The Iconic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

FOR TOUR SAFETY PLEASE DONT SKIP A trek from hell that ended at tourism police office. We paid over $500 per person for a 5-day Salkantay Trek with Inka Trail Expeditions. Day 1 was great: our group was small and our guide Yohan was good. From Day 2 onwards, however, there were repeated and serious failures in safety, organisation and communication. The company states that Salkantay groups are limited to 12 travellers so guides can properly attend to individual needs. Our group was combined with another, creating 15 trekkers with one guide. Which is out of ratios set by the governing bodies On Day 2, several people fell significantly behind. Our guide repeatedly had to return to assist them, leaving us waiting at high altitude in freezing conditions. Eventually, my part of the group was sent ahead without a guide. With vague directions over 3 hours behind schedule (as we had to keep stopping to wait repeatedly) after a cold gross lunch and NO WATER We then spent around three hours descending in heavy rain, hail and thunderstorms. ALONE. we were so behind schedule, it was pitch black on a narrow, muddy trail with one side the mountain the other a sheer drop. Only three people had head torches, so we used our phones to provide light for other members of the group, putting ourselves at risk to get the group down the mountain. We had no guide, no route supervision and no access to the first-aid equipment or oxygen carried by our guide. We were genuinely frightened for our safety. People have died falling off the cliff edge of the path we were navigating in the dark. Alone. Day 3: our guide left around midday and we were promised a replacement. Nobody arrived. We repeatedly contacted the company and were repeatedly told someone was “two minutes away”. The hotel manager ultimately provided more assistance than the tour operator. Day 4: we still had no Inka Trail Expeditions guide. The hotel manager arranged for another company’s guide to take responsibility for us so we could continue towards Machu Picchu. After approximately 22km of hiking, we did not even know which hotel we were supposed to be staying at. A replacement guide, Jesus, eventually appeared that evening. Day 5: Jesus started our Machu Picchu tour but left halfway through. After returning to Cusco, we went to the company office to make a formal complaint. We were laughed at, passed between staff and given conflicting information about who was responsible. We were also told that we had signed a waiver which, according to staff, essentially meant that if “we had fallen off the cliff”, it was “not their responsibility” Whatever the legal interpretation, this was an unacceptable response to genuine safety concerns and their negligence. After paying over $500 each, the compensation offered was $50 per person, after we declined their offer to “buy us lunch”. We have reported our concerns to the Tourism Police and INDECOPI and believe their safety and operating practices warrant investigation. The Salkantay Trek itself is spectacular. “Inka Trail Expeditions” was the problem. We expected competent guides, appropriate supervision, reliable communication and basic responsibility for our safety. We did not receive those things. If you value your life and want to avoid trauma… Avoid this “company” at all costs

Do not book with Inca Trails Expeditions!! Our experience on the 3-day Salkantay trek involved serious safety concerns, broken promises, and poor organization. Everything started off well, which made what happened afterward even more disappointing. By the end of the trip, we genuinely could not recommend this company to anyone considering the Salkantay trek. The biggest issue was safety. For a significant portion of the hike, we did not have a guide with us at all. At one point, we were hiking in pitch-black darkness after our guide had left us, without knowing exactly where to go or when we were supposed to continue. The trail was extremely muddy and ran alongside steep drop-offs in places. It would have been very easy to slip and seriously injure ourselves. Being left without a guide under those conditions was completely unacceptable. There were problems once we reached camp as well. We were expecting water to be available, but after arriving we were told that water would not be ready until the following morning, despite what had been communicated to us beforehand. After a long day of hiking at altitude, basic necessities like drinking water should not be something guests have to worry about. The problems continued with the Machu Picchu portion of the trip. The company booked the wrong Machu Picchu circuit for us. We did not discover this until the night before our visit, at which point we were essentially told there was nothing they could do. Machu Picchu was one of the main reasons we booked this trip, and discovering at the last minute that the company had booked the wrong circuit was incredibly frustrating and should never have happened. There were smaller issues that added to the overall lack of professionalism as well. At one of our dinners, we ended up paying for our guides’ drinks, something that should obviously not have been our responsibility. The most concerning part is that these weren’t simply minor inconveniences. Being left alone on a muddy mountain trail in complete darkness without a guide is a legitimate safety issue. Combine that with no promised oxygen, problems getting water, the wrong Machu Picchu circuit, and the general lack of organization, and this was nowhere near the experience we were sold. Salkantay is a demanding, high-altitude trek where you are relying on the company you hire to keep you safe and handle the logistics correctly. Based on our experience, I would strongly recommend choosing another company. There are many operators offering this trek, and I would not take the risk of booking with Inca Trails Expeditions.

I chose this agency for the Salkantay Trek, and I completely regret it. It is way overpriced for the service they offer, especially considering there are much cheaper options with other agencies. Things started off badly right from the briefing when no one else was there. They lied to us, claiming the other members of our group were having their briefing at their own hotel. That was a lie—the next day, we were outsourced to another agency to do the trek, and they never even informed us. Throughout the entire 5 days, it was pure stress. They wouldn't send our Machu Picchu, bus, or train tickets unless we constantly asked for them. They took forever to respond—total disorganization. On the day we were supposed to return to Cusco, we arrived at the train station only to find out our tickets were invalid. The agency had canceled them without letting us know. We had to wait an extra 3 hours at the station for a new train. They do not care about the customer or customer satisfaction at all. Instead of organization, we paid a premium just to experience constant stress. I do not recommend them to anyone. Do not book any treks with this company.

Do not use this company, especially as there are so many other companies available. They failed to provide my included transport at the end of my trek for the 2.5 hour trip back to my hotel, were not contactable during the period until I used a different phone number, declined reimbursement of my own transport, and did not respond to emails for insurance purposes. They also over charge many of the options if you look elsewhere. Embarrassing level of customer service.

We booked a salkantay + short inca trail tour with them. We had a terrible experience as the trip was highly mismanaged. They sent us to different agency for salkantay and after 4 tiring days we had no hotel and they were very poor communicators. We were constantly in argument with them about accommodations, food, water either completely being absent or not what was mentioned in the itinerary, DONT BOOK WITH THEM AS ITS A BIG HEADACHE.