13 DAY INCA TRAIL TO MACHU PICCHU AND GALAPAGOS

Day 1 Arrive to the Imperial city of the Incas, Cusco

After your arrival in Cusco, a representative of Valencia Travel Cusco will be waiting at the airport to pick you up in our private transportation and take you to your hotel, where you will spend the night. Then, you will have the day to relax and enjoy the beauty of Cusco and it surroundings.

Check in time 12:00pm/Check out 10:00am (Early check in, has an extra cost).

Today at 3:00pm: Free Walking tour (Optional)

Places to be visited:

Regocijo Plaza

Plaza de Armas (main square in Cusco)

Plaza Nazarenas

San Blas town (best handicrafts)

The stone of 12 angles

San Pedro market

The tour will be for about 2 hours. This tour is optional; it is your choice to take or not! For this tour, we recommend tipping the guide and the amount you tip is a personal decision and not an obligation.

Optional 1: Half day City tour (Extra activity to do at an extra cost, Price:$30 USD per person).

We will pick you up at 1:30pm to start the tour visiting the main cathedral, Qoricancha (the temple of the sun), and four archeological sites of: Sacsayhuaman, Q´enqo, Pucapucara and Tambomachay ending around 6:00pm, when we drop you off at your hotel. (Meals are not included on this day, but we are always happy to offer suggestions).

• If you would like to do this excursion, please confirm in advance in order to secure your spot and schedule a tour guide and transportation.

Include:

Transportation

Professional English speaking guide.

Not include:

Tourist ticket(ticket access for all this places:$38 USD).

Dinner

Gratitude

Day 2 Open day at leisure

Optional 2: Full day sacred valley tour (Highly recommended).

(Extra activity to do at an extra cost, Price: $45 USD per person).

You will have breakfast (which is included) and be picked up from your hotel at 8:15 am. This will be a full day excursion to the Urubamba Valley, visiting the colorful native market in Pisac. Where you will be able to appreciate the mixtures of colors, traditions, have an opportunity to test your bartering skills, interact with the local craftsmen and purchase their hand-made souvenirs. Pisac is located at the entrance of the Sacred Valley. The Valley is (31km)/ (19mi) from Cusco at an altitude of (2,970m)/ (9,700 ft). Followed by Pisac, is Urubamba, where we will have a delicious lunch buffet at Tunupa restaurant.  Then, we continue through to Ollantaytambo, the oldest continuously occupied town in the South American continent. The narrow streets of Ollantaytambo, along with their canals, have not changed much from the time of the Incan Empire. They evoke their ancestral inheritance and give a feeling of what it was like to live during those times. The last visit will be the Chinchero market. Chinchero is believed to be the mythical birthplace of the rainbow! Its major attraction in tourism is, its colorful Sunday market, which is less tourist-orientated than the market at Pisac. At the end, we will return to the Plaza de Armas in Cusco at approximately 6:30 pm. The night is free for you to eat in any restaurant of your choice. Although, we always have plenty of suggestions should you require them.

If you would like to do this excursion, please confirm in advance in order to secure your spot and schedule a tour guide and transportation.

Include:

Transportation

Professional English speaking guide.

Not include:

Tourist ticket (ticket access for all this places: $25 USD).

Meals (About: $20 USD per person)

Gratitude

Day 3 The Inca trail adventure to Machu Picchu begins:

Total distance to be covered: 12km or 7mi. (5 to 6 hours).

We will meet and pick you up from your hotel at 4:30am (time to be confirmed at the briefing time) and travel by bus to Piskacucho (which is called kilometer 82) where the trail starts. There will be a breakfast stop in Ollantaytambo (6:30-7am) to load up on energy (breakfast is not included). Upon arrival at kilometer 82 (8:30am), we will have some time to organize ourselves (use of the restrooms, applying sunscreen, insect repellent, and more). Then, it will be necessary to show your entrance tickets, passports and (if paying a student rate) the student card at the trail’s first control point. To start the trail (2720m/8923ft), we cross the Vilcanota River and follow its route to the right. The first day is relatively easy (a warm-up along the ‘Incan flat’ terrain) and will have great views of an Incan Fortress, (‘Huillca Raccay’), the vast and incredible Incan site of ‘Llactapata’ (officially called ‘Patallacta’), the Urubamba mountain range that divides the jungle, the Andes and the beautiful snow-capped peak of ‘W’akay Willca’ (5860m/19225ft), known in books as Veronica. Our first campsite (Ayapata) will be an hour and a half up the small village of Wayllabamba (3000m/9842ft) in the temperate green valley of the same name. Temperatures at night are usually around 5ºC (depending on the month).

Day 4 The Inca Trial! We go over 2 passes….

Total distance to be covered: 16km or 9mi. (8 to 9 hours more or less).

After waking up at 5:30am (or 5:00am depending on your guide) and breakfast, we will start a steep ascent towards the highest pass (Abra de Warrmihuañusca or ‘Dead Woman’s Pass’ at 4200m/13779ft). On this day, a real sense of achievement is felt upon reaching the top! After a rest here, we begin our descent towards our lunch stop, which is located at Pacaymayu (3550m/11646ft). On the way up to the pass, we will be able to see lots of hummingbirds among other species of birds. We will also have time to appreciate an incredible variety of native plants and trees such as the ´Polylepis´ or Q’ueuña trees, which grow in the astonishing cloud forest located at 3650/11972m!! After lunch, begins the second two hour steep climb towards Runkuraqay pass (almost 4000 meters). We arrive at our campsite by 5 pm. Temperatures at this campsite are around 4ºC during the nights .

Day 5 Back in the past! Beautiful scenery!

Total distance to be covered: 10km or 6mi. (5 hours).

This is the most impressive day (in our opinion) so just keep thinking of that on the ascent on day 2! We wake up for breakfast at 6am and start the day with a gentle climb to visit the archaeological site of ‘Phuyupatamarca’(meaning ‘Town in the Clouds’) and reach the third highest point along the trail (3680m). The views of the mountains, canyons and surrounding areas are spectacular! The Incan site of ‘Phuyupatamarca’, is located a few minutes’ walk from the third pass and after visiting this, we continue walking through the cloud forest and the impressive agricultural Incan site of ‘Intipata’ until we arrive at our third campsite Wiñay Wayna (2680m/8792ft). Today, we will only walk about 4 to 5 hours and arrive at camp by lunch time! A short distance from this campsite, is located the Incan site of the same name ‘Wiñay Wayna’ (‘Forever Young’). Even if you are tired after your day’s trek, don’t miss out on visiting the most impressive site on the trail. Temperatures during the night are around 12º C.

Day 6 Machu Picchu in its Glory!

Total distance to be covered: 5km or 3mi. (2 hours).

We leave the last campsite at about 5:30am on the final day (breakfast 3:30-4:00am). It is an early start in order to get to ‘Inti Punku’ (‘Sun gate’) (2730m/8792ft) before sunrise. This is the place where you will have your first dramatic view of Machu Picchu (2400m/7873ft) with the sun rising over it! After some time there, we will walk down the last part of the trail to a spot where you can take the classic picture postcard shot of this ancient city. Finally, we visit Machu Picchu itself! Walking tour (2 hours) is given by your guide and after this, you can explore the mysterious city by yourselves. You will meet your guide in Aguas Calientes (by bus or on foot) for lunch and be given your train tickets back to Cusco. Train included in all tours is until Ollantaytambo and then by bus to Cusco. Your train will leave Aguas Calientes in the afternoon so you’ll need to be at the train station 30 minutes before it leaves. (The exact time will be given by your tour guide). Once in Ollantaytambo, you will have a bus waiting to return back to your hotel in Cusco. Allocations or Itineraries are subject to change depending the availability on time of bookings.

Day 7 Cusco – Quito (Ecuador)

Today, we will take you to the airport according your flight itinerary.

You will continue with the itinerary to Quito (Ecuador)

You will be picked up at the Quito airport and welcomed.  Quito is considered a UNESCO city, the biggest, best-preserved colonial city of South America. In 1978, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city is considered the Cultural Capital of South America and the second most important city of the old Incan Empire.

Depending on arrival time, you can spend your day exploring the old town of Quito and its surrounding areas. ECUADOR PURE LIFE also can help you organize a day trip such as:

Quito City tour (including a visit to the equator line)

Mindo Cloud forest • Cotopaxi national park

Quilotoa Crater Lake • Otavalo native market

Papallacta hot springs, and much more.

In the evening, one of our trip leaders will organize a welcome meeting to talk about the Galapagos expedition and after, you will go out for dinner at local restaurants to see the real Quito night life.

Accommodation:  Anahi Hotel Boutique or similar.

Day 8 FLIGHT TO GALAPAGOS – ISABELA EXPLORATION

Today, we get ready to explore the most amazing archipelago in the Pacific coast and the place where, Charles Darwin based his theory of the evolution of species.  A magical place where dreams of swimming with sea lions, turtles and fish become a reality.

We board a morning flight from Quito to the island of Baltra. Once there, we head towards the town of Puerto Ayora, the biggest town in the Galapagos. From here, we take a fast boat to Isabela, the largest island in the archipelago and the place where most volcanic activity is reported. The island is formed by 6 shield volcanoes, Alcedo, Cerra Azul, Darwin, Ecuador, Sierra Negra and Wolf, 5 of them still active and therefore, the island is one of the most volcanically active places on earth. During our island crossing, we will be on the lookout for dolphins and whales (July to October).

Day 9 SIERRA NEGRA AND TINTORESTAS

After driving up from Puerto Villamil towards the trailhead, we prepare our backpacks and hike into a young dry forest ecosystem into a world of recent geological history. Our destination is the rim of Sierra Negra Crater, an active volcano which last erupted in October 2005. Upon arrival, we take in breathtaking views and explore the circumference of the massive, lava-filled crater, over six miles across at its widest point. If we feel energetic enough, we can continue our hike to Vulcan Chico, a secondary crater that has a wild landscape of puffing fumaroles and colorful lava formations. These are great examples of the dramatic geological events that have forged the Galapagos Islands over millennia.

In the afternoon, we will visit the Tintoreras Islet on a shared tour, located a short distance from Puerto Villamil and is the home to a great variety of wildlife. Its turquoise, crystalline waters are inhabited by white-tipped reef sharks, Galapagos penguins, marine turtles and sea lions. One of its beaches is surrounded by mangroves, it is one of the few sites, where marine iguanas can reproduce successfully.

Day 10 LAVA TUNNELS SNORKELING

Today, we explore the amazing formations of lava created by the last eruptions of the volcanic island along the seashore. This magical place has been used by the staff of BBC /National Geographic for documentaries. It is a labyrinth of lava arches inside breakers with crystal clear water full of huge sea turtles, eagle rays, sea lions, fish, white tipped reef sharks and more. Turtles navigate their own highway from the mangroves to the open sea through “Los Tuneles”. Here, we will have the best snorkeling opportunity with all these beautiful animals, including the curious Galapagos penguin playing around.

Day 11 SANTA CRUZ, CHARLES DARWIN RESEARCH STATION VISIT

In the morning, we embark in a fast boat from Isabela to Santa Cruz Islands. During our island crossing, we will be on the lookout for dolphins and whales (July to October). Once we arrive, we will check in at the hotel. We have time to visit the Charles Darwin Research Station to learn more about many of the endemic species we met during our adventure, as well as the ongoing conservation and management efforts on the Galapagos Islands.

Then, we go on an exploration walk through a dry forest to Tortuga Bay (about 3 ½ miles long), a beautiful white sand beach, named as such because it is a nesting site for the black turtles. There is vegetation at the bottom of the transition zone from the dry zone and coastal zone. Along the dunes, grows “Nolana galapagensis”, an endemic plant that helps stabilize the sandy area. Enjoy some relaxing or swimming time in this fantastic place.

Day 12 TRANSFER TO BALTRA AIRPORT – FLIGHT BACK TO QUITO

After our final breakfast on the Galapagos Island and the last photos taken of sea lions, we have a transfer to Baltra’s airport in time to catch the flight back to the mainland.

Accommodation: Anahi Hotel Boutique or similar

Meals included: Breakfast

Day 13 QUITO – USA

Today, you will take your connection fly from Quito to USA.

Price Includes:

All pick-ups from the airport to the hotel and vice versa

All hotel accommodations (3 star casa Andina Cusco classic OR similar standard)

All breakfast included in the accommodations

Free walking tour (we recommend tipping the guide)

Incas trail 4 days includes the following:

Entrance fee to the Inca trail

Entrance fee to Machu Picchu

Professional bilingual tour guide.

Assistant guide (for groups of 9 or more)

Transportation – bus to km 82 and train back (Expedition train to Ollantaytambo)

Bus ticket from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes.

Collection from Ollantaytambo train station (on day 4th)

Water (You will only need water for the first morning then we will provide you hot or cold  boiled water)

3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 3 afternoon snacks, 3 dinners and various snacks to be eaten throughout the day.

Dining tent with tables and chairs

Professional chef.

4 man tent size (per 2 people)

Foam mattress

Porters: They carry cooking and camping equipment (FOAM MATTRESS AND CAMPING TENT).

Oxygen bottle

First aid kit

Not Included:

Single supplement fee: ($400 USD – accommodation + tent)

Sleeping bags

Inflatable mattress

Walking sticks

For the Inca trail – first breakfast and last lunch are not included

Extra Personal porter

Gratitude

Meals that are not stated otherwise

Optional tours: (City tour and sacred valley).