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6 Best Inca Trail Tours

by Tour Leaders Peru | Aug 13, 2026 | Blog Post

Machu Picchu has become the favorite spot for many hikers for trekking and hiking. This article is all about the Best Inca Trail Tours that you can take to reach Machu Picchu. There are 6 Best Inca Trail Tours available for you to choose from. You can choose your trail tour according to your choice of adventure and availability of the Inca trail tour.

Five-Day Private Women-Only Inca Trail Tour to Machu Picchu.

One of the best Inca Trail Tours is the Inca trail tour to Machu Picchu for women only for five days. The difficulty level is moderate and you will have to cover 31.06 miles which are 50 km. The highest elevation is 13800 feet. ​

Pros of choosing the five days private women Inca trail tour

This tour is unique in itself because all the females can get to have their tour. This is tailored by women and it is led by women too. Woman porters lead the whole trail and guide the fellow females to the up top of the Machu Picchu.

In this trail tour, you can experience the opportunity to explore the beautiful Machu Picchu and its national sanctuary 

The four of the five days of this trip are similar to the trips that are taken in the trip of four days. On the women's trip of five days, you can get the chance to get another visit to Machu Picchu twice. One is on the evening of the fourth day to view the beautiful sunset and the other is on the morning of the next day.

Cons

These are not based on the group tour they are operated when someone books it privately.

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Five-Day Inca Trail Tour to Machu Picchu.

Another one of the 6 Best Inca Trail Tours is the Inca trail tour of five days to Machu Picchu. The difficulty level of this Inca Trail Tour is moderate. The distance that you need to cover is 31.06 miles. The highest elevation is 13800 feet.

Pros of choosing this trail

This is one of the Best Inca Trail Tours that you can use to hike Machu Picchu. Through this Inca trail tour, you can explore every site of the Incan site that is located in the Machu Picchu.

Notice

The four days of this five days trip are the same as the other common 4 days trip. You can visit Machu Picchu again on the evening of the fourth day to watch and enjoy the sunset and later you can go back to the summit on the fifth day after the sunrise or for the sunrise. The sunsets and sunrises are beautiful from Machu Picchu.

Classic Four Day Inca Trail to the Machu Picchu

This is the most famous and the most common trip. The Difficulty level is Moderate of the Inca trail trip you will have to cover a distance of 21.18 miles. The highest elevation is 13800 feet.

Pros

This trip is best for those who do not have time for a trip and would like a shorter trip. You can also encounter the sunrise of the Machu Picchu on the fourth day from the Sun gate.

Cons

As this trip is the most in the demand, that is why you can encounter more people coming for this trip. So it can get crowded. 954% of the tourists take the four days trip to Machu Picchu.

The Six-day Salkantay trek + Classic 4-day Inca Trail

The Difficulty level of this Inca trail route is high and hence strenuous. You will have to cover a distance of 27.5 miles and the highest elevation is up to 16125 feet. This Inca trail trek is only recommended for those who are experts in hiking and have athletic health.

Pros

You can have the second tour of the whole Machu Picchu through this Inca trail trip of 10 days. You will get to see many beautiful viewpoints by choosing this trek.

Cons

The trek gets longer and requires good health because the hike through this route is difficult.

The Two day Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu

The Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu for two days has an easy to moderate level of difficulty. The trekkers have to cover a distance of 3.81 miles per 9.35 km. The highest elevation is 8787 feet. This is one of the shorter Inca trail tours that is offered to people who do not have much expertise in hiking and do not fancy the longest ones.

Pros

It is an easy hike, one an experience, and short for those who do not have much time. You can enjoy the sunset on the first day and then encounter the sunrise on the second day.

Cons

You will miss out on so many of the beautiful sites and miss on them as the trip is really short.

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Classic Salkantay trek via Llactapata to climb the Machu Picchu

This is a difficult route that you can choose for your hike. The tourists can cover the distance of 46 miles per 74 km through this Inca trail trek. You will experience a lot of beautiful views. As the difficulty level increases so do the chances of encountering beautiful views and landscapes of the Machu Picchu. You can go to Machu Picchu hot springs and enjoy other diversions of landscapes. This trek is also one of the most common and people love booking their spots for this trek that is why this Inca trail trek is crowded as well.

Last thoughts

Does not matter which trek you choose for yourself to climb the Machu Picchu, it is going to be a lifetime of an experience. You will enjoy every view that you come across and add it to your experience list. However, make sure that you follow every precaution and tip so that you are well prepared for the hike because Machu Picchu is a beautiful hike but it is said to be one of the difficult ones.

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Current Inca Trail Availability

Availability changes as government permit slots fill, so treat this as a general planning guide and confirm your exact date when you inquire. For the full picture on how the permit system itself works (the daily cap, permit cost, and the February closure), see our Inca Trail Permits guide.

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