Inca Trail Tour Operators

The Inca Trail is by far the most famous trek in South America and is rated by many to be in the top 5 treks in the world. In just 26 miles (45km) it manages to combine beautiful mountain scenery, lush cloud-forest, subtropical jungle and, of course, a stunning mix of Inca paving stones, ruins and tunnels. The final destination of the trail just cannot be beaten: Machu Picchu, the mysterious "Lost City of the Incas".

www.incatrailtravel.com is an independent guide to the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu aimed at helping visitors to decide whether the Inca Trail is the trek for them. Although there are literally thousands of kilometres of "Inca Trails" throughout Peru this website concentrates on the Classic 4-day Inca Trail trek that starts at km82 (82 kilometres along the railway from Cusco to Aguas Calientes) and treks high up into the mountains passing the Inca ruins of Llactapata, Runkurakay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca and Wiñay Wayna before finally arriving at Machu Picchu for sunrise on the 4th day of the trek. We have include information about when is the best time to do the trek, how best to prepare for it, and advice on how to choose a tour operator best suited to your interests and budget. The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu really is an beautiful trek and we hope that with a little advice and planning it turns out to be an incredible and unforgettable experience. Good luck and happy trekking!

Inca Trail tour operators located in Cusco (over 177 in total!!). Inclusion in the list does not in any way guarantee that the company will provide a quality service in fact there are some pretty bad companies on the list so beware! Although we live and work in Cusco we have to admit that we have never heard of half of the companies listed!! Many have offices a long way from the Plaza de Armas (main square) and only operate one of two small private groups a month. Inclusion in the list does, however, confirm that the company is legally registered. The license is renewed each year at the end of December. It should be noted that operating licenses are only issued Peruvian trekking companies that meet minimum requirements. Licenses are not issued to overseas tour operators. This means that if you book your Inca Trail with a company outside of Peru then one of the companies listed below will end up operating your trek.

Being listed in one or several guide books is probably the best indication that previous travellers have been satisfied with the services provided, although recently established companies providing a good service may take a while to develop a reputation. A great looking website does not always equate to a great tour !!

For information about current Inca Trail trek permit availability please visit the INC (Instituto Nacional de Cultura) website http://www.machupicchu..gob.pe. This website is temperamental to say the least and is often not working. If you cannot access the database or access the website just try again in a few hours (or days!) time. The website is also in Spanish only so we have included a guide below in order to be able to interpret the results.

The information shown on the above mentioned website shows the real-time availability of Inca Trail trek permits. Trek permits are required for the classic 4-day Inca Trail, the shorter 2-day Inca Trail and the 7-day Salkantay / Inca Trail trek. Alternative treks such as Lares Valley, Ausangate, Choquequirao, and the 5-day Inca Trail via Santa Teresa do not require trek permits. The government issues a maximum of 500 trek permits for each day. Since trekking staff are also included within this limit of 500 persons this means that, on average, about 200 trek permits are allocated to tourists and about 300 allocated to guides, cooks and porters.

How to use this data base: First you will realise that the information given below is in Spanish! The data base is mainly used by the trekking agencies in Cusco to decide when they need to close their groups and buy the trek permits and not generally intended for public use. However you don't need to know much Spanish in order to check how many trek permits are still available on the date that you want to do the trek.

Step 1:

Wait for the government website to load this can take a few minutes. Click on "Ingresar Como Invitado" (Enter as a Guest)

Step 2:

Click on "Consultas" which can be found at the top left-hand side of the page. This will bring you to a new page entitled Bienvenido Al Modulo de Consultas

Step 3:

Click on "Disponibilidad Camino Inca 2010" which can be found on the left-hand sidebar of the page. This will bring you to a new page entitled "Disponibilidad de Espacios Camino Inca 2010"

Literally translated this means "Availability of spaces on the Inca Trail in 2010". You will also see the words "Elija el mes para ver la disponibilidad" which means "Select the month to see the availability". This is followed by a drop-down menu listing the months of the year. The months are similar enough to English to be able to guess the Spanish equivalent. You can select any of the months right up until January 2011. Treks permits for later dates in 2011 will not go on sale until the middle of January 2011.

Step 4:

Using the drop-down menu select the month that you are planning on starting the trek, then hit the "Ver Disponibilidad" button (= see availability")

Step 5:

The number of remaining spaces for each day of the month will now be shown. (Fecha = date, Disponibles = Available). The maximum number of spaces is 500.

Interpretation of the Results: If the number of spaces available is zero then it basically means that all the trek permits have been sold out for that date and no matter how many companies you contact, none of them will be able to offer you space on the Inca Trail. The only options that you have are to look at an alternative departure date or an alternative trek to the Inca Trail. Even if companies have cancellations regulations prevent them from filling these spaces with other clients. This may sound ridiculous but the system has been designed to prevent "wealthy" companies buying up all the spaces in advance using made-up names and passport numbers and then cancelling them nearer the time only to fill the cancelled spaces with real clients. The number of remaining spaces does not fall steadily, rather it falls exponentially. That it to say that the number of spaces remains between 300 and 500 for quite along time but as it starts to fall below 250 more companies decide to buy permits for their groups and the rate that the spaces drop starts to increase. Often the last 100 spaces can sell out in a day or so. For example just because there may be 150 spaces available on the day that you want to start the trek, by the time you find a suitable trekking company and send them your trek deposit, it doesn't mean that there will still be 150 spaces left! So it is highly recommended to book your Inca Trail as far in advance as possible.

Choquequirao Trek 5D/4N | Salkantay Trek 5D/4D | Inca Trail Trek 4D/3N | Machu Picchu 3 Day Hike | Ausangate Trek 6D/5N | Machu Picchu By Car 2D
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