Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

The Inca Trail (Spanish: camino inca) is the king of Peru's hiking trails. This 4-day trekking leads along Andean Cordilleras, over high passes, through scenic forests and finally down into the mountain rainforest, where the trekkers walk through the sun gate "Inti Punku" and look at Machu Picchu on the last day. As a section of the "Qhapac ñan", the Inca Trail largely follows the original paths of the Incas, which makes it so unique. "Qhapac ñan" refers to the Inca road network, which covers a total of 30,000 kilometers and stretches across the countries of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. In 2014, the IncaTrail Network was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is due to the engineering feat of the Incas and the need to preserve the condition of the trails and their surrounding landscapes. Inca trail treks The Inca Trail I finally walked the Inca Trail myself! I look back on four eventful days of uphill and downhill, along scen...

The Inca Trail - a myth of the trekking community like the Everest Trek or the Milford Sound Trail.  First of all : Snow-capped mountains can only be seen here now and then. But the diverse landscape has something else to offer: it starts with a dry section in the Urubamba valley, which is characterized by cacti. After you turn left and climb up, it gets greener and greener. Several passes are climbed, the highest around 4,200 m. That is actually not a height for well acclimatized travelers to Peru, but the 1,000 meters of ascent from the last camp to the pass should be approached carefully, especially since after the pass it is another 600 m downhill. The closer you get to Machu Picchu , the more tropical it becomes. Hummingbirds buzz through the humid air, lush, dense vegetation with ferns and bromeliads line the path. This follows the old connection route from Cusco to Machu Picchu and you usually walk on the old pavement - which is why trekking poles without rubber stoppers on...