry your overnight bag to the next base camp, the transportation and entry tickets into Machu Picchu are included, and there is obviously a guide with you to help along the way. We loved having a guide to tell us more information about the history and culture as we hiked. Plus having the chef cook us 3 huge family style meals every meal was amazing!

If you have never done an extensive backpacking trek (like us) or if you’ve never hiked at higher altitude, we recommend doing the guide/tour.

Best time to do the Salkantay Trek?

The best time to do the trek is between May and October, this is considered the dry season. Rainy season typically starts in November, so expect rain some or most days of your trek. The perk of going in the rainy season, is there are less people. However, landslides are a possibility. If you want good weather, and the chance of less people, you’ll want to go in either May or October. We went in the middle of October, and while we had one day of pretty constant rain/sleet, the other days were actually pretty favorable!

Our experience on the Salkantay Trek

I’m going to preface this by saying, we are not hikers. Well, we are leisure hikers- we do not go that often. We have NEVER done a backpacking trip before this. We do work out (strength training 3x/week) and are active. We are also in our late 30’s. We found the Salkantay Trek challenging. We knew going into it, it was going to be hard.

We planned to hike a lot more before the trek started, and we just didn’t get enough in. I think what really kicked our butts was the altitude. You start the trek at 12,000 feet, so you already at a disadvantage with lung capacity. The second day, in general, is just a doozy. This is the by far the most challenging day, with 15 miles and getting up to 15,000 feet.

I will say, we knew this was going to be challenging, so we weren’t surprised. It is also incredibly breathtaking! The views along the Salkantay Trek are amazing! Our guide, Julio, and our chef, also made the trek so much better! And on top of that, Salkantay Trekking Company has amazing accommodations, including the sky camp, mountain lodge, and jungle domes. While it is challenging, it’s definitely a worth-it trek! And for everything Salkantay Trek included, it was definitely worth it for us to go with a tour group.

Tips for Hiking the Salkantay Trek

• If you live at sea-level (or anywhere under 11,000 feet honestly), we recommend getting used to hiking at higher altitude. Whether that means you do lots of higher elevation hikes, or you use an altitude room to prepare. The altitude will kick your butt!
• Prepare for all weather! No matter the time of year, you will probably have sun, rain, wind, maybe even snow. You’ll want to pack lots of layers, and be ready to add or remove throughout the trek.
• You’ll want to arrive in Cusco at least 3 days ahead of time. This gives you plenty of time to acclimate to the high elevation.