An off road adventure excites you? Then this is the one of the best treks you can do to get to Machu Picchu from Cusco. Inca Quarry trail to Machu Picchu is an off the beaten track adventure in South America. Although not as popular as Salkantay Trek or Classic Inca Trail , it is quite history oriented. The trek takes you to the largest quarry of Incas.
Ollantaytambo has been prominent since Inca civilization. During the rule of Pachacutec, the Incas planned to construct some buildings here. They did all the stone work in this quarry.
The four day trek takes you to many other archaeological complexes along the way. It is an off the beaten track experience. Which means, it is less crowded. This gives you an excellent opportunity to immerse in the nature and history. On this trek you will also be visiting some interesting sites like the complex where the architects who worked in this quarry lived.
You will be re-tracing the footsteps of Incas on the route through which they transported stones. The quarry still has many pink marble cut stones scattered around.
At Treks in Cusco, we have dedicated tour guides for this trek. They are locals with an impressive knowledge on history. We offer you an experience of a lifetime on your trek to Machu Picchu.
We recommend you to spend at-least three days in Cusco before the trek to avoid altitude sickness.
Cusco Hotel Transfer
0600 AM
We will pick you up from your hotel at 0600 AM. We will then embark on a road trip to Huarocondo. Here we will visit an old colonial church. From here, we will descend to Socma. It is home to a community.
From here, we will start hiking up the hill to Perolniyoc, an archaeological site. It nestles above a waterfall. After spending some time in the Perolniyoc cascade, we will do a short up hill hike to our camp site which is in the community of Perolniyoc.
After breakfast, we will hike up to the Kuychicassa pass and the highest point of the Inca Quarry Trail to Machu Picchu. This pass is at 4,500 meters above sea level/14,764 feet. From here we will start our descend to a pristine lagoon named Mama Cona.
After spending some time here, we will hike through a picturesque mountain pass. There is an ancient Incan canal here. This was the main source of water to those who worked in the Inca Quarry. Infact, the canal still supplies water to the region.
This canal is some 17 kilometres long. It is one of the engineering achievements of Incas. A short hike from here and we will reach our camping site.
After breakfast, we will start the trek along a small creek. This will take us to an Inca Canyon. From here we will hike to an archaeological complex named, Intiwatana. Here an altar was built by Incas facing the snow capped peaks of Veronica mountain.
You will have a fantastic view of the Sacred Valley of Incas and Urubamba river from here. We will then continue the trek to Inca Quarry of Cachicata. Here our guide will walk you through different sites and will give you a detailed tour. After the tour, we will be descending to a town where one the quarry workers lived. Here we will be camping for the night.
Quite early in the morning, we will go to Ollantaytambo train station. Here we will board the train to Aguas Calientes town. Once in Aguas Calientes, we will walk you to the bus terminal. You will be boarding the bus from here to the entrance of Machu Picchu citadel.
Once you arrive at Machu Picchu, our guide will assist you in clearing the security control. Our local guide will then give you a guided tour of the citadel and will show you some important parts of the citadel.
After the tour of the Inca ruins, if you have booked your hike to Machu Picchu mountain or Huayna Picchu mountain, our guide will direct you to the entrance. Alternatively, you can walk to the Sun Gate. Sun Gate is the entrance point of those on Inca Trail. It is a 2 hours walk round trip from the citadel.
After visiting Machu Picchu, we will meet at Aguas Calientes train station. Here you will board the train back to Ollantaytambo. At Ollantaytambo, our guide will meet you and organise your transfer to Cusco.
If an off road adventure excites you. I highly recommend doing this trek. It was very interesting and our guide Carlos was outstanding.
