An epic four-day trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is one of those places that most people know and dream to see. It's one of the seven wonders of the world and a natural part of any tourist itinerary in Peru. So when my younger brother Brandon and I were in Peru this summer, we naturally decided to include it on our itinerary as well. But we didn't just go alone, we went with a group of nine other archaeologists and it was so much fun! Tough at times, but mostly just fun and exciting!

The Inca Trail is the most popular route to Machu Picchu, mainly because it's part of a vast network of trails and roads built by the Incan Empire some 500 years ago, and therefore offers many interesting sights along the way that you wouldn't get to see otherwise. Only Machu Picchu can be reached by other methods than walking, but all the other Inca ruins and mountain views cannot.

Day one started extremely early with a pickup from the hotel in Cuzco at 4.30 AM. We drove in a comfortable minivan to the starting point for the trail, stopping for breakfast on the way. The starting point is located by the Urubamba River in the Sacred Valley, at Km82, 82 km from Cuzco, at an altitude of 2600 meters. There, we met our guides Jaime and Walter, who told us about the upcoming four days of trekking while breakfast was being served. We also met the porters, who must be the most hardworking people in Peru. They carry 25 kg each including 7 kg from every hiker and hike the same trail as us, only much faster in order to get to the campsites early to set them up before we arrive. It feels like such a wrong privilege to have and since I didn't want to burden "my" porter further, I decided to carry my seven kilo myself throughout the trip.

The first part of the trek was easy peasy going a little uphill, a little downhill. I was really enjoying myself and secretly praying that it would stay this way for the majority of the hike. But Jaime had already warned us about day two...

Shortly after we started hiking, we came to a viewpoint of the first ruins, the ruins of Canabamba, a small administrative control point from the Inca times!

The easy hiking continued for about 1,5 hours and then we started the first ascent! It went uphill for quite some time and suddenly we found ourselves climbing the ridge of a mountain to get to the next ruin viewpoint. Standing next to us were the ruins of Llactapata, discovered in 1912 by Hiram Bingham, the guy who also discovered Machu Picchu and many other Inca ruins in the area. And beneath us was the magical sight of the Patallacta ruins, one of the more famous Inca ruins along the trail.

A special event was going on that exact day; Denmark was playing against Peru in the World Cup! What a time to be in Peru! We actually thought we wouldn't be able to see it being on the Inca Trail in the middle of nowhere, but it turns out that a local family in a small village had a TV, and they invited all hikers to watch the match with them! We only had time to see the first half, so we missed seeing Denmark win, but despite that it was a fun and unique experience to watch the match with other Danish tourists and local Peruvians.

When the first half of the match had ended, it was time to go downhill. Unfortunately, that didn't last for long and the last few hours of the trek were steep uphill. We stopped to have our lunch in the village of Wayllabamba, halfway on the steep part with a much needed hour-long break. The lunch was beyond all expectations with plenty of vegetarian food!

The last two hours of the trek were by far the toughest on that first day. It went nothing but uphill and it was extremely steep. When we finally arrived at our campsite Ayapata located at 3300 meters above sea level at about 5 PM, the porters were all waiting to greet us and clap at us, hehe! My body was in pain; it had been a tough day, but we all knew that the next day was going to be even more challenging.

Throughout the day, we had the most amazing views of the Andes Mountains while passing through lush green landscapes. Peru really kept surprising me in the most positive way! On that first day, we walked 26.300 steps according to Brandon's app and 14 km according to our guides. After an amazing three-course meal, we went to bed in our tents with the bright stars and the colourful milky way looking down at us.

Day two of the trek was by far the toughest. To this day, I still have nightmares about day two. Our guides had warned us that we would be walking four hours up, two hours down, two hours up and then again two hours down that day. None of us were looking forward to it, especially not the first leg.

We had an early wake up call at 4.40 pm and after a lovely breakfast it was time to hit the trail. Just as we had been told, the first part was extemely tough. It was four hours of literally going up, up and up, and it was steep throughout. Needless to say, we needed a lot of breaks to be able to do it! The day before, Brandon and I had been quite fast and actually got to camp first, but not that day. Our energy level was down to zero, so we were extremely slow getting to the top at 4215 meters above sea level, with the very suitable name Dead Woman's Pass. Okay, nobody actually died there; the name was given to the pass because the mountain resembles the profile of a woman looking up at the sky.

That four hour climb was the toughest hike I'd done since Mount Kinabalu back in 2016! When we finally reached the top and joined those of the others that had gotten there early, we had a nice long break to relax and enjoy the astonishing views.

The next leg was my favourite of the day - downhill! Brandon and I were quite fast and almost flew down the mountain, so we got to the lunch spot in just one hour, half an hour before everyone else. Going downhill is definitely our strength! After a wonderful lunch, it was time for the next leg. This time we were going uphill once again; it seemed inhumane after those four strenuous hours. Thankfully, Brandon and I had gotten quite a lot of energy from the lunch, so we got halfway in just half an hour. At halfway, we stopped by the ruins of Runcu Raccay, an ancient administrative point from the Inca period.

The next part of the climb was very steep and it slowed Brandon and I down a bit. We're not fans of going super steep! But about an hour later, we reached the top of the pass and the end of our uphill struggles on this trip. Despite our legs being extremely tired, we still decided to join some of the others on a small climb to a peak, where we could see some amazing views of the Vilcabamba mountain range.

The last leg was downhill and Brandon and I flew down again! We stopped halfway to wait for the others, and then we all climbed to the impressive ruins of Sayacmarka, which used to be an Inca village and a sacred area. Jaime had great knowledge of all the ruins on the trek, which he gladly shared with us.

From the ruins, there was only one last 20 minute leg to get to the campsite Chaquicocha at 3600 meters above sea level. Getting to the campsite felt like the biggest victory of my life! I took a much-needed footbath while watching the most beautiful sunset, and then ate some great food before going to bed early.

That day we walked 25100 steps over 16 km. It was so extremely tough, but we were happy and proud when the day was finally over. Now there were only two "easy" days left to conquer!

Day three was a very easy day, at least for those of us who like to hike downhill! We only had 10 km of trekking to do that day, which took us about five hours. The day started later than expected with a wakeup call at 5.30 AM (that's late there...!). We got ready, had some nice breakfast and then started the climb. The first ten minutes were the hardest part of the day. It went steep uphill and reminded me of the pain I had felt the day before.

Thankfully, it soon ended and then the trail was more moderate as we entered the jungle known as the Cloud Forest. The first two hours flew by and suddenly, we were at the first resting point. We climbed up to the last peak, Phuyupatamarka at 3600 meters above sea level, where the views overlooking the Urubamba River were absolutely incredible. We could see the mountain behind Machu Picchu and zooming well in with my camera, I could even see people standing on it. We were so close now!

From the resting point started a steep descend. Just ten minutes later, we came to the incredible ruins of Phuyupatamarka, where we made a quick stop to explore and hear Jaime's stories.

Afterwards, the trail continued steeply downwards for another half an hour or so before becoming more moderate. Once again, Brandon and I were on fire and flew down the steps, getting to the next ruins way before the others; the terrace ruins of Intipata, which was my favourite site along the trail. From that spot, we could see our campsite for the night, only half an hour away!

Just like the other days, the porters clapped as we entered the campsite, causing me to blush, but it was such a happy moment! They deserve applause much more than us though. Once everyone had arrived at the campsite, Jaime told us that we had two hours to rest before we would go for another walk to the nearby ruins of Wiñay Wayna that were well worth seeing. I spent my resting time talking to and selfiing with llamas - and taking an ice cold shower (I so regretted doing that....).

Walking to the ruins only took about 10 minutes. Once we turned the corner and saw them we were all in awe! This was definitely a mini Machu Picchu! Jaime took his time to tell us all about them, while we watched six llamas roaming the ruins searching for fresh grass to eat. We spent about an hour and a half at the ruins and even pushed ourselves to walk down the long flight of stairs to the houses and back up again. After all, we wanted to explore this unique place properly.

The evening was spent eating the most incredible food and saying our goodbyes to the lovely porters and chefs. They worked so hard to make our journey as amazing as possible, and I must say that they succeeded in the best way possible. It was nothing short of perfect!

10 km and 21.000 steps done for the day, and I was so exhausted and ready to get a few hours of sleep before waking up extremely early on the final day!

Day four was finally here and it was time to head to Machu Picchu! We were woken up at 3.30 AM (!) and were given half an hour to get ready before having to walk the ten minutes to the check-in gate. Our guides wanted to get us there early, so we could be in the front of the queue to start the trek. We waited in the dark until 5.30 AM, when it was finally time to start the two-hour trek to Machu Picchu!

The way there was quite moderate with some steep parts, but it was actually really cozy to walk in one big group even though people from other groups tried to overtake constantly. I'm not exactly sure why they felt like they needed to get there early since the sun had already risen, but whatever.

Two hours later, we entered the famous gates of the Sun Gate at 2730 meters above sea level, and from there we could finally see Machu Picchu! I can't even explain how awesome it was to finally be there; we did it!!

Now it was time to explore Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas, on a guided tour by Jaime for two hours. The site is pretty damn amazing and i truly get why so many want to visit it, but to me the journey to get there was the best part of it. You get to see so many amazing ruins, the most incredible views and spend quality time with a lovely bunch of people.

After exploring Machu Picchu, eight of us had decided to climb Huayna Picchu, the mountain behind the site that you see on all the pictures. The mountain itself is only 260 meters high, but it's extremely steep and at an elevation of 2693 meters, it's not exactly a walk in the park.

I think we all regretted paying for it beforehand as our legs were so tired and we were exhausted, but we all decided to suck it up and just do it! The trek was extremely steep as expected, but actually not as tough as I had expected after four days of trekking. The one thing that I didn't like about climbing the mountain was the lack of safety. There was nothing to hold onto when the steps got very steep and the fall was literally to your death, down a vertical cliff. But I'm very proud and happy that we did it because the view from above was absolutely amazing. But I wouldn't recommend anyone to do it and I wouldn't do it again, solely due to the lack of safety.

The climb took us about 1 hour and 40 minutes, which isn't bad considering the normal time is 2 hours. I think we did so well climbing all of those steps up and down after a strenuous four day trek!

After the climb, it was time to head to the village of Aguas Calientes where we met the guides and the three who hadn't done the mountain trek. We had some quick lunch at a restaurant, said our goodbyes to our two awesome guides and then headed to the train station, where we boarded a luxury train that took us back to Cuzco.

Trekking to Machu Picchu had been extremely challenging, but a wonderful and once in a lifetime experience that was worth every penny. I loved the ruins on the way, the incredible views, the people I was with and the site itself. I probably wouldn't do the same trek again, but I would love to do more treks in Peru someday.