All welcome meetings (briefings) are delivered by your tour leader/ trek leader at your hotel at 5:00 PM the night before your trek. If you are unable to make it at that time, please, let us know with a reasonable time in advance to coordinate a different time.

Travellers whose tour is a package; the welcome meeting will be upon their arrival in Cusco once they are transferred from the airport to the hotel. Briefings are approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour long, where you will receive your duffel bags.

You need to consider the maximum weight of 7kg/ 15 pounds. Remember 4kg/ 8.5 pounds will be for your clothes and other personal items. The remaining 3kg/ 6.5 pounds will be for your sleeping bag and sleeping pad. Duffel bags will be given back to the Peru Summit Adventures office crew at your hotel upon your arrival from your trip.

If the group consists of 9 participants, there will be an additional Group Sweep (assistant guide). On the trail, you will just carry your own daypack for the items that you want with you on the trail, such as a water bottle and a jacket or a camera. Our team of Inca Trail porters carries all your other gear in duffel bags from camp to camp. The altitudes at our campsites, our first camp is at 9,842 feet (3,000m), second camp at 11,975 feet (3,650 m), third camp at 8,694 feet (2,650m).

• Morning group: 6:00 AM – 12:00 PM
• Afternoon group: 12:00 PM – 5:30 PM

If you have tickets to hike either Huaynapicchu or Machu Picchu Mountain, you will have some extra time. If you wish to spend the whole day at Machu Picchu, we are glad to add an afternoon session ticket to your booking for $50.00 per person, if so, let us know.

• Huaynapicchu Mountain: It is the most popular one and must be booked in advance since it sells out very quickly months in advance. The hike takes approximately 45 minutes to the top, and other 45 minutes to return. Tickets are sold in time sessions stating when you can start this hike. The first session is from 7:00 – 8:00 AM and the 2nd session is from 10:00 -11:00 AM. Again, this refers to the timeframe when you can start your hike. All Wayna Pichu tickets are booked for the first session. 4-Day and 7-Day Inca Trail Trekkers CAN NOT do this hike and enjoy a tour of the ruins instead. Time will not allow for this.
• Machu Picchu Mountain: It is a bit longer, a bit less popular, and more amazing than Huaynapicchu. It takes 1.5 hours to the top and another 1.5 hours to the bottom. Again, there are two-time windows, from 7:00 – 8:00 AM and 9:00 -10:00 AM. All Machu Picchu mountain tickets are issued for the first session. 4-Day and 7-Day Inca Trail Trekkers CAN NOT do this hike and enjoy a tour of the ruins instead. Time will not allow for this.

To protect the Inca Trail’s monuments and environment, the Peruvian government only issue 200 permits a day for hikers (plus an additional 300 permits for the licensed porters and staff who carry the gear and work on the trips). Permits sell out extremely fast in advance! We must obtain your permit for you when you sign up, so we urge you to book your trip at least six months in advance, especially if you are considering going between May and September. Once this limit of 500 people is reached, the Trail is effectively closed off for the day and no further bookings can be made.

All permits to trek must be bought as far as possible in advance with complete and correct passport information, to which no modifications can be made. Any attempts at modifications result in a loss of the permit and any money paid. So we do REQUIRE a copy of your passport on a good resolution at the moment of booking. The date of passport expiry – Must be valid for a least 6 months past the date of travel.

Please note: The passport number and name will be used to identify yourself as you enter the checkpoint at the start of the trail, throughout the hike and Machu Picchu. If this information does not match the information you have submitted at the time of booking confirmation, changes and corrections can be subject to extra fees as discrepancies can lead to being denied admission to the Inca Trail. These regulations and rules are strictly enforced by the governing bodies of the Inca Trail and are out of the control of Peru Summit Adventures, meaning no exceptions can be made.

If you are denied access to the Inca Trail in the unlikely event, as a result of providing incorrect or invalid information during the booking time, the cost of accommodation, train tickets, and other services during this time will be the responsibility of the individual and not Peru Summit Adventures.

Please be advised during the wet season (Jan – March) if there are periods of severe rainfall some of the campsites on the Inca Trail may become unusable and unsafe. In the interest of your safety, there may be some changes made locally to the trekking itinerary if the conditions of the campsites are assessed to be unsafe.

The trail reopens on March 1st when the rainfall lightens up and the mountains are still green. High season begins in May and extends through September, as these are the driest months. October through December is considered shoulder season when occasional rainfall is possible, but keep in mind that the highlands of Peru are a temperate desert and it is not uncommon for it not to rain for weeks at a time even in the height of the rainy season and also the weather can be changeable during the day or during the week through this shoulder season.

You are responsible for assessing whether a tour is suitable for you. You should consult your physician to confirm your fitness for travel and participation in any planned activities and for up-to-date medical travel information well before departure. You should seek your physician’s advice on vaccinations and medical precautions. Peru Summit Adventures will not provide any medical advice. It is your responsibility to assess the risks and requirements of each aspect of the tour based on your unique circumstances, fitness level, limitations, and medical requirements.

Please be advised that quite often we are in isolated areas and away from medical facilities and for legal reasons our leaders are prohibited from administering any type of drug including headache tablets, antibiotics, etc. When selecting your tour, please carefully read the itinerary and assess your ability to cope with our style of travel.

The Inca Trail is mostly stone-paved (Inca stones) and it goes up and down across green valleys and mountains while crossing two high-altitude passes. Any fit experienced hiker will enjoy this hike, but we recommend you make an extra effort to prepare by engaging in regular exercise well beyond your normal routine. To accelerate your conditioning, try walking faster than 1.5 miles per hour, walking on steeper inclines, using your gym’s stair-climbing machines, or going on full-day hikes (also a good way to break in your boots), when you go on a full-day hike, consider to carry your daypack with some items inside at least 15 pounds/ 7 kg. Please be aware that there are a few sections of long, steep stone staircases, so we do suggest to bring hiking poles to protect your knees.

In the unlikely event, you develop extreme altitude sickness or any other disease that prohibits you from hiking, and you still wish to visit Machu Picchu by train, we will gladly work with you to coordinate this trip. Since this will be a new trip, it will require extra fees. However, we will use as much of the original itinerary to keep costs low. Because of this, we recommend you consider at least $300 as an emergency budget for things that may happen during the tour and might incur additional expenses.

If you experience issues while hiking and can not continue, a Peru Summit Adventures staff (leader in extreme situations, a porter, group sweep if there is one, or another group member) will assist and accompany you to the closest road and wait while a car comes to pick you up and transfer you to the nearest health clinic.

• Pair of trekking poles: $5 a day
• Sleeping bag: $5 a day

There are two high points, one is Warmiwañusca (Deadwoman) pass at 4,215m/ 13,829 ft, and the other is Runkuracay pass at 3,950m/ 12,959 ft. We will end this amazing adventure exploring the stunning ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu with our tour leader discovering its mysteries.

We will interact with our porters engaging them in games, talks, this will be a memorable experience for both you and them, our idea of the Inca Trail is to involve our porters in your experience that way you will have an opportunity to understand about their culture, language, and more.

We will eat amazing food (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, tea time), all fresh, just made, and organic food, all prepared by our chef. All this food experience we’ll be always in our dining tents with chairs, table, at night with lamps, and many more amenities. At night we will take a time to get our cameras ready to spot some constellations and take some awesome shots of the milky way. Our accommodation for the night will be in four-season tents with Therma rest sleeping pads and sleeping bags.

Spend the day hiking and getting different types of microclimates, different views every single minute, getting some archaeological sites, enjoying some fascinating stories delivered by our Tour Leader. Stop at a scenic spot about mid-day for lunch, generally on the halfway to the next campsite.

End your day with nice tea time, then a typical-cooked dinner made from our locally-sourced ingredients. At night, we’ll take a glance at the sky to learn about the Andean constellation, and take some great shots of the milky way. End your activity of the day, resting in a comfortable four-season tent with nice sleeping pads, and sleeping bags.

Normally, the participants in a group pool their tipping money together for the leaders, porters, and chefs, or you might do this individually, or your leader will offer to collect the money and tip as a group. Tipping your Leaders is more personal and needs to be decided based on your relationship, quality, and length of the service with them and done separately from the group or could be individual, this happens mostly once the tour is over in Machu Picchu or Aguas Calientes Town.

Porters and Chefs prefer local currency (Peruvian Soles) if possible. Leaders are happy with both currencies–US dollars, or Peruvian Soles. Ask your Leader for specific recommendations based on the circumstances and culture, preferable during your welcome meeting time before your trek begins.

• Chef: $35 – $70 USD or the equivalent in Soles (from all group or participants)
• Porters: Each porter $20 – $45 USD or the equivalent in Soles (from all group or participants)
• Leaders: The amount is an entirely more personal preference, however, as a guideline, $40 -100 USD per person can be used.