Choquequirao Trek to Machupicchu 7 days

We pick you up from your Hotel at 4:00 am, we go with our private transportation to the town of Capuliyoc (3150 masl ). Our trip takes approximately 4 hours, where we can enjoy the first views of the villages, valleys and snow-capped peaks. Our porters and horses will be waiting for us to help us in our excursion.

Once at the Capuliyoc viewpoint, we will take advantage of the great view of the Apurimac canyon and the snow-capped Padreyoc (5571 masl). Then we will start our hike through a descent of approx 3 hours to reach the town of Chiquisca for lunch.

Afterwards, we resume our hike downhill to the village of Playa Rosalinda (1,550 masl) where a delicious dinner awaits us and where we will camp and enjoy the tropical tranquility.

An early start puts us on the demanding 4-hour climb from the river up through Santa Rosa to Marampata, where lunch comes with the first real views of Choquequirao in the distance. From there, roughly 2 more hours of walking brings us to the archaeological site itself, at approximately 3,110 masl. The afternoon is left open to take in the citadel at golden hour, with Andean condors often seen circling overhead.

• Meals: Breakfast, boiled drinking water, snack, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner
• Accommodation: Camping, four-season tents with air mattresses
• Distance: 13 km / 8 mi
• Difficulty: Moderate to challenging
• Climate: Warm by day, cold at night
• Walking time: ~7 hours

Morning is left free to explore more of the Choquequirao complex before lunch, at a relaxed pace after two demanding days on the trail. In the afternoon, the route climbs a ridge before descending roughly 2 hours to camp at the ruins of Pinchiunuyoc — by most accounts, the gentlest day of the entire trek.

• Meals: Breakfast, boiled drinking water, snack, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner
• Accommodation: Camping, four-season tents with air mattresses
• Distance: 10 km / 6.2 mi
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Climate: Hot
• Walking time: ~9 hours (including time at the archaeological site)

After breakfast, a 2-hour descent drops into the Rio Blanco canyon (1,990 masl), where a short rest precedes the day’s real test: a steep, 3 to 4-hour climb up to camp at Maizal.

• Meals: Breakfast, boiled drinking water, snack, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner
• Accommodation: Camping, four-season tents with air mattresses
• Distance: 10 km / 6.2 mi
• Difficulty: Moderate to challenging
• Climate: Hot and windy by day, cold at night
• Walking time: ~8 hours

We’re on the trail by 7:00 am, climbing roughly 3 hours through cloud forest toward the Victoria mines and a handful of Inca ruins along the way. One more hour of climbing leads to the Victoria Pass (4,130 masl) — the highest point of the entire 7-day route — before a scenic 2-hour descent down original Inca stone steps to the village of Yanama. From there, local transport covers the final stretch to Lucmabamba, passing snow-capped mountains and waterfalls along the way.

• Meals: Breakfast, boiled drinking water, snack, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner
• Accommodation: Camping, four-season tents with air mattresses
• Distance: 12 km / 7.5 mi
• Difficulty: Moderate to challenging
• Climate: Cold and windy
• Walking time: ~9 hours

The day opens with roughly 3 hours on the original Inca Trail, climbing through dense cloud forest toward the Puncuyoc pass. The vegetation here is noticeably different from the dry canyon walked earlier in the trek — thick, humid, and alive with birdsong, a reminder of how much the landscape shifts along this route. From the pass, the trail continues to the ruins of Llactapata (2,700 masl), a lesser-known Inca site that few Machu Picchu visitors ever hear about, let alone see. What makes it worth the climb is the view: from this angle, Machu Picchu appears in the distance exactly as it would have to the Incas who built Llactapata as part of the same network of sites.From Llactapata, a 2-hour descent drops steadily toward the valley floor, ending at the hydroelectric station, where lunch is served before the final stretch of the day. The last leg follows the rail line into Aguas Calientes, tracing the base of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary — close enough, at points, to look up and catch glimpses of the terraces above. It’s a fitting way to arrive at the town that sits at the foot of tomorrow’s main event, with the citadel already visible before setting foot on it.

• Meals: Breakfast, boiled drinking water, snack, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner
• Accommodation: Hotel Wiracocha Inn or Hotel Andean Terra, Aguas Calientes
• Distance: 18 km / 11.2 mi
• Difficulty: Moderate to challenging
• Climate: Hot
• Walking time: ~10 hours

Breakfast is early — 5:00 am — timed around catching the first bus up to Machu Picchu, so the group arrives for sunrise, ahead of most other visitors and even many Inca Trail trekkers who set out later in the morning. Watching the first light hit the citadel from above, with mist still settled in the valley below, is the kind of moment that’s hard to describe secondhand — most people who’ve done this trek call it one of the highlights of the entire week.

A 2-hour guided tour covers the main sectors of the citadel — the agricultural terraces, the Temple of the Sun, the residential and religious quarters — with context that’s easy to miss without a guide. After the tour, the rest of the morning is open to explore independently: climb Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain for those who booked tickets in advance, walk out to the Sun Gate (Inti Punku) or the Inca Bridge — both included in the standard entrance, no extra ticket required — or simply wander the ruins at a slower pace and take it all in.

By early afternoon, it’s time to descend into Aguas Calientes for a relaxed lunch before the return journey begins. The train departs toward Ollantaytambo, where a private transfer picks up the group for the final stretch back to Cusco, arriving at your hotel around 8:00 pm — tired, but with a week’s worth of two Inca citadels behind you.

For more on how Choquequirao compares to its more famous neighbor, National Geographic’s coverage of these remote Inca ruins is worth a read.

• Meals: Breakfast
• Highlights: Sunrise at Machu Picchu, guided tour, optional mountain hikes