Private or Group Incal Trail Hike?
 

Hi all,

My husband and I are thinking about going to Machu Piccu in late August. We are going to do the 4N/3D Inca Trail hike with llama Path. The one decision that we have to make is should we go with private hike with just the 2 of us? Or should we go with group hike with potentially 10+ people that we do not know?

Of course, private hike will be more expensive, but I am more concerned about the overall experience.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Only GROUPS are permitted for the Classic Inka Trail

http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/...ilability.html

www.perutreks.com #1

www.amazingperu.com upscale luxury treks

www.mountainlodgesofperu.com an alternative for lodge trek...

Qwovadis, thank you but I am not looking for tour company recommendation.

I am looking for tour options suggestions -- go with a big group with people that we don't know or go with a tour, pay more and only have the two of us on the tour (besides the guide, porter, etc).

Thanks.

Hi:
Husband and I are going in May, and had the same choice. We decided we'd rather be with a group - makes things more lively. Many of these people are from very different places than ourselves and seen a fair bit of the world, so it makes for interesting conversation. True, we've run into a few boors on group tours as well, but most people are great.

I'm traveling to Peru in a group of 7 people in late August. We booked a private hike on the Inca Trail with Andina Travel. We chose private service so we could select different campsites than what Andina Travel normally offers. And with a smaller group, hopefully there will be less waiting around.

Two people sounds a little lonely though. Especially if only the guide speaks English. I bought a Quechua phrasebook so we can try to talk to the porters.

This is a hard question to answer, because tt's such an individual thing, and it's dependent of the people you'll be grouped with. I guess ultimately you have to decide how comfortable you are trekking with people you've never met before and how willing will you be to interact with others. When I did the trek last year, I saw two situations where there were just one paying customer, a guide and a porter.

I did the trek with 15 total strangers and did not regret it; Believe me I'm not the most outgoing person at all, but overall I had a great time and experience. At least with my experience, everyone in the group was very nice. Sure sometimes maybe one person was complaining too much, and during meal time there were some that wasn't shy about getting extra helping of food from the other end of the table :), but that's just the dynamic of people coming from different background and different personalities. You just roll with it, and you'll get to learn about other people beside yourself.

I will say one thing about the group experience, I was the slowest person on the 1st and particulary 2nd day of the trek. I did feel bad keeping the rest of the group waiting, and I didn't really have any time to enjoy the breaks at various break points, because usually once I reached it, it'll be like "Ok, time to get to the next break poing". So in that way I would've have loved to be able to hike at my own pace, enjoy the scenary and not worry about keeping up with the others. Of course, no one in my group made me feel like I hindered their progress to make camp.

We decided on the Lares Trek rather than MP - here is and account of our trip:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...4700/tpod.html

We thought long and hard about a group v private trek and, having been on a few group treks (some good, some bad)in various places around the world we decided on the private option and were very glad we did. The experience was probably the most enjoyable and memorable of our 18 months of travelling the world and this was largely due to Miguel our guide and his employees. During the Lares trek we rarely saw another tourist (I think may 3 in 3 days) although this would obviously not be the case on the MP trek. We went at our own pace which is IMHO essential to the enjoyment of the experience and were introduced to various families and people we met along the way and were able to stop and chat as well as getting to know the guide and porters and learn more about there lives etc. which is not always possible with a group of say 10.

My wife wrote this background profile on Miguel:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...7260/tpod.html

Miguels can be contacted at the SA Explorers Club in Cusco or:
Telephone:
(51 84) 984792227//084-245484
Email:
[email protected] - [email protected]

Have fun whichever option you choose. Peru is and amzing country.

this is really a personal decision. I heard good stories about both options. i did the inca trail in a private group, just my friend and me and had a wonderfull experience

Thank you all for your feedback. This is indeed a hard decision in the sense that it will be such a special experience and I want to make sure we can 'maximize' the great experience. However, a bad group could ruin the experience but a private group can make the experience too 'lonely'. =)

At this moment, we are leaning towards group..... and should be signing up in the next few days. =) Thanks for the help!

All signed up now! It's a go! We ended up with the group. Let's see how it goes. =)thanks for all the help!

Who did you end up going with?

I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience. Pack as light as possible and have a hand-free flashlight. Have fun!

Our family (3 children ages 9, 12 14) did a group trek with LlamaPath in June of '08. There were 4 others in addition to our family. It was nice having others to chat with over dinner and discuss the day's experiences. At the same time, it was easy to just be together as a family as everyone tended to hike at their own pace. We were spread out during the hike and reconvened at various meeting points along the path during the day.

thank you everyone. Sorry it took a while to come back to the thread.

We finally decided to go with llama Path's group tour.

Will be heading off in end of August, definitely looking foward to it. THANKS EVEYRONE!

Have a great time !!!

Just returned from the trip and it was AMAZING! We were glad we did the group option as it was nice to chat with other folks during meal time or just on the trail. We still get our 'private time' when we are in the tent. So it all worked out well.

We were also lucky in that our group ended up to only have 4 people total and that was a very nice number. All 4 of us were pretty compatible when it comes to age and fitness so that was nice too.

Llama Path was also simply amazing. I will try to write up a trip report soon... but I can say we are absolutely in love with Peru right now and Llama Path's help in allowing us to have a very smooth trip has a lot to do with it.

thanks again everyone for your help!

Haven't done the Inca Trail but have done similar treks all over the world on a group basis, guided individual basis and a " go it alone basis. All have their advantages and disadvantages, people being obviously the key issue. On balance I much prefer the guided individual trek. If you get into a good group then a group trek can be fun but you have no way of knowing in advance whether you will get on with those people or not. If you are in a small group with people you don't gel with then you probably wont enjoy it so much.

The best trek we have ever done was undoubtedly from Lares to Ollantaymbo with Miguel Jovens who is based in the South America Explores club in Cusco. For details of that trek see our blog:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...4700/tpod.html
The next entry give more info on Miguel and how he came to be a guide