Lares Trek to Machu Picchu 4 days
Start: Cusco Finish: Cusco
Duration: 3 Nights
Physical rating: Medium, MODERATE
Special diets catered: Vegetarians, Vegans, Meat, dairy free, Gluten free
Tour code: 57976
Tour operator: TreXperience
Group size: 1 - 8
Age range: 3-65
Tour operated in: English ,Spanish
Prices From: $580
Tour Overview
Lares Trek to Machu Picchu takes you far off the beaten track to where you can meet and interact with members of traditional Andean communities. You’ll learn all about life in these isolated villages, become familiar with their culture and traditions, and even visit a local school. We finish your TreXperience spending an unforgettable day exploring Machu Picchu.
Highlights
Enjoy the exclusive panoramic train on the way back (Vistadome or 360°) - Explore the Maras Salineras and Ollantaytambo
- Visit the natural hot springs of Lares
- Support social projects in the villages we visit
- Beat the crowds to Machu Picchu before the sunrise
- Take part in a PACHAMANCA(underground cooking)
Places You'll See
Countries:
Cities & Attractions:
Machu Picchu early in the morning
7 waterfalls at Kiswarani Village
Meals during the treks
Views of the Lares Trek
Our trekking chefs treats
Lunch
Itinerary
Day 1: CUSCO – LARES THERMAL BATHS – KISWARANI FALLS – CAMPSITE
Location: Lares
Accommodation: Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Depart Cusco at 4.30 am by van to the famous Lares thermo-medicinal baths – arriving around 8:00 am. You’ll have time to jump straight into the medicinal pools with different temperatures good for bones, muscles, stress, and relax with the beautiful views of the mountain, then you’ll have an energizing breakfast prepared by your trekking chef. The hike starts after 30 minutes ride from the hot springs, The first part its a 2-hour trek uphill until we reach Kiswarani village where the chef will be waiting with your lunch that has been freshly prepared using natural, organic, local products.
After lunch you’ll meet the team of horsemen from the surrounding villages and start hiking for another 2-hour walk to our campsite along with llamas and alpacas, the campsite is located on the banks of a beautiful blue lake at (3880 m/ 12730 ft). Along the way, you’ll pass beautiful streams and a stunning waterfall. On reaching our campsite your tents and a hot cup of tea will be waiting for you. This is a perfect place to relax, stargaze, and learn about Inca astronomy.
- Campsite Altitude: 3880 m/ 12730 ft
- Trekking distance: 9 km/5.59 miles
- Duration: 4 hours
- Meals: Breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner
- Accommodation: Camping under million stars
- Difficulty: Easy
Day 2: KISWARANI – CONDOR PASS - CANCHACANCHA COMMUNITY
Location: Cancha Cancha
Accommodation: Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Wake up bright and early with a cup of coffee or tea, start packing for the hardest day of the Lares trek. After breakfast, you´ll start the longest and most challenging day with a 4-hour hike uphill to the highest pass, the Condor Pass (4700 m / 15354 ft). Along the way, you will be able to enjoy beautiful lakes where Wallatas (Andean geese or ‘lovebirds’) swim in the crystal clear waters, upon arrival to the summit of Condor Pass, we will serve you a well-deserved cup of tea and you can take some time to rest while your tour guide performs a spiritual offering ceremony to the sacred mountains.
The second part of the day it’s a 3-hour descent from the top of the mountain down to Canchacancha village through the breathtaking scenery. Upon arrival, you will find lunch and your tents ready to later interact with the local people, visit a local school, and you can even teach some English and learn Quechua from then as well since we have the afternoon free you will visit one of the families’ homes to learn at first hand their traditional lifestyles passed down from the Incas, sample traditional food and see how they raise guinea pigs, llamas, and alpacas.
- Campsite Altitude: 3750 m / 12303 ft
- Highest altitude: 4700 m / 15354 ft
- Distance: 16 km/ 9.9 miles
- Duration: 7 hours
- Meals: Breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner
- Accommodation: Camping
- Difficulty: Moderate to challenging
Day 3: CANCHACANCHA - HUARAN – SALINERAS - OLLANTAYTAMBO – AGUAS CALIENTES
Location: Pueb Machu Picchu
Accommodation: Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Wake up bright and early with a cup of coffee or tea, start packing for the hardest day of the Lares trek. After breakfast, you´ll start the longest and most challenging day with a 4-hour hike uphill to the highest pass, the Condor Pass (4700 m / 15354 ft). Along the way, you will be able to enjoy beautiful lakes where Wallatas (Andean geese or ‘lovebirds’) swim in the crystal clear waters, upon arrival to the summit of Condor Pass, we will serve you a well-deserved cup of tea and you can take some time to rest while your tour guide performs a spiritual offering ceremony to the sacred mountains.
The second part of the day it’s a 3-hour descent from the top of the mountain down to Canchacancha village through the breathtaking scenery. Upon arrival, you will find lunch and your tents ready to later interact with the local people, visit a local school, and you can even teach some English and learn Quechua from then as well since we have the afternoon free you will visit one of the families’ homes to learn at first hand their traditional lifestyles passed down from the Incas, sample traditional food and see how they raise guinea pigs, llamas, and alpacas.
- Campsite Altitude: 3750 m / 12303 ft
- Highest altitude: 4700 m / 15354 ft
- Distance: 16 km/ 9.9 miles
- Duration: 7 hours
- Meals: Breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner
- Accommodation: Camping
- Difficulty: Moderate to challenging
Day 4: MACHU PICCHU (LOST CITY OF THE INCAS)
Location: Machupicchu District
Meals: Breakfast
Enjoy the final day waking early in your hotel, breakfast, and taking the first buses up to Machu Picchu to watch the spectacular sunrise over Machu Picchu. The tour guide will take on an extra hike first before starting the 2-3 hours guided tour of the citadel.
The guide will take you to the most important places, explain to you the history, mysteries, and the great Inca technology used to build Machu Picchu. Later you will have time to Explore by yourself or take the extra hikes like Huayna Picchu or Montaña, both mountains have to be booked in advance. Once you are done with the citadel, you need to take the bus from Machu Picchu back to Aguas Calientes for lunch (not included) and then take the exclusive panoramic trains back to Ollantaytambo and s private van back to Cusco. Drop is back to your hotel around 7:30 pm.
- Highest altitude: 2700m / 8858ft
- Distance: 6km / 3 miles
- Duration: 3 hours
- Meals: Breakfast (hotel)
- Difficulty: Easy
What's Included
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Train Tickets
Vistadome Train
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Entrance Fees
Entrance fees to Lares Entrance fee to Machu Picchu
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Fully Guided
Professional Tours during the 4 days of tour
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Accommodation
2 Nights Camping 1 night in a 3-star hotel
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Local Taxes
All taxes Included
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Safety briefing the day before the tour at 6:00 pm in our Office Pick up from your hotel on the morning of the tour. All transportation during the duration of the Trek Duffle bag up to 7 kilos for your stuff to be carried by porters Professional highly tr
What's Not Included
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Country Entry Visas
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Tipping and Gratuities
Optional
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Sleeping bags, air mattress, or trekking polesLast Day LunchHuayna Picchu or Montaña entrancesTips for porters, chef, guides
Requirements
- Passport
- Rain gear
- Warm layers (fleece / long sleeved tops)
- Sun protection
- Personal medication
- Camera, extra batteries
- Head torch
- Extra snacks, power bars, chocolate
- Extra money for souvenirs, drinks & tips (small change is useful for paying to use the villagers' toilets on the first day)
Book with Confidence
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Low Deposit
TreXperience requires a deposit of 140 USD to secure a place on this tour, and the final balance is not due till 2 days before departure..
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Secure payments
All payments to TourHub are deposited into an externally regulated Trust account.
Got a question? Check out our Q&As
View Q&As Ask A QuestionReviews
Excellent Experience from Start to Finish
Very enthusiastic guide and delicious cooking from our private chef.
The company gives back to the local community to keep the culture alive and well.
Recommend for anyone wanting to experience trekking in the Andes!!; ....less
19-Jan-2021
Great company great service
The guide we spent most of our time with, Edwin, was knowledgable and charming and always made sure we were having a great time while taking care of us.
The food the chef made us while camping was abundant and delicious, they even gave us hot water bottles to keep us warm for the cold nights in the tents while camping.
The entire tour, from pickup to drop off at Machu Picchu, was great fun - all needs taken care of by the team and it was certainly the highlight of my time in Peru.
If you’re looking for a good and reliable team to do a trek and visit Machu Picchu I would absolutely recommend these guys!; ....less
19-Jan-2021
Absolutely amazing - top marks from start to finish
The views were unbelievable and we loved experiencing the local villages and culture.
Our two guides were so brilliant - they were patient, helpful, empathetic and extremely knowledgeable.
Our main guide was Juan Carlos Coronel and we had such a great time with him - you are in for a treat if you get this guy.
He used to be a porter and has worked for many years trekking to Machu Picchu.
We absolutely loved listening to his stores about his experiences.
We had some fast walkers and some slower walkers in our group but Juan Carlos managed this so well.
He staggered our starting times for the walks so that we ate lunch together every day and nobody was left alone the whole trip.
He made sure we were challenged as that's what we wanted but the other group wasn't pushed too hard.
Everyone was extremely well looked after.
Another great thing was that all the porters and guides genuinely seemed to enjoy working for Trexperience.
The company really looks after its workers - treats them fairly, pays them properly and provides them with high quality equipment.
Juan Carlos told us that being a porter is a very difficult job but Trexperience has done a lot to support and look after them, for example they are provided with accommodation in Cusco for when they are away from home and with all their meals for the duration of the trek.
The company also does a lot of community work - supporting the poor villages around Machu Picchu.
I really liked this about Trexperience and it was one of the key reasons I chose them.
They are dedicated to sustainability and conservation as well as giving its customers the best possible experiences.
I could go on and on - the food was absolutely amazing, and there was lots of it! They provide you with all the equipment you need which is really good quality.
They are extremely well organised - I had A LOT of questions before the trek and they got back to me really quickly and were always extremely polite and helpful.
Every part of the trek from the booking process to the last drop off at your hotel was extremely well and professionally managed.
I can't think of a single negative thing to say about Trexperience and cannot recommend them enough.
You won't be disappointed!; ....less
19-Jan-2021
Lares trek with Vicente is the best!!
The trek was awesome, we were sometimes the only people in the mountain and the views were breathtaking.
The first day is quite easy, it starts with a very early ride to the local market where our fantastic cook (Julio Caesar) and his assistant (Abel) bought the food for the next 3 days.
After that we visited some hot thermal pools where we could swim and enjoy the thermal water.
Then we made a little trek to our first camp site at a small lake in the mountains.
The second day is quite hard but the view on the top of the mountain is worth it😍😍 We recommend to take many warm clothes with you since the temperatures can be very cold at night (minus 5 degrees on the first two nights in the tent!).
Besides we had trekking poles, which were a very good support for us!! Trexperience has very good equipment which is provided and included in the price.
We additionally rented an air mattress and a sleeping bag for 20$, which is also recommendable since it makes the nights much more comfortable and warmer.
The food was fantastic and the cooks were really nice and polite.
They could really open their own restaurant!! Even much better than expected! They cooked with so much love and took into account all allergies and special diets or wishes (vegetarian).
On the first 3 days, a horseman (Leandro) accompanied us with his horses which carried our stuff.
It’s incredible, how he runs through the mountains and supports the tour.
Because of him, we only had to carry light backpacks and could concentrate on and enjoy the trek.
Staff, food, nature, trip - everything was excellent and we would highly recommend Trexperience, especially the guide Vicente, thank you so much for the experience!! ❤️Misky team❤️; ....less
05-Dec-2019
Lares Trek
Every detail was planned to exquisite perfection, every need was provided with friendly expertise, and the meals - OMG we ate like Kings even though we were high in the Andes! And our guide was fantastic! A fountain of fascinating knowledge.
The Lared trek, while not so famous, is absolutely worthwhile - a great combination of deep immersion in nature high in the Andes and the culture of the people who still live in the traditional ways.
Highly recommended!!!!; ....less
08-Jan-2021
Travel, Your Way
Good reasons for travelling privately
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Personalise your trip
Make changes to the itinerary, accommodation, or transport method
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Increased safety during COVID
Spend the majority of time amongst your group to reduce exposure to others
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Travel more exclusively
Your tour guide can focus all their attention on your group
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Travel for a special occasion
Celebrate an important event by only travelling with your friends or family
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