Lares Trek to Machu Picchu

Our hiking group with our cooks, horsemen and guides.

As an alternative to the Inca Trail, hikers can choose the Lares Trek to Machu Picchu. It is less crowded (in fact, we hardly saw anyone during the trek), you get to interact with the locals more instead of hundreds of other hikers but you trek at a higher altitude which could affect your hiking condition.

We chose to do this trek with Sam Travel Peru because they have a five star rating at TripAdvisor. We paid $557 each and for this price, it was worth every penny. Our guides (there were two of them) were very knowledgeable and mindful of our hiking capabilities. The horsemen and cooks were very nice and accommodating (we had a vegetarian in our group who was very satisfied with her meals). If you ever plan to do this trek, you can never going wrong with this tour company.

On the first day, our guide picked us up from our hotel in Cusco at around 6 AM and our group made a stop at the town of Calca where our cooks bought some produce in the market for our trek. Some of the hikers also bought some toys and fruits for the kids that we met during the trek.

We then traveled for about an hour to our trail head. After hiking uphill for another hour, we had our breakfast prepared by our cooks.

With some rest and picture taking, we then headed to our lunch spot where we had an amazing view of the Peruvian Andes.

Along the way, we met some kids on the way back from school. It is humbling to know how far they have to travel and that they only use sandals to hike up and down the mountains.

After a good night's sleep and delicious breakfast (considering what the cooks had to work with), we headed to the highest altitude of the trek called Pachacutec pass at about 4700 meters (15,420~ feet). It took us about 5 hours to get to this point and it was a strenuous uphill hike. If you plan to do this trek, make sure to train so you can enjoy the views more at the high passes.

The view from the beginning of our hike on Day 2 

R as he approaches the highest pass

The views were amazing on this day and was worth every uphill climb! We then descended to Quishuarani where we camped for the night.   

On Day 3, we hiked in the morning before heading to Lares for a refreshing soak at their natural volcanic hot springs and lunch. 

We said our goodbyes to our cooks and horsemen before going to Ollantaytambo. Here, we had a couple of hours to ourselves so we checked out their markets and the ruins. 

We had dinner in one of the many restaurants of Ollantaytambo, which was included in the fee, before taking the train to Aguas Calientes, the support town to Machu Picchu. We spent the night in a nice hotel where we took our first shower in three days. It was great to relax and have a good night's sleep before the highlight of our trip, Machu Picchu, on the fourth day.