ottawagirl

A friend and I will be travelling to Peru in July. We were hoping to do the 4 day trek to Machu Picchu, however we are finding ourselves tight for time and are looking into alternate trek options. We are considering the 2 day Inca trail option (really a one day hike) or the 3 day Huchuy Qosqo trek (and visiting MP on the 3rd day). I'd appreciate any thoughts on which trek would be more worthwhile - I've read that even the short Inca Trail version has more spectacular views, and it would be nice to hike up to MP, but the pictures I've seen of the HQ trek look beautiful as well, and it seems to be less packed with tourists than the Inca trail would be.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

colduphere

I don't know but I love your name.

ottawagirl

Thanks colduphere, you're a fellow Ottawan is that right? I read your trip report for the 4-day trek and thoroughly enjoyed it!

colduphere

Hello Ottawagirl - yes from the west end. As far as I can tell there are five posters from Ottawa but there could be many more than that. I wish I could help you with your question. The whole area is so beautiful I would be tempted to take the longer hike. But whatever you do I hope it goes well.

ottawagirl

Thanks for your thoughts - I'm in the west end as well. And we are now leaning back towards doing the four day trek! We are a little nervous about the altitude/scary sections of the trail, but it sounds like many people have those reservations and end up overcoming their fears and having an amazing time. Our flights are now booked so we're just waiting for confirmation of the tour availability!

colduphere

Great news! Hopefully you can spend 2 -3 days in Cuzco before the hike. I am sure your guides will help you through any tough spots. We had pretty good weather. But our guide kept saying come back in June. So hopefully July will be ideal.

We found Carlington ski hill and Mooney's Bay great places to hike up as training. But perhaps you are already in good hiking shape.

ottawagirl

With our preferred itinerary we'd spend 2.5 days in Cuzco before the hike. Thanks for the tips for training areas - we're both in decent shape but I think some hill/stair training will be required!

So was the overall consensus from your group that the trek was at times terrifying and exhausting, but you would do it again?

colduphere

Of the nine of us, six would say none of it was terrifying at all, three would say parts of it were a little nerve-wracking but not really dangerous. If I were to do it again I would not be concerned with the drop-offs, except here and there on day three. The same group did Norway and Iceland this past summer. Parts of that were terrifying for the same three of us who were nervous in Peru.

The adults would all say it was tiring, but only the 59 year old who had not done much training would say it was exhausting. Even my wife would not say it was exhausting as she went very slowly. All of us would go again in a second except for the guy who did not want to do it in the first place.

He is now an ex-husband.