Cusco – Km 104 – Wiñay Wayna – Machu Picchu
We pick you up early at your Cusco hotel and cross the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo. There you board the train, which follows the Urubamba River for 1.5 hours to Km 104, where the hike begins around 10:00 a.m. After checking your permit and passport, you cross a small bridge and climb to the Inca site of Chachabamba (2,150 m), with its stone altar dedicated to the Sun.
About four hours of climbing lie ahead to Wiñay Wayna (2,650 m), one of the most beautiful sites on the trail, with its Temple of the 7 Windows; here you have a box lunch. From Wiñay Wayna you walk for one hour through tropical forest to Intipunku, the Sun Gate, with the first view of Machu Picchu.
Then you descend to Puente Ruinas Camp, below the citadel and beside the Vilcanota River. In the afternoon you can go to Aguas Calientes, its hot springs or its shops. Dinner is in Aguas Calientes.
Overnight: Puente Ruinas Camp
