An immersive and traditional adventure is what the Lares 4-day, 3-night hike offers, taking you through a trail filled with history and living traditions of the communities you will encounter.
This experience provides endless emotions, starting from the first day visiting beautiful hot springs in a valley filled with flora and fauna. It allows us to discover that nature is our best refuge from the routine and stress of daily life.
This experience is suitable for individuals in good health and optimal condition to undertake the necessary challenges. It can be done individually to meet new people, as a couple or with friends to share emotions, and even as a family for an unforgettable adventure.
Get inspired for your upcoming vacation with testimonials from fellow travelers like you!
The Lares trek & Machu Picchu adventure begins with the pick-up from your hotel in our tourist transportation at 5:00-05:30 am to start the Lares Trek tour. It will be approximately a three-hour journey through the beautiful landscape of the Sacred Valley and the Andes until we reach the Lares Hot Springs site, where you will have your first breakfast accompanied by breathtaking views of the Andean mountains. Next, you can enjoy the hot springs, which are divided into several groups ranging from freezing cold to boiling hot. They are all composed of pure volcanic water, which is natural medicine and considered healing for bones, muscles, stress, and headaches. After relaxing in the hot springs for a while, we continue our journey for another 20 minutes to the starting point of the trail, Punta Carretera, at 3,300 m / 10,827 ft above sea level. This is where you will meet your horses and horsemen. You will hand over your duffel bags to the horsemen to be transported to the campsite. Then, you will begin your expedition to Machu Picchu. The first leg will be a two-hour gradual uphill hike until we reach our lunch spot in the first village called Kiswarani. This section of the hike is considered the potato valley, where people cultivate many varieties of organic potatoes. Our Lares trek guide will help point out some important indigenous medicinal plants that grow along the way. We will then arrive at our first lunch spot, where you can enjoy a delicious meal prepared by our trail chef. After a good nap, we will be ready to explore the village and visit some local houses, where you will learn about ancient traditions and the local way of life. If there's time, we will visit the school where children speak Quechua, the most beautiful language of Cusco, which is their mother tongue. If you wish, you can bring some toys, notebooks, or any kind of school supplies to share. Perhaps you can even teach them some words in English or another language. The next leg of the hike will be another two hours of gradual uphill hiking until we reach the camping area, where our tracking staff will have your tents set up. We will enjoy some hot drinks like coca tea or muna as the sky darkens and the stars begin to appear. Our trek guide will take you to a specific spot to enjoy the magnificent view of the sky, and we will learn about the Inca constellations that were carefully studied by the Inca people to understand the seasons and help them in their crop planting, such as the Chakana (Southern Cross) cosmic constellation, Orion, and many others. Finally, you will enjoy a delicious dinner prepared on-site. If you want to continue stargazing, you can stay outside for a longer time, or if you prefer, you can retire to your tent.
You will wake up around 5 am with our hot beverage service. You will have breathtaking views of the lake and the colorful Kiswarani Valley. The local people will already be up, tending to their llamas and alpacas grazing. Breakfast will be served as soon as you finish packing your belongings. Next, we will fill our water bottles, organize snacks, and begin the most memorable day of your Machu Picchu expedition. It will be a three to four-hour uphill hike to reach the mountain's summit. This pass is called Cóndor Pass. We will zigzag our way up to compensate for the steep ascent. The views of the area are stunning. You will see lakes, waterfalls, llamas, and alpacas. We will have an emergency horse to ride in case you feel tired. Once you reach the Cóndor Pass, you will be above the clouds, above the mountain peaks, and the 360-degree views of the surroundings are breathtaking. Ahead of you will be the majestic Pitusiray Mountain, standing at 5,700 m / 18,700 ft, and the Cóndor Pass is at 4,680 m / 15,354 ft. We will then enjoy the hot beverage service brought by your porters. We will take advantage of some phenomenal photo opportunities and begin the descent.
You will start walking downhill towards El Mirador (Viewpoint), where you will enjoy lunch. There may be llamas grazing nearby. After lunch, we will hike the final three hours downhill, with fantastic views of many lakes, llamas, and alpacas, before reaching your campsite, the village of Cancha Cancha, which is the only village without modern technology. Cancha Cancha is a village located at 3,750 m / 12,303 ft, where people still practice authentic Inca traditions. In this Inca village, 85 percent of the houses are built with original ancient stone construction, with thatched roofs. Unlike any other village in the Lares Valley, this village has no electricity or cars. Here, you will not only enjoy nature but also have your tents set up by our porters. You will have some time to meet the children of the village. We provide them with food supplies and school materials, so we invite travelers to share in supporting the education and health of this Andean village. You can join us and bring something you would like to contribute to the lives of these Quechua-speaking children. Following that, your guide will take you to one of the local family's houses, where you will learn about the locals' way of life. You can see how they raise their guinea pigs and learn about traditional textiles, handwoven from llama and alpaca wool. This is the best day of your hike. In the evening, you will enjoy dinner.
Our porters will help you wake up with a hot beverage, and you will have some time to pack your bags and enjoy a delicious breakfast. After breakfast, you will have time to explore the village and visit the local primary school, where the ancient Inca language, Quechua, is still spoken in the communities. Once you're ready, you will begin the final stage of your Lares journey. It will be a four-hour downhill hike along this beautiful route, where you will pass by more llamas and alpacas. We will pass by farms where traditional Inca-style crops such as potatoes, beans, and many other tubers are grown. This is a great opportunity to learn about Peruvian agriculture because people still cultivate by hand with traditional Inca agricultural tools. Now, we will start descending to the warmer area, the Sacred Valley. You will begin to feel the changes in microclimate and start seeing crops that are different from the high mountains. Around the Inca Sacred Valley, there are crops such as corn, quinoa, kiwicha, peaches, avocados, and other types of fruits. Of course, this area has a lot of Inca history. You will end the tour in the small village of Huarán, in the Sacred Valley, at 2,700 m / 8,858 ft, where you will say goodbye to your horses, riders, cook, and porters as we return to their homes.
From Huarán, we will take a van and make the short journey down to the valley to visit the Salineras in the town of Maras. Here, at 11,000 feet above sea level, a spring of saltwater emerges and spills down the mountainside. Over 3,000 small evaporation chambers have been created and they look like they are cascading down the mountainside. These have been in use since pre-Inca times. The salt is said to have healing properties because it is loaded with natural minerals, some of them even turning pink. Local families own each of these pools and make their living by supplying salt to the surrounding villages. There is a small shop on-site if you wish to purchase salt.
After visiting the Salineras, we will board the van for a 45-minute drive, skirting along the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is the only living, intact Inca town. It still has many Inca water channels, houses, and walls. Your guide will take you around to see this small town until it is time for dinner, which will be at a local restaurant. Then, we will catch the 7 PM train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the foot of Machu Picchu (train schedules may vary depending on availability). Upon arrival in Aguas Calientes, you will check-in at the hotel and relax.
The fourth day is the most magical day because you will finally visit Machu Picchu. You will wake up early to ascend on foot or take a bus up to Machu Picchu. You will witness the sunrise over the Citadel of Machu Picchu. Your guide will take you on an informative two-hour tour. Afterwards, you will have time to explore on your own. In the afternoon, you will board the train back to Ollantaytambo, followed by a return bus to Cusco, where you will be transferred to your hotel.
We always do our best to follow the fixed itinerary; however, it may occasionally change based on temporary weather and park restrictions, camping availability, timing, road closures, guest capacity/injuries, and natural events such as fires and floods.
Reserve here