*Disclaimer! This article will be a bit long since the Salkantay Trek is long *

Salkantay is the coolest trek in the whole world. And there really isn’t very good information about it out there. Kathryn and I had a hard time finding reliable maps on it while scoping it out in Cusco. Needless to say, it was frustrating. *I added a couple maps at the bottom

Luckily for you, I will give you that information now! 

The Salkantay Trek is the only free way to get to Machu Picchu.

The other ways are a bus, a train, or a guided trip with sherpas via the Inca Trail or the Salkantay Trail. We didn’t want to pay because of our tight budget so we just went for it and figured it out. 

This is by no means easy to do, especially when you are hauling your own weight. If you can’t carry a 30+ pound pack for 4-5 days up 4600+ meters above sea level and hot jungle and also set up your own tent and cook your own food, I wouldn’t do this trek. You will not enjoy it. Just take the train or use a sherpa. However, if you feel up to the challenge, do it!!

What we wish we would have known prior to doing the trek in December:

• None of the shops on the trail were open unless there was a tour group going through, so be sure to bring all your own food.
• Water is stinking expensive on the Salkantay Trek so bring a filter and purifier. 
• You can only find compressed gas in Cusco for your camping stove. 
• Buy your Machu Picchu tickets in Cusco from a free tourist info place. In any other place they’ll try and sell you tours you can’t afford or may not want. 
• You can take your pack to the gates of Machu Picchu but you can’t take it in and you have to pay to leave it in a secure office. 
• The Kumbi (van) to Mollapata is like 15 soles or so and is located on about Arcopata and Nuevo Alta in Cusco. 
• In Mollapata you can usually find a supply truck or car that is going up to the first camp for a few soles. That cuts about 20 km out of your first day… and out of the whole trip. Just food for thought. 
• TAKE YOUR OWN TOILET PAPER AND WATER FILTER/CLEANING SYSTEM!!!

Now let’s get down to business!

Day 1: Soraypampa 

We got a ride half way to here from Mollapata from a creepy local dude who kept trying to convince me to be his girlfriend and had a shot gun stashed under his back seat; a few of the charming characteristics of riding with strangers. Despite that, he was pretty nice.

The day included walking on a long, windy, and hot dirt road for about two or three hours with a local man who works at the hotel at the camp. He was not creepy and was very kind. 

Kathryn and I made it to the first camp pretty early so we hiked an extra few km’s that day just to put some km’s behind us. We camped at the first meadow below Salkantay pass in a cow/horse field right by a stream so we would have a good supply of water near us. The views were majestic that day. Camping at the base of the Peruvian Andes with glaciers is wowing.

Day 2: Chaullay

The second day of hiking was anything but easy, especially with our packs. But man alive was it beautiful! You have to do a very steep hike up to Salkantay pass through beautiful terrain and crazy tall mountains. The pass is about 4600 meters above sea level, so if altitude isn’t your thing, make sure you’ve spent a few days in Cusco acclimating yourself and chewing coca leaves (take coca leaves and tea with you on the hike). If you’ve done this and you’re focusing on your breathing and walking at a slow pace you should be fine.

Once you’ve crossed the pass it’s pretty much down hill forever until you reach the Chaullay camp. There are rest points between the pass and camp to stop and eat lunch and refill on water. 

Since you are descending into cloud forest territory and the jungle, it will rain every night. So at the camp site you can camp in some sheltered huts.  The food and showers are expensive so if you’re traveling on a budget you should do fine without either. The little huts cost about 10 soles a night and the sheltered place upstairs was free soles. It’s nice having the shelter because when it rains it pours there. Also you can cook there. There are tables in the sheltered areas. 

Day 3: Santa Teresa

This day had a pretty huge surprise waiting for us; an aspect of the trail we had no idea about. (Spoiler! It was a bus ride we didn’t know we had to take. Luckily there was a tour guide who filled us in earlier that day.)

But before I get to that… it was pretty confusing with random turns on and off public roads, for the first segment but eventually got easier to navigate. And it was through the hot, hot Peruvian jungle! It was cooooool! At one of the rest points me and a mixed group of trekkers engaged in a really fun/intense soccer game right in the middle of the Jungle (selva).

The surprise was a bus we didn’t know was an important part of this route. Apparently without the bus you have to hike another 22 km in a day or just add an entire extra day of hiking. Luckily we were on the exact same schedule as this tourist group and they let us join their squad and hop on their bus to Santa Teresa. It was 25 soles, which, compared to all my other travels, was expensive, but beggars can’t be choosers!

Once in Santa Teresa you can go to some local hot springs that are only 5 soles to enter. Those are pretty fun. 

That night the tour group partied hard. 

Day 4: Aguas Calientes

When you leave Santa Teresa they will try and sell you other methods for getting to Hydro Electrica, but honestly, the walk isn’t terrible so if you’re trying to save some soles just walk. You’ll more than likely live.

Hydro Electrica is your last chance for cheap tasty food before following the train tracks through the jungle to Aguas Calientes. So if you want a cooked meal just take a minute to eat there. We found meals for like seven soles and that included soup, main course and a glass of juice.

The walk along the train tracks is LONG. You have to cross the tracks a billion times and you’re walking on smallish rocks the whole time and trains pass and bugs eat your exposed skin alive but other than that it’s not bad.

Aguas Calientes has a ton of hostales and hospedajes everywhere so lodging should be easy to find. If not, there are legal and not as legal places to camp all around. While there you can eat out but make sure you find the reasonably priced foods. There are some restaurants that are freaking pricey as all get out.

Day 5: Machu Picchu!!!!!!

This is one cool place. And I will write a whole other post about it it. But for the sake of documenting the Salkantay trek, I will add this blurb.

We woke up at 4 am to get to the entrance gates at 6 am. You can take a bus up to the gates of Machu Picchu but that is $12 (not soles) too expensive so most of us poor unfortunate souls just walked up a million Inca stairs to the main gates. In the morning it was rainy and foggy and I took way too many jackets because by the afternoon the clouds had burned away and it was HOTTTTT!

Upon entering Machu Picchu we started up to la Montaña de Machu Picchu which is about 2 million stone Inca stairs. And a little scary. And steep. And hard. And cool.

Entering Machu Picchu is a very sacred feeling because it’s one of those places I’ve only ever seen pictures of and never thought I’d get to see. What made it more of an experience for me is that I did it barefoot. Mostly because my shoes had rubbed my feet raw. It helped me feel more connected to the earth and to the history of the city.

 Machu Picchu is a lot bigger than it looks from the pictures. I don’t know why or how but that is definitely the case. We stayed there all day and celebrated our victorious day by eating out and making new friends.

Day 6: the long and interesting drive to Cusco

To save on dollars we did not take the train because it’s crazy over priced. So me, Kathryn, Larse, and Svenja left Aguas Calientes at like 7 am and followed the train tracks back to Hydro Electrica, found a bus, ate lunch, I made friends with a 6 year old adorable Peruvian girl who wanted to play basketball with a volleyball… you know, the usual stuff. 

What was supposed to be one bus ride turned into three. Why? Oh simply because there was a land slide that blocked the only highway that there is.

So we took that bus half way between there and the landslide, hopped on another bus, got to where the traffic was backed up from the landslide, took a long detour through the jungle, got out of the bus, walked through jungle and farm lands, crossed a raging river, found the highway, hunted down another Kumbi bus. Luckily we had an ambitious Argentine with us who got us the best deal and on our way as quickly as possible.

The drive was long, but we got back to Cusco eventually and made it to our couch surfing place.

And that marks the end of our experience on the Salkantay Trek and the journey back to Cusco. 

I hope this article helps you plan your trip to Machu Picchu via the Salkantay Trek and that you have a a wonderful wonderful experience! Because it is SO MUCH FUN!

Salkantay Maps: Here and Here. There are a ton more maps but I kinda like these guys. 

HAPPY TRAVELS TRAVELERS!!!

*For a comprehensive packing list for the Salkantay trek, click HERE.*