trekking route in Peru, where you start in the Lares Valley, known for its hot springs, and hike through stunning Andean landscapes to reach the town of Huaran, located within the Sacred Valley of the Incas
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Highlights: When you hike into the Lares Valley, you can enjoy the colorful and typical dress of the communities. There are also spectacular high alpine lakes and wildlife.
Location: Lares district in the province of Calca. There is a 4-hour drive to the starting point.
Duration: 5 days/4 nights, including Machu Picchu on the 5th day. It is also possible to do just the hike.
Level: Moderate to challenging.
Adventure Rating: This trek can be quite popular in high season but still has very few tourists.
Departure Dates: Any day with two people. We offer affordably-priced tours for 2 people so that you can depart whenever is best for you. This trek can be done in both the dry and rainy seasons.
Acclimatization: Minimum 2 days at altitude recommended.
Combos & Upgrades: Combine with one of our tours for a best experience in Cusco,and get free Comfort Camping or Huayna Picchu Mountain.
Trekker’s Dream: If you want to form your own tour group, please see Trekker’s Dream. That can be also advertised on this page. Maximum group size: 12.
To start this tour, we pick you up from your hotel to ride 3.5 hours to the town of Lares, passing different and colorful villages surrounded by the massive snow-capped peaks of the Andes. We then arrive at the Lares hot springs, where you can enjoy the baths. After lunch, you will hike approximately 5 hours up through the valley, hearing the natural singing of the river, until you get to Cuncani community (3750 meters/ 12300 feet) Here, you can see the colorful dress of the comuneros camping in the village.
From here, we climb again through a small valley, appreciating incredible blue lagoons, and then start a steep zig-zag climb up to the first pass, known as Abra Huillquijasa (4200 meters/ 13776 feet), which is about 4 hours from the village of Cuncuni. Hiking down, you will see another nice lagoon. We have lunch beside this lake before continuing to the village of Quishuarani (3700 meters/ 12136 feet).
We continue climbing, surrounded towering mountains. The trail climbs steeply for about 3 hours to the second pass, Pachakutec (4460 meters/ 14628 feet), from where you can appreciate views of the snow-capped peaks of Pitusiray (5750 meters/ 18860 feet) and Chicon (5500 meters/18040 feet). Then we begin the descent, passing by two brilliant glacial lakes, Yuraqqocha and Suirococha, where you will see several bird species, such as Andean Ibis and Andean geese. From the lakes, the path continues down for an hour to Cancha Cancha, which has stone houses with thatched roofs (3800 meters/ 12464 feet).
We continue descending, passing through pretty farmland while following a small river. After walking about 3 hours, we arrive to Huaran, where we will have our lunch. We then take transportation to Ollantaytambo, from where we catch our train to go Machu Picchu Town, where you will receive accommodation in a hotel.
Today is the day to visit the wonder of the Incas, Machu Picchu. The guided tour lasts approximately 2.5 hours, as we explore this fascinating citadel, passing through the narrow streets and witnessing the mysteries that the Incas left us. After the tour, you will have more time to Hike huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain( to hike any of this 2 mountains you need to buy a separate ticket which needs to be booked months in Advance) before the return trip to Cusco.
| N° people | 2 Person | 3 People | 4-5 People | 6-7 people | 8+more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price/Person | $ 1390 | $ 1190 | $ 1090 | $ 999 | $ 910 |
Complete the form to book the tour
When to book a trek: trek permits are not required for this trek. Departure dates depend on availability of the group.
Group size – Minimum: 2 people. Typical group size: 7 – 8 people. Maximum 12 people
