This is a video report of our self-guided Salkantay Trekking to Machu Picchu, we decided to do this 4 day hiking adventure without a guide, this was a awesome experience. Along the way we were able to capture some beautiful timelapse and drone footage.
Below we have included instructions how to do the Salkantay by yourself. We can definitely recommend doing it self-guided as this gives you a lot of freedom and you will definitely save a lot of money!
Follow/subscribe to our channel for free: [ Ссылка ]
Music by: Sun Collective. You can buy/download this track from the Bandcamp page: [ Ссылка ]
Or visit their soundcloud page: [ Ссылка ]
Instructions & Tips to do the Salkantay Trekking self-guided:
1) Taking a collectivo from Cusco to Mollepata & Soraypampa
- We took a collectivo in the morning from Cusco at 04:00
- If you want to do one extra day you could choose to walk from Mollepata to Soraypampan (a long road for about 5-7+hours)
- We shared a car to Soraypampa with another couple and paid 20 soles each.
2) Hike day 1: Soraypampa to Chaulley (10-12 hours)
- This is the most exhausing day, where you go over the Salkantay pass
- You can buy water after each 15km, take you own lunch as there a not many places to buy food.
- In Chaulley you find a couple of campsites, sleeping for 2 persons is 10 soles, you can also get a meal for 10 soles.
3) Hike day 2: Chaulley to Santa Teresa
- Due to mudslides you cannot follow the official Salkantay trek from here:
- You walk on the road in the right side of the river until you reach the little town a Playa.
- The road is is not busy at all, I think we have seen 5 cars passing the whole day.
- Playa is a nice place to buy lunch.
- From here you can decide to keep walking or take the taxi/collectivo to Santa Teresa
- We found a nice camping in Santa Teresa, which is also close to many restaurants.
- In Santa Teresa you find the thermal baths, which feels amazing after long days of hiking!
4) Hike day 3: Santa Theresa to the Hydro Electrica and then to Aquas Caliente.
- The hike to the Hydro Electrica is pretty straight forward
- There is a short cut out of town brings brings you to a nice little hangbridge and a cool little path back to the road.
- From Hydro Electrica it is only 10km more to Aquas Caliente (also known as Machu Picchu Pueblo).
- It takes around 2 hours to reach Aquas Caliente.
- Aquas Caliente is a very touristy and expensive town, but nice to see though!
- Find a cheap hostel as there are not really campsites in town
- Another option is the sleep even closer to Machu Picchu, there are some lodges and campsites along the traintrack.
5) Day 4: Machu Picchu & Back to Cusco
- Its about two hours walking to the entrance of Machu Picchu (which opens at 6am).
- Another option is to take the bus to the entrance (the first buses leave at 5:30am), buy your tickets the night before and get in line early.
- Enjoy Machu Picchu, hopefully you will be just a lucky as we were with nice weather/blue skies.
- Aquas Caliente is only reachable by train (not by road), to go back to Cusco you need to go back to the Hydro Electrico station.
- At Machu Picchu they have large lockers for your backpacks, this can save you some time so you dont have to go back to Aquas Calientes.
- The last busses to Cusco from the Hydro Electrico station leave at 3:30pm, so keep track of the time when visiting MP. The bus was 30 soles, no need to book in advance.
Tips:
- If you leave one day earlier and sleep 1 night in Soraypampa, that gives you the option to visit lake Humantay in the afternoon/sunset (or early morning).
- There is an alternative route, which gives you the option to visit the Llactapata ruins on the way, if you do this you skip Santa Teresa (and the thermal baths).
- Try to keep the weight on your back to a minimum!
What do you need:
- A smartphone with the "Maps Me" app installed (make sure you download the area and placed your bookmarks.
- Rent a tent, sleeping bags and matresses in Cusco, along the way you can sleep on the campsites (normally around 5 soles a person, per night).
- You can choose to bring cooking supplies, we decided not to as you can find places to buy food along the trail.
- For day 1 you need to bring lunch with you as there are not many places to buy food on day 1.
- Rainponcho's or proper raincoats/pants
- Proper shoes & plenty of socks, we did it all on our nikes.
Thanks for watching! Please hit the like button, leave a comment and subscribe to the channel!
~ Seven Cinematics ~
Find us on Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
New Video: "The Amazon | Iquitos Peru | Cinematic Drone Video 4K"
[ Ссылка ]
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
