How to Hike Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu without a Guide 🇵🇪

We visited Marius’s childhood dream! The Salkantay trek can be a bit overcrowded so I highly recommend doing it yourselves as we managed to avoid everyone pretty well and had a great time! ⛰️🇵🇪 COMPLETE BREAKDOWN: Accommodation in Cusco: Pirwa Backpacker Hostel Great location, inexpensive (23 soles/person, including breakfast) The Salkantay trek typically begins at Sorapampay. The easiest way to get there, in our experience, was to book a minibus through one of the many tour operators located on Avenida del Sol. We paid 50 soles each for transport, plus an additional 10 soles for a breakfast buffet. Connecting local buses are slightly cheaper but lots more effort! Day 1: Cusco - Sorapampay - Chaullay 24 km, 1,183 m elevation gain, 1,100 m elevation loss. We departed Cusco by bus at 5:00 AM, arriving in Sorapampay around 9:00 AM. On the first day, we decided to combine two days into one by hiking up to Laguna Humantay and then continuing directly to Chaullay. Depending on your pace, you might arrive after dark, so it’s a good idea to bring a headlamp. While it is possible to buy snacks at a few spots along the way, it is much better to bring your own lunch, at least for this first day. Accommodation Day 1: We hadn’t made a reservation, so we checked out a few hostels in Chaullay to find the most affordable option and ended up at Pablito Hostel. It was excellent, the owner is very friendly, and the price is great: 50 soles per person for a bed, dinner, and breakfast (plus 10 soles if you want a sandwich to go). Day 2: Chaullay - Llactapata 25.5 km, 1,099 m elevation gain, 1,000 m elevation loss. The route starts with a long descent, followed by a challenging 800-meter ascent toward the end. After the first descent ends (just before a bridge) you have the option to continue to the right, but that route follows a road for a long stretch. We opted for the path to the left instead, which was stunning. Day 2 Accommodation: You can book Llactapata Lodge (+51952712467) the day before or bring your own tent. It’s an incredible hostel with a view of Machu Picchu. It was significantly more expensive than the previous night (100 soles per person, covering a bed, dinner, and breakfast, plus 10 soles for a sandwich), but the food was excellent, so it was well worth it. It can sometimes fill up, so it’s best to book at least a day in advance via WhatsApp. Day 3: Llactapata – Aguas Calientes 15 km, 309 m elevation gain, 800 m elevation loss. The route begins with a long, steep descent lasting nearly 4 km, after which it remains relatively flat until the end. The goal is to arrive as early as possible to maximize your chances of securing a ticket for Machu Picchu for the following day. We aimed to arrived before noon, but that wasn’t early enough… it happened to be a long weekend in Peru, so many locals were visiting. As a result, we ended up getting tickets for the day after next. We chose the "2A" circuit, which is widely considered the best option; we picked the 7:00 AM slot so we could head up before the sun fully rose and avoid the crowds of tourists from the earlier entry times (only those from the 6:00 AM slot would be there). Accommodation Days 3–4: I don’t recall the name of the place we stayed, but it was quite shabby. I’ve heard that "Casa Machu Picchu" is a decent, reasonably priced option! (45 soles/person) Day 5: Aguas Calientes – Machu Picchu – Hydroelectrica – Cusco The ascent to Machu Picchu is quite quick; it took us under an hour, with an elevation gain of 504 meters. The trek from Aguas Calientes to Hydroelectrica is just under 10 km, with an elevation gain of 35 meters and an elevation loss of 300 meters. It’s the same route as Day 3 but once you reach Hydroelectrica, you’ll need to take a bus back to Cusco (40-50 soles/person). We didn’t fully grasp what the locals were telling us, but it seems that after 4:00 PM, there are no more buses, meaning you’d have to take a taxi, which would be more expensive, so plan accordingly based on your budget! The path is very easy to follow and well marked on Maps.me (though note that the app tends to underestimate elevation gain while overestimating walking time). Good luck! written by @nathan.pchn And once again thank Nacho for the cinematic broll! 🎥