Salkantay Lodge to Lodge Trek
May 23rd, 2008 | 11:46 AM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
Salkantay Lodge to Lodge Trek
Hi there!
My husband and I are looking into doing the Salkantay (or Salcantay) lodge based trek to MP this fall. I read about it originally in National Geo's Adventure magazine - the article was quite complementary of the trek and had such exquisite photos that I hooked. We had been looking for a challenging but rewarding "pre-baby" trip, and the trek combined with Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley seems to fit the bill well.
I have researched several options as far as tour companies go, and as always there is some difference in packaging. Mountain Lodges of Peru, which owns the lodges the trekkers use, offers the trek/MP portion of the trip for the best price. Most of the tour operators, like Sobek, Wilderness Travel, etc., have additional days in the Valley and Cusco and, of course, also have a higher price tag. As fairly experienced travelers, we would be okay with setting up our sightseeing in those areas on our own...
My questions to the community are these:
Do any of you have personal experience with the Salkantay route? With the lodge based trek? With Mountain Lodges of Peru?
Also, I noticed a post by "GoSouthGoNorth" with this quote:
" If you couldn’t book in time the Inca trail hike and you have heard and read a bunch of negative things about the Salkantay tour then take the Vilcabamba-Machupicchu Tour. It is simply amazing!!! Wow!!"
I find nothing on these boards that is negative regarding the Salkantay, so I would love to know this person's experience...
Thanks so much!
My husband and I are looking into doing the Salkantay (or Salcantay) lodge based trek to MP this fall. I read about it originally in National Geo's Adventure magazine - the article was quite complementary of the trek and had such exquisite photos that I hooked. We had been looking for a challenging but rewarding "pre-baby" trip, and the trek combined with Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley seems to fit the bill well.
I have researched several options as far as tour companies go, and as always there is some difference in packaging. Mountain Lodges of Peru, which owns the lodges the trekkers use, offers the trek/MP portion of the trip for the best price. Most of the tour operators, like Sobek, Wilderness Travel, etc., have additional days in the Valley and Cusco and, of course, also have a higher price tag. As fairly experienced travelers, we would be okay with setting up our sightseeing in those areas on our own...
My questions to the community are these:
Do any of you have personal experience with the Salkantay route? With the lodge based trek? With Mountain Lodges of Peru?
Also, I noticed a post by "GoSouthGoNorth" with this quote:
" If you couldn’t book in time the Inca trail hike and you have heard and read a bunch of negative things about the Salkantay tour then take the Vilcabamba-Machupicchu Tour. It is simply amazing!!! Wow!!"
I find nothing on these boards that is negative regarding the Salkantay, so I would love to know this person's experience...
Thanks so much!
May 29th, 2008 | 04:36 PM
#2
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,522
Likes: 0
You may be interested in this weekend's article on Salkantay in the SF papers:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...TRAJ10IDI6.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...TRAJ10IDI6.DTL
Oct 2nd, 2008 | 04:52 PM
#3
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 103
Likes: 0
Resurrecting this trek to see if anyone has gone. The one I'm looking at is by Mountain Lodges of Peru. I'm plotting out a big trip for next July for my 40th bday. My husband and I aren't really that fit, but if we have this on our schedule, we will definitely train!
Oct 3rd, 2008 | 04:13 AM
#4
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 6,267
Likes: 0
Check out the Thorntree forum (www.lonelyplanet.com, then click on thorntree forum). Click then on South American and then Peru. There are many people on the Peru board there who do the alternate hikes aside from the Inca Trail, including Salkantay.
Oct 3rd, 2008 | 05:04 AM
#5
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 9,773
Likes: 0
Here is a link to my Lares trip report http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35157834
There is also a link in there to our blog c/w photo. Miguel Joves comes highly recommended and I know he does the Salkantaytrek, the experience for us was much much nicer than other, bigger operators we have used around the world.
There is also a link in there to our blog c/w photo. Miguel Joves comes highly recommended and I know he does the Salkantaytrek, the experience for us was much much nicer than other, bigger operators we have used around the world.
