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Every year, many people from all around the world are coming to Peru to fulfill their dream to see the famous Inca’s lost city, Machu Picchu<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, an amazingly picturesque citadel with lush green hills in the background and white clouds. Because Machu Picchu<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is so exceptional, many travelers, very often without a single hiking experience set off every year to reach the Lost City on foot.<\/p>\n There are many treks to Machu Picchu, which will help you to reach your dream destination, but two of them stand out in particular: the classic Inca Trail<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>and the beautiful alternative, the Salkantay Trek<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. Fortunately, we can bring you a genuine comparison so you can make a decision which hike will suit you the best.<\/p>\n If you want to hike to Machu Picchu<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>but looking for the shortest way to get there, then the Inca trail<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is the best option. Inca Trail<\/a><\/strong><\/em> have 42 kilometers from the starting point to Machu Picchu. Salkantay trek<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>have 74 kilometera to cover, This trail is two times morer large than Salkantay trek.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Lots of points of interests in Peru<\/a><\/strong><\/em> lies at the high altitude and both the Inca Trail<\/a><\/em><\/strong> and the Salkantay Trek<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, are no exceptions. Here we would point out that in terms of the altitude, the Salkantay Trek<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is more difficult. We know, from our experience, that some people can tolerate hiking in the altitude better than others but even in the case you don’t have any previous experience, do not despair as dealing with the altitude has nothing to do with physical ability or how your body reacted to height previously.<\/p>\n The highest point you will reach on the Salkantay Trek<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is 4650 meters above sea level while the highest point on the Inca Trail<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>lies at 4215 meters. What we found the hardest was the sleeping at the altitude than hiking in it, especially on the Salkantay Trek<\/a><\/em><\/strong> as we spent the first night and the second night pretty high (about 3800 meters both nights) and the combination of the elevation and tiredness prepared pretty rough times for some people in our group.<\/p>\n Overall, as per our experience, hiking the Salkantay Trek<\/a><\/strong><\/em> felt a little bit more difficult than the Inca Trail.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n It is not only the distance and the altitude but also the fact that until you reach Machu Picchu<\/a><\/strong><\/em> you will hike from the harsh, cold and windy mountainous environment to lush, green, warm and humid cloud forest (with many mosquitos) and those changes were pretty hard to deal with. Both hikes require a moderate level of fitness to finish it. We would rate the Inca Trail<\/a><\/strong><\/em> as a moderate hike while the Salkantay Trek<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>is a more strenuous trek going through rougher mountainous terrain.<\/p>\n Availability of those two treks makes an enormous difference between them.<\/p>\n While the Salkantay Trek<\/a><\/strong><\/em> can be reserved anytime, sometimes even a couple of days before the hike, the Inca Trail<\/a><\/strong><\/em> belongs among one of the world’s most famous treks and must be reserved several months in advance (it is best to secure your spot at least six months in advance as permits run out quickly). But as we hiked both treks, we cannot agree with this statement as the Salkantay Trek<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>doesn’t have a shortage of natural beauty in comparison with the Inca Trail<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, rather on the contrary.<\/p>\n Choose what is the best trek for you. You can reserve these tours here like Inca Trail<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>and Salkantay Trek.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every year, many people from all around the world are coming to Peru to fulfill their dream to see the famous Inca’s lost city, Machu Picchu, an amazingly picturesque citadel with lush green hills in the background and white clouds. Because Machu Picchu is so exceptional, many travelers, very often without a single hiking experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inka-trail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645,"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions\/645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intisuntrek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Hiking distances<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Altitude<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Difficulty<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Availability<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nBecause the Inca Trail<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>has the aura of a trek which is hard to get on, the Salkantay Trek<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is sometimes seen as an alternative for those who were not able to make the reservation for the Inca Trail.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n