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Hike the four-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

In January, thick with rain, you can still book a permit for August and lose it anyway if you wait past March. Peru caps the classic Inca Trail at 500 people a day, porters and guides counted in that number, and every dry season those slots go within weeks. The four-day route covers 43 kilometres of Inca stonework, switchbacking up through cloud forest to Dead Woman's Pass at 4,215 metres, where the path turns into an argument with your own lungs. The trail closes every February for repairs, the one month it gets to rest. What stays with you afterwards is the porter beside you, twenty kilos on his back, humming.

Practical

Cost
$600–1,200 guided trek
Best time
Dry season, best visibility and firmest ground
Difficulty
Hard
Time it takes
4 days on trail, plus a few days acclimatising in Cusco beforehand
What people get wrong
People book too close to their travel dates and find permits gone, and they skip acclimatisation in Cusco before starting, which makes the pass far worse than it needs to be.
With
A group

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