Best Time to Hike The Inca Trail Peru to Machu Picchu. the Classic Inca Trail 4D/3N is one of the most beautiful and picturesque places to visit on Earth. This is also one of the most visited UNESCO sites which are attracting millions of visitors all around the year. As this UNESCO Inca site is popular for various good reasons, therefore, you might find it pretty crowded all the time.

The best trail to trek to reach Machu Picchu is Inca Trail. Every day hundreds of people are trekking the Inca Trail. However, one of the best things about this trail is that tourism on Inca Trail is closely monitored. Even more, the number of visitors to this trail is also restricted for a single day. This restriction is meant to preserve this beautiful archeological wonder.

Due to all of these reasons, choosing the best time to visit Inca trail is highly important. It is because multiple factors including crowd, weather and more can impact the experience of your Inca Trail. Even more, these factors can also impact the difficulty level of hiking this trail.

A complete guide on what is the best time to visit Inca Trail

Well, whenever it comes to know the best time to visit Inca Trail, then you must understand that you can enjoy Inca Trail tours to hike the trail in any month, technically. However, there are some months, which have more rain as compared to others, as well as more bugs as compared to other months. Therefore, you must know about the best time to visit Inca Trail before booking your Inca Trail tours.

So, here we have brought s detailed guide on the best time to visit the Inca trail along with the Inca trail weather by month updates as well. It is because this entire information will help you to plan the best Inca Trail tours with ease.

So, here we go with our guide:

When to visit the Inca Trail to enjoy the best experience here?

Overall, the dry season that consists of April to October can offer you amazing trekking conditions. During summers, days at the Inca Trail are warm, sunny, with the clear sky. Even more, there is no fog and rain to interrupt your trekking on the Inca Trail. Due to all these reasons dry season is considered as the best time to visit the Inca Trail.

However, if you are interested to know about the conditions during other months as well. Then you must proceed to the information we have given below in this regard.

Table of The Inca trail weather by months

Here we have a table of Inca trail weather by month to let you understand weather conditions here throughout the year more effectively.

Month	Rain in mm	Min Temp	Max Temp
January	138	13	24
February	121	13	25
March	151	13	25
April	62	12	25
May	23	11	25
June	17	9	25
July	22	9	25
August	24	10	25
September	44	11	26
October	75	11	25
November	86	12	26
December	121	13	26

Inca Trail Weather by month and Conditions Throughout The Year

Well, here we have brought a month-by-month list of the things that used to happen on the Inca Trail. You must read and understand the list in a proper way to avoid any rushing decision. So, you will be able to make the most out of your Inca Trail tour with ease.

1. February’s end is known to be the wettest month of the year in the Andes. Several national parks including Inca Trail in Peru used to close in this duration. The basic reason behind closing this trail and other locations throughout the February month is essential maintenance. However, Machu Picchu remains open even during this period.
2. So, the Inca Trail reopens in March but the highlands throughout the early April are still rainy.
3. While, May and October are considered as the best months to visit Inca Trail. Well, there are various reasons behind this. These two months are warmer and dry as compared to June, July and August. Even more, the permits to visit the Inca Trail sells lesser during these months. It means you will be able to enjoy touristy here on its peak in the best possible way.
4. In the end of the month June the Inti Raymi also known as The Festival of the Sun takes place here. During this period, you will get huge crowd of locals in the cities including Cuzco. The cities during June are always busier as local crowds prefer to head to the Machu Picchu during this period.
5. Besides this, the National Holiday of Peru that’s happen in the end of July is also known to be the peak time for the locals of Peru to visit the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu via train as well.
6. However, the dry conditions of weather throughout the August and September are making the hike to Inca Trail popular among the holiday makers. These are the busiest months as visitors from all around the world prefer to enjoy Inca Trail tours during this time.
7. While, in the month of November, the rainy season will start up again in solemn. However, this month still can let you get some solid conditions for trekking the Inca Trail. In this duration you will find nothing like the huge crowd of summers. Even more, for trekking the Inca Trail during this time will not need to secure your Inca Trail hiking pass long before your visit.
8. Even though December in the Peru is wet. Still, it attracts the crowd over the vacations with flight and accommodation prices rising, despite the wet weather.
9. However, the things on the Inca Trail start to ease off by the month of January. January here is wet but this month is more often without any crowd here.

Some Other Recommendations to Consider:

Here we have some other expert recommendations for you regarding when you should visit the Inca Trail. Make sure to consider these to enjoy the best experience here with ease.

So, here we go:

1. According to Elena Larkin, the best time to visit Inca Trail and see the glorious mountains is mid-April. As it is just after the rainy season here due to which everything around looks lavishly green and beautiful. However, the time to avoid visiting the Inca trail is during August and July. It is because the places during this time are more often filled with both locals and tourists.
2. According to Tom Brown, August and July are very cold in the Andes, as it is winter. People usually think that Peru is warmer by being near the equator. However, once you are going to be at the height of up to 3000 meters, it would be pretty cold there. So, visiting Inca Trail during these months is just not suitable for everyone.
3. While, as per Simon Forster Inca Trail is the most popular to get to Machu Picchu. However, if you are visiting this during the months when getting passes is difficult then don’t lose heart. It is because there are various other amazing trails as well to explore and reach to Machu Picchu.

Things to Keep in Mind While Planning Your Inca Trail tours

When you are planning the Inca Trail tours, then you must remember the fact that the descend of some hundred meters only on the Inca has the potential to take you to the lush and wonderful mountain forest or out of the plains of wind-blasted with ease.

Therefore, whether you are trekking this trail in the dry season or rainy season, you always need to pack some good, comfortable and waterproof footwear and clothes with you. Even more, keeping clothing items that can let you maintain cool and warm layers, a fleece and sunscreen are also critical to keep with you on the trail.

In short, the Andes can surprise you any time.

However, to make the most out of your visit here, you must know what to pack for your Inca Trail tours. Some of the most important things that you must keep with you include comfortable footwear, layered clothing style, sunscreen, water bottle, waterproof backpack, a portable flash light, some snacks and more. All of these items will definitely help you to enjoy the best of your Inca Trail tour in a more effective way.

Conclusion

The wet season here used to fall between November and March. Visiting Inca trail during these months means you will really get drenched by the weather here. Therefore, these months are never the best ones to visit Inca Trail. However, during the months of winters, the temperature on the trail may drop to the freezing at night. While, the day time here during these months can be sunny gloriously. Surprisingly, you will not encounter much fog and cloud during these months. So, you can visit the Inca Trail during winters easily because the weather will not obstruct you to enjoy the views of some of the most Magnificent and the most glorious sights on the planet.

Overall, summer months are the best time to visit Inca Trail.