Day 1: Aguas Calientes to Yanama :

Now you have ticked Machu Picchu off the bucket list, it is time to experience, first-hand, another of the Incas’ greatest engineering feats. After a short train ride down the Urubamba River Valley, you will venture well off the beaten path on a 4-hour land transfer to the town of Yanama (3569 m.a.s.l. / 11709 feet); a remote outpost of about 60 families. This will be your camp for tonight, and your first taste of Vilcabamba: The Last Refuge of the Incas. Enjoy the afternoon getting accustomed to camp life, and the evening marveling at the symphony of stars out here on the perimeter.

Day 2: Yanama to Quelcamachay :

Wake early for a hot and hearty breakfast, followed closely by your first experience of the Great Inca Trail. The trail from the Yanama River ascends 3,000 feet up the Choquetecarpo Valley, transporting you into an Andean wonderland. Once you rise above 11,000 feet, you’ll walk on pristine Inca Road, passing Inca tambos (way stations) and water temples (one, called Unusaminchana, features canals and a two-sided bath beneath a natural spring) along the way. After walking for most of the day, you will arrive at your camp for the night: a place called Qelqamachay (3907 m.a.s.l./12818 feet) that is surrounded by native Quenua forest, which creeps up into the seams of the cliffs. Be sure to get some rest, because tomorrow you will be summitting the 15,000-feet Choquetecarpo Pass.

Day 3: Quelcamachay to Huancacalle :

Make sure you have a good breakfast: today’s 5-hour hike traverses some of most spectacular Inca road (not to mention rugged terrain) on the planet. From the outset, you will hike on Inca steps towards the snowy 15,000-feet pass, the curves of the Inca Road softening the intensity of the ascent. After walking up and down the Choquetecarpo Pass on thousands of Inca steps that cover more than 2,000 feet of elevation on each side, you will make your way to Huancacalle – a 500-person town that is your camp for the night – right below the Inca citadel of Vitcos. This is the end of your time on the Great Inca Trail…and the beginning of an archeological adventure that very few human beings ever get to experience.

Day 4: Huancacalle -Vitcos & Return to Cuzco :

Passing between the massive polished stones, which mark the site’s most important entryways, you will visit Vitcos (3003 m.a.s.l. / 9852 feet), the center of the exiled neo-Inca state in Vilcabamba and a place very few outsiders ever visit. On a guided tour of the city, which served as the Inca capital for seven years from 1537 onwards, you will explore the important religious temple of Yuraq Rumi, a massive carved rock from which a spring emanates, not to mention a series of Inca terraces and a main plaza, which looks down upon the breathtaking Vilcabamba River. After your tour of Vitcos, you will embark on the drive back to Cuzco, where a proper bed and a hot shower await.