Llama Trail with Domes and Machu Picchu – 3 Days / 2 Nights

At 6:30 a.m. we pick you up at your hotel and, instead of climbing into a van, you start walking. That’s what sets this route apart: it leaves the center of Cusco hiking. Your first stop is the Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun, where your guide explains how the ceques radiated out from these walls (the lines that organized Inca territory) and why the path you’re about to follow exists at all.
The city falls away slowly: cobbled streets, the Twelve-Angled Stone, the Sapantiana aqueduct and, at the top of the climb, Sacsayhuamán. In ninety minutes you’ve gone from the historic center to the mountains without setting foot in a vehicle.
At the Balcón del Diablo, also known as Chakan, a rock ledge with the whole valley spread out below, we stop to refuel: snacks prepared by our team and served right there, with the best view you’ll have in a long time.

The trail continues along the northern slopes, through eucalyptus and old stone walls. Ñustapakana is an outcrop the Incas carved into steps, niches and seats. Farther on you come to the Piedra de Escalada, a rock face that Cusco’s climbers use today, in the same area where people run the river. Both are an hour from the Plaza de Armas, and almost nobody knows they’re there.
We walk slowly on purpose, because your body is still adjusting to the altitude. You reach the Andean Sky Dome with plenty of afternoon left: check in, sit down to a hot lunch cooked by our own chefs high in the mountains, and take an optional rock-climbing session if you still have the energy. Dinner comes later, at 12,631 feet. After dark, with not a single light anywhere around you, the dome’s clear roof does the rest.

Meals: snacks, lunch prepared by our chefs, and dinner.
Lodging: Andean Sky Dome, with a real bed, warm bedding and shared facilities.
Difficulty: moderate.
Distance: about 5.6 mi / 9 km.
Maximum altitude: 12,631 ft / 3,850 m.
Sites visited: Qorikancha, Sacsayhuamán, Ñustapakana and the Piedra de Escalada.
Weather: mild during the day, cold at night.

After breakfast you leave the dome and the trail climbs without a break for about two hours to Ruyaq Corralniyoc, at 13,451 ft (4,100 m). The trees give out, bunchgrass covers everything, and raptors start to appear over the ravines.

This is a climb for short steps and steady breathing. If you need to stop, a few seconds on your feet beats sitting down every little while. Your guide sets the pace, and nobody is in a hurry.
Then come the Sihua lagoons, six of them, one after another. Huallatas and wild ducks nest at the first, llamas are usually grazing at the second, and the third is the largest. You watch them from the trail and at a distance: puna vegetation takes years to recover from a single step off the path.

Before moving on, you take your time over a boxed snack out on the open puna, with the lagoons right beside you. After that, the Pukamarca pass, at 13,779 ft (4,200 m), marks the high point and the end of the climbing. From there it’s all downhill through a canyon on an easier grade, until the bunchgrass turns to scrub and cactus and the Sacred Valley opens up below. At the bottom is Huchuy Qosqo, with its double-jamb doorway, the kallanka, the terraces, the water channel and the storehouses of the administrative center attributed to the Inca Wiracocha. Once you arrive, our chefs serve the lunch they’ve prepared fresh on the spot.
You finish the descent in Lamay, where our transport takes you to the Ollantaytambo station for the train to Aguas Calientes. You sleep at the foot of Machu Picchu, in a 3-star hotel.

Meals: breakfast, a boxed snack, and lunch prepared by our chefs.
Lodging: 3-star hotel in Aguas Calientes.
Difficulty: moderate to demanding.
Distance: about 9.3 mi / 15 km.
Maximum altitude: Pukamarca pass, 13,779 ft / 4,200 m.
Where the day ends: Aguas Calientes, about 6,693 ft / 2,040 m.
Sites visited: Ruyaq Corralniyoc, the Sihua lagoons, the Pukamarca pass and Huchuy Qosqo.
Weather: cold up on the puna, mild on the descent into the valley.
 

This is the advantage of having slept in Aguas Calientes: you wake up at the foot of the mountain and do not have to get up before dawn for a train. After breakfast at the hotel you walk the few minutes to the bus stop.
The bus climbs to the entrance of Machu Picchu along the Hiram Bingham road, a series of switchbacks that gains about 400 metres in roughly 25 minutes. From the window you watch the Urubamba canyon drop away below.
Your guide meets you at the gate. To go in you will need your original passport, because the ticket is issued in your name and checked at the control point.
You enter at the time slot confirmed for your visit and take a guided tour of approximately two and a half hours through the sectors allowed by your ticket. Along the way your guide will explain the history, the architecture and the meaning of this remarkable Inca site.
Bear in mind that the circuits at Machu Picchu are one-way and do not allow you to go back, so it is worth making the most of every point along the route for photographs and keeping up with the group.
After the visit you take the bus back down to Aguas Calientes, where you have free time to have lunch, walk through the artisan market or visit the hot springs before your train.
Later you board the train to Ollantaytambo. At the station our transport takes you back to Cusco, where the programme ends at your hotel.
Meals: Breakfast at the hotel. Lunch in Aguas Calientes at your own expense, unless your confirmed programme includes it.

Accommodation: Not applicable; the programme ends in Cusco.
Difficulty: Easy to moderate.
Distance: Approximately 4 km / 2.5 mi inside the citadel, depending on the confirmed circuit.
Maximum altitude: Machu Picchu, approximately 2,430 m / 7,972 ft.
Sites visited: Machu Picchu.
Weather: Cool in the morning and warmer during the day.