Peru luxury walking vacation, Salkantay trek

Planet

This trip is built around walking. Most of its sixteen days include time on foot, from guided hikes in the Sacred Valley to seven days on the Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu. On the trek, the lodges are linked by footpath and your bags are carried by mules rather than vehicles, so for a week you travel entirely under your own steam.

The mountain lodges along the trail are small, with between six and twelve rooms each, and built in the style of local farmhouses, using materials such as adobe, stone, wood and thatch.

Our guides help you walk with care: carrying out all rubbish, keeping to the trail to avoid erosion on steep slopes, and respecting a fragile mountain environment that ranges from high grassland to cloud forest. Visits to Machu Picchu are by timed ticket, with daily numbers limited by the Peruvian government to protect the site, and your guided visit follows these rules.

Domestic flights are kept to the two that are needed: Lima to Cusco at the start, and back to Lima at the end. Everything in between is by road, rail or on foot, and we spend several nights in each place rather than moving on every day.

People

The Salkantay trail passes through farming communities in the Salkantay and Santa Teresa valleys, and the lodges along it employ local staff, guides and muleteers, bringing regular work to rural areas with few other jobs.

Along the way, you visit places where traditional livelihoods continue: the Maras salt pans, still worked by local families as they were in Inca times; a chichería in the Sacred Valley, where corn beer is brewed the traditional way; coffee farms on the trail; and the Casa Museo ALQA, which celebrates Andean art. In Lima and Cusco, local hosts and guides introduce you to their cities, from small food stalls to Cusco’s busy central market.

We spend time in each place rather than racing between highlights, with three nights in the Sacred Valley and four in Cusco, so more of your money is spent locally, in independent restaurants, cafés and craft workshops.

We chose our local partners, a boutique ground agent in Peru and Mountain Lodges of Peru, for their care for guests, guides and the places they work. Your guides are Peruvian, and share their culture, language and stories as you walk.