Salkantay Trek vs Inca Trail: Which One to Choose

Short answer: Choose the Classic Inca Trail if you want to walk on Inca paving, pass a ruin every day and enter Machu Picchu on foot through the Sun Gate, and if you can book months ahead, because the 500 daily permits sell out. Choose the Salkantay trek if you want glaciers and a higher pass, do not mind more miles, want to book a few weeks out with no permit, and like a hotel bed before the citadel. The Inca Trail is harder on the knees, with thousands of stone steps. Salkantay is harder on the lungs, with a 15,190 ft (4,630 m) pass and a 22 km day.

The two treks in one paragraph each

The Classic Inca Trail is a 4-day, 3-night walk of about 26 miles (43 km) along the original Inca road from KM 82 near Ollantaytambo to the Sun Gate (Intipunku) above Machu Picchu. It climbs Dead Woman's Pass at 13,830 ft (4,215 m) on day 2, passes the ruins of Llactapata, Runkurakay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca and Wiñay Wayna, and ends with the citadel appearing below you at dawn on day 4. It is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system listed by UNESCO. Access is limited to 500 people a day including staff, through licensed operators only, and the trail closes every February for maintenance.

The Salkantay trek is a 5-day, 4-night walk of about 45 miles (72 km) that starts at Soraypampa below the Humantay Lake, crosses the Salkantay Pass at 15,190 ft (4,630 m) under the glaciers of Salkantay, drops through cloud forest and coffee farms to the Santa Teresa valley, and reaches Aguas Calientes by the railway from Hidroeléctrica. You sleep three nights in tents and one in a hotel, then visit Machu Picchu with a guide on day 5, entering by bus like everyone else. No permit is needed, and the route runs all year.

One thing to know about who runs them. The Inca Trail is operated by a partner trekking company authorized by SERNANP, the protected-area authority, which holds the licenses and the permits. Sacred Lake Titikaka organizes your trip around it, with the same guides and crew standards on every departure. Salkantay sits outside the permit system and runs with the crew described on the package page.

Side by side

The table below has the numbers that decide most choices. Distances and altitudes come from the official records and our own itineraries, and prices are the per-person rates on this site.

When to choose the Inca Trail

You want the history under your feet. No other route to Machu Picchu puts you on Inca paving for four days, through stone tunnels and past ruins that only hikers see. Sayacmarca on its spur, the terraces of Wiñay Wayna an hour from the finish, and the moment the citadel appears from the Sun Gate at first light are the reasons people wait a year for a permit. Your guide explains the sites as you walk, and the day 4 entry through the gate is a different experience from arriving by bus.

You can plan ahead. Permits are issued by name and passport number, cannot be transferred, and for May to August they go on sale months ahead and sell out fast. If your dates are fixed and far away, the Inca Trail works. If you are booking for next month, it almost never does, and the Short Inca Trail (2 days from KM 104, 250 permits a day) is the fallback that still gives you the Sun Gate. Our Inca Trail permits guide explains the sale and the sell-out pattern by month.

Your knees are good. The trail is stairs: the descent from Dead Woman's Pass and the long stone staircases of day 3 wear people out more than the climb. Poles with rubber tips are allowed on the trail (not inside the citadel) and we recommend them. Porters carry the camp and up to 5 to 7 kg of your gear, so you walk with a daypack. Our Classic Inca Trail 4 days costs US$797 per person with the permit, guide, cook, porters, meals and camping.

When to choose Salkantay

You want mountains more than ruins. Day 1 ends at Soraypampa with the turquoise Humantay Lake above camp, and day 2 climbs to the pass with the glaciers of Salkantay, 20,574 ft (6,271 m), hanging over the trail. From the pass you walk down from ice to cloud forest in a single afternoon, and days 3 and 4 pass coffee and fruit farms with hot springs nearby. There is one Inca site, Llactapata, with its own distant view of Machu Picchu on day 4. If you have seen the Inca Trail photos and the landscape pulled you more than the stonework, this is your trek.

You are booking late or traveling in February. No permit means we can confirm Salkantay a few weeks out most of the year, and it runs through February when the Inca Trail is closed. The weather in February is wet, so the dry months of May to September are still the better choice, but the option exists.

You can handle altitude and distance. The pass is 1,360 ft (415 m) higher than Dead Woman's Pass, and day 2 covers about 22 km with a gain of 730 m (2,400 ft) and a descent of 1,700 m (5,600 ft). It is the hardest single day on either trek. In exchange, the surfaces are mostly dirt rather than stairs, mules carry the camp, and night 4 is a hotel bed and a shower in Aguas Calientes before the citadel. Our Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu costs US$707 per person with the crew, mules, camping, the hotel night, the Machu Picchu entrance and the train.

Which is harder

Salkantay, by the numbers, and the Inca Trail, by the surface. Salkantay is longer, higher and has the bigger single day. The Inca Trail is shorter and lower but almost entirely on stone steps, and the stairs are what people talk about afterward. Both need two nights in Cusco first, and both are done by ordinary fit people every day of the season. If you have knee trouble, lean Salkantay. If you have never slept above 12,000 ft and worry about altitude, lean Inca Trail, whose high point is lower and whose nights are lower too. Our Salkantay trek guide and Inca Trail day by day give the profile of each day.

Which is prettier

Our opinion, having walked both many times: Salkantay has the bigger views and the Inca Trail has the better arrival. The pass under the glacier beats anything on the Inca Trail for scale, and the drop into cloud forest in one afternoon is something the Inca Trail does more gently over two days. The Inca Trail wins the last hour. Walking through the Sun Gate with the citadel below, before the buses arrive, is the finish Salkantay cannot offer, because Salkantay hikers reach Machu Picchu by bus from Aguas Calientes like day visitors.

Which needs a permit

Only the Inca Trail. Every route of the Inca road network near Machu Picchu is permit-controlled, with 500 spaces a day on the classic routes and 250 on the 2-day route from KM 104, sold only through licensed agencies, by name and passport, and closed in February. Salkantay, Lares, Choquequirao and the Inca Jungle route need no permit, only the Machu Picchu entrance ticket at the end, which is included in all our treks. Our best treks from Cusco comparison puts all of them in one table.

If you cannot decide

Book by date first. Six months out with fixed dates in the dry season: Inca Trail. Six weeks out, or February: Salkantay. Then book by body: stairs or altitude, tent every night or a hotel before the citadel. People who do both on separate trips usually say they are glad they did the Inca Trail first, because the Sun Gate arrival is better when it is your first sight of Machu Picchu.

Sources

• Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura Cusco, sale of entries for Machu Picchu and the Inca road network: 500 spaces a day on routes 1 to 3, 250 on route 5
• Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura Cusco, February closure of the Inca road network
• UNESCO, Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System (2014)
• Salcantay, Wikipedia (elevation 6,271 m)
• CDC Yellow Book, High Altitude Travel and Altitude Illness