Pre-Trek Briefing at 7 PM at the Machu Picchu Team Office in Cusco
The evening before your Salkantay Trek Only 5 Days , we gather at our Cusco office at 7:00 p.m. It is your first chance to meet your guide and the people you will be walking with. Your guide runs through the practical side of things — how the route works, what the days look like, and the exact hour you will be collected from your hotel — and hands over your trek documentation. You will also be given your duffel bag, good for up to 7 kg of personal belongings that the horses carry, and shown how to leave any luggage you are not taking with us. Bring nothing but your passport for check-in. If you still owe a balance on the tour, or want to rent a sleeping bag or trekking poles, this is the moment to sort it out. Travelers who already hold a Machu Picchu entrance ticket should bring a copy so we can check the date, hour and circuit.
Professional Tour Guide for the Salkantay Trek Only 5 Days
Certified guides with years of mountain expedition work behind them — Salkantay very much included — lead the group. The same guide stays with you for the whole route and also takes you around Machu Picchu, working to the circuit and entry hour on your ticket. Every one of them speaks fluent English and Spanish, so nothing gets lost in translation, and every one carries a first aid kit and an oxygen cylinder for emergencies.
Hotel Pick-Up Service Between 4:30 AM and 5:00 AM
We collect you from your hotel to start the trip. Departures fall between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m., and your precise time is confirmed at the briefing the night before according to where you are staying. Should your hotel sit close to our office, you are welcome to walk over and join us there at 5:00 a.m. instead. Your guide will settle the arrangement with you directly.
Private Transport from Cusco to Soraypampa
A comfortable private tourist vehicle carries the group from Cusco to Soraypampa, where the walking begins. Allow around three hours for the drive — an easy, unhurried way to reach the trailhead before you meet the support crew and put your boots on.
Duffle Bag Service for 7 Kilograms
The duffel bag you receive at the briefing holds up to 7 kg of your things. Our horses move it from camp to camp, so it is already waiting when you arrive each afternoon and you walk with nothing more than a light daypack for the day’s essentials. Once the trek is over, the bag can stay at our Cusco office for safekeeping.
Meals Included: 5 Breakfasts, 4 Lunches, and 4 Dinners
Our chefs travel with the group for the full five days, cooking fresh food designed to keep your energy up: five breakfasts, four lunches and four dinners, with snacks handed out daily. Vegetarian, vegan and any other dietary requirement is catered for without additional charge.
Vegetarian and Vegan Dining
Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and other dietary preferences are all covered at no extra cost. Just tell us what you need when you book and the kitchen team will plan around it.
Cooking Team for the Entire Trek
A dedicated kitchen crew walks the route with you, putting breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table every single day. They are trained to work around vegetarian, vegan, lactose-free and other particular diets, so nobody in the group starts the day underfed.
Kitchen Equipment and Utensils
Every pot, burner and utensil needed on the trail is supplied by us and moved ahead to each campsite by the support team, so meals are cooked and served under the best conditions the mountain allows.
Two Nights in Our Sky Star Crystal Domes
Two of your nights are spent in our own Sky Star Crystal Domes, whose transparent walls and ceilings open onto the peaks, the forest and the night sky above them. Mattresses and pillows come with the dome; the one thing you supply is a sleeping bag, either your own or one rented from us at the briefing. Domes are usually set up for two, though there is room enough for three or four travelers who would rather stay together.
One Night in Our Panoramic Cabins
Another night is spent in our panoramic cabins, built to keep you comfortable without shutting out the landscape around you. Mattresses and pillows are provided and the views are excellent. As with the domes, a sleeping bag is needed — bring one from home or rent it at our office before departure.
One Night in a Hotel in Aguas Calientes
Your last night is a proper bed in Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo), so you are rested before the citadel the next morning. Rooms come with a private bathroom, hot shower, Wi-Fi, towels and basic toiletries. Doubles are the standard arrangement; triples and family rooms can be provided for travelers who want to share, subject to availability.
Muleteers and Horses
A crew of muleteers and their horses travels with the group, shifting the camping gear, the food supplies and your duffel bags — up to 7 kg each, sleeping bag included in that weight. Their work is what makes the trek feel manageable: you carry a small daypack and nothing else, while the rest of your kit is already at the next campsite by the time you get there.
Machu Picchu Guided Tour
A guided visit of roughly two and a half hours inside Machu Picchu is part of the package, led by one of our guides and shaped around the entry hour and circuit on your ticket. A further half hour of free time follows, to wander and look at your own pace. This guide service applies to every traveler, whether the entrance ticket was bought through another channel or picked up in person in Aguas Calientes, and whatever circuit or hour it shows.
Free Luggage Storage
Trekking with Machu Picchu Team means you can leave whatever you are not taking up the mountain at our main office, one block from the Plaza de Armas, free of charge. Drop it off the day before or on the morning of departure — the vehicle heading to the trailhead calls at the office to pick up bags anyway.
Emergency Provisions
Each guide carries an oxygen bottle and a fully stocked first aid kit at all times, so help is immediate if anyone needs it.
