We recently hiked the 4-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and had an amazing experience! We booked our trekking permits with our trekking company, Alpaca Expeditions, in January. Then for the next six months we tried to read as much as we could about how hard it was and what to expect. Here are things we wish we knew about hiking to Machu Picchu before we started.
After booking our tickets, we spent a lot of time researching how hard each day of the trek was, how we should train and what to expect. But the difficulty level of each day is hard to understand as its so subjective. Not to mention there was a lot of information about some aspects of the trek but other parts were hard to find. These are things we wish we knew before starting our trek that would have helped us along the way!
1. Bring Clothes In Case it Rains
Hiking Machu Picchu in July technically is the dry season, however, thats really a relative term. Once you get in the cloud forest anything is possible. We had beautiful weather for day 1 of the Inca Trail and spent most of the day hiking without jackets. Day 2 of the Inca Trail we got lucky to have a clear morning to hike up to Dead Woman’s Pass but the day ended with rain and hail. We had rain jackets, ponchos and backpack covers, however, hiking for hours in the rain (and subsequent hail) meant by the end of the day we were soaked.
Once we got back to our campsite the hardest part was figuring out how to not make our whole tent wet even though we were drenched. It continued to rain all night which meant we couldn’t hang things outside to dry either. So we laid our microfiber towels down on either side of our sleeping bags and let everything lay to dry. In reality it was far too cold that night for anything to dry so we woke up to still damp clothes.
That night we wished we had warmer dry clothes with us to put on. The night of day 1 I slept in leggings, a short sleeve shirt, my fleece and my winter jacket. However, the night of day 2 my leggings, fleece and winter jacket were all wet. So I struggled with having dry, warm clothes to put on and nobody wants to stay in wet clothes longer than you have to. You most likely will having plenty of room in your duffel bag so throw in an extra long sleeve shirt and pants to put on at night in case everything else is wet!
2. Bring Waterproof Gloves and Waterproof Pants
This might be redundant from #1 above but the two things we really wish we both had were waterproof gloves and waterproof pants. We have thick, good quality gloves but they are not waterproof. We made the mistake of wearing them on day 2 while it was pouring rain. So we got back and they were completely soaked. Three days later when we were back in Cusco they were still a little damp. Which meant we had no gloves to wear for all of day 3 of the Inca Trail. Then the morning of day 4 we sat outside from 2:00-5:30 AM waiting for the checkpoint to open and still couldn’t wear our gloves.
The other thing that’s really helpful is waterproof pants. Again if you get nice weather throughout you won’t need them but you never know. I bought a pair that felt like a trash bag for 25 Soles (7.50 USD) at Rosly’s in Cusco. They worked and I was so glad that I bought them when it was pouring rain. Dave had a pair of water resistant pants that he was wearing and while they worked for a little, they definitely were not completely waterproof.
3. Acclimatizing in Cusco is not a joke
The recommendation for acclimatizing in Cusco prior to starting the hike is at least 2-3 days. That will give your body time to adjust to the high altitude and get rid of any symptoms you might have when first arriving. We spent 5 days in Cusco before we started the Inca Trail. The first day and a half I had a headache but combatted it by drinking plenty of water. We also did a day hike to Lake Humantay during that time which was actually higher in elevation than Cusco. This gave us another chance to practice hiking in high altitudes.
Other people in our group had only spent 1 or 2 days in Cusco and were having a noticeably harder time with the altitude. Obviously it depends on your body and your reaction as well as how much time you’ve spent at altitude. For us, we had spent no time that high and were coming from sea level so we wanted plenty of time just in case.
Read More: Travel Guide to Cusco, Peru
Our recommendation would be to not skimp on your acclimatizing time in Cusco! It will absolutely help you throughout the hike especially on day 2 when you’re hiking up to the highest pass.
4. Baby Wipes are the Best Shower You’ll Get
One of the best things we brought with us on the trek was a pack of baby wipes. At the end of each day we took off our hiking clothes and had a “wipe” shower before putting on clean clothes for the night. It was the closest thing you will get to a shower along the trek and it definitely did the job! We bought ours from Walmart in the States but any type will do. Honestly neither of us felt gross even on the last day after not showering for over 4 days because we were able to clean off. Having a clean (or mostly clean) pair of clothes to change into at night also helped.
5. You Don’t Need Many Snacks
We brought Cliff Bars, dried mango, Nature Valley Bars, Snickers and more as snacks for our hike to Machu Picchu. A lot of it we brought with us from home which meant we carried it in our bags for a week before starting the hike. We had our ceremonial Snickers as a big pat on the back after finishing day 2. However, we ate maybe 2 or 3 of the other snacks we brought. We had big breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Then each morning we were offered two different snacks to take with us for the day. They included oranges, bananas, Oreo cookies, Chips Ahoy Cookies and granola bars. We weren’t expecting to be given snacks from our trekking company.
While we would always like to have more snacks than too few, we definitely didn’t need to bring as many as we did. It took up space (and weight) in our backpacks even though we barely touched them. So pack a few snacks, maybe familiar things you will want just in case you have trouble with lunch or dinner, but other than that you will have plenty of food!
