Three alternative treks than the Inca Trail

The famous of the Inca Trail is worldwide. However, there are other wonderful routes to the magnificent Machu Picchu. Here you will find three alternative treks to challenge the height and yourself.

1.-The Salkantay Trek:

The Salkantay Trek, less known than the Inca Trail, but equally significant in religiousness, in its peak people stop to offer to Pachamama or the mother earth. The mount Salkantay, named one of the “Top 25 Treks in the world" for the National Geographic, became very popular because it has no space limitations nor permissions as the Inca Trail. Be part of Mollepata's village to walk across Cusco and the Cloud Forest, where it is possible to see wonderful landscapes.

2.-Lares Route:

Another great alternative trek is Lares. With great views of high lakes and valleys. As appreciated as Salkantay, this route has less-crowded of people than the previous one. Deep located in the mountain of Urubamba, hiking Lares will allow us to live through the meaning of the Inca history and the tradition of their people. The trek lasts approximately 2 or 3 days. Started in Lares, a town with hot springs ending in Ollantaytambo.

3.-Cachicata:

The difficulty of this route increases with regard to the previous ones. It takes 3 to 5 days to explore. On this trek appears the most impressive waterfalls and Inca ruins. It is said that the Inca Quarries of Cachicata served to carve almost perfect big rocks that can be found in the Inca fortresses.

Travel to the Inca Trail with these tours: http://www.inkanatura.com/en/inca-trail-tours 

Trek to awe-inspiring Machu Picchu

Shoshana Robuck BLOG (august 12, 2008)

IT was very sad for me to say goodbye to my new "family" and friends from Urubamba, especially the students, but it was also with a sense of excitement that the 10 of us climbed onto the bus, waving goodbye to the small town that we have called home for all this time.

The reason was that we were heading off to Machu Picchu, which is usually the highlight for most visitors to South America.

The first step on our journey began with the Lares trek -- an alternative route to the more popular Inca Trail.

It was a three-day hike that took us over mountaintops to reach a set of gorgeous hot springs in the mountain town of Lares.

The walk was physically challenging, especially since we hadn't really done any proper exercise in three months and were all very unfit!

Also, because of the extremely high altitude, breathing was difficult, but we took it slowly and tried to enjoy the scenery.

Reaching the top of the highest mountain (when we knew all we had to do now is go down) gave us such a feeling of euphoria.

The view of the snow-capped, towering mountain peaks was picturesque -- that moment seemed to me both the physical and emotional pinnacle of my entire journey so far.

And finally making it to the hot springs was such a high!

Our team of Peruvians who accompanied us on the trek had already set out our tents and were busy cooking our food when we arrived, so we changed into our swimming costumes and hopped right in.

The pools were hot -- I swear you could boil potatoes in that water -- but we stayed in until about midnight.

We hadn't felt such hot water in three months!

The next day we caught a train that would take us to the town of Aguas Calientes, the town situated below Machu Picchu.

We arrived late at night, so we explored the town a bit, but it was very touristy (everything massively overpriced!) and we were anxious for the following morning.

We woke up around 4am and caught one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu.
I'll just say it really was everything it's made out to be -– majestic and breath-taking!

We all stood in awe, watching the sun rise and illuminate Waynu Picchu that stood before us.
The typical image you see of Machu Picchu isn't actually Machu Picchu, in fact it is another mountain, Waynu Picchu.

We took plenty of pictures and then our lovely tour guide took us through the ruins, where we marvelled at the skill of the ancient Incas.

Experiencing and learning about the history of the Inca culture in Peru has been fascinating for me and so the trip to Machu Picchu was very fulfilling.

Article by Shoshana Robuck