Unguided Salkantay Trek
Experience of a couple that hiked Salktantay Trail, starting 1 May 2026 and arrived in Aguas Calientes on 4 May 2026. Hopefully some helpful information for future reference.
Day 1: Cusco to Soraypampa and Humantay lake.
Day 2: Soraypampa to Chaullay
Day 3: Chaullay to Lucmabamba
Day 4: Lucmabamba to Aguas Calientes
Day 1.
We stayed at Soraypampa Hostel. We had previously booked on Air Bnb and they are also on booking.com, potentially on Google. The hostel was full so I would recommend booking ahead in Soraypampa as there is limited accommodation and people can stay the night just to do Humantay Lake.
We caught a collectivo organised by our accommodation, which cost 50 soles per person, there was a hotel pickup option which included breakfast for 70 soles. We met at Plaza Regocijo, outside restaurant El Cuadro at 0500.
Drive to Soraypampa had beautiful scenery. There were a few winding roads and two people vomited. One of the people vomited everywhere, including my bag which was on the floor, so I suppose always travel with your rain cover on.
You pay the driver 20 sol each for a Salktantay pass, he buys then for the entire van. He kept the pass but we didn't need to show anyone anything the entire time we were in the region. The driver made a stop in Mollepata for people to get breakfast and use the bathroom-bathroom was clean! Roads to Mollepata were all good quality, afterwards they were dirt roads but not too bad, lots of hairpin turns. We stopped at a point where people disembarked to start the Salktantay trail. Most people got off. We stayed on and travelled a further few km until we reached the landslide point. We walked the rest of the way mostly along road, some part trail, to the accommodation. Roughly 45 minute walk. Lots of tour groups so it can be slow.
Our private room was ready at 0930, we dropped our bags off and hiked up to Humantay Lake, which is just a slog up hill. The Humantay mountain is really nice. Highly recommend walking up the ridge to the left of the lake, as the water looks better from above and you get to see the valley. You will see a large boulder at the top where people get their Instagram photos, but you can continue along the ridgeline parallel to the lake-better photos and all to yourself. Walked back down and arrived back to Soraypampa Hostel around 1230. I highly recommend hiking up to the lake as soon as you arrive to avoid getting caught in the afternoon rains.
Hot shower at the hostel while the sun was out, don't wait too long into the afternoon for the shower as the hot water is solar powered and with some 55 guests the hot water can run out fast. Also there are limited number of showers so get in while you can.
We decided to get dinner and breakfast at the hostel which were 20 sole per person, per meal. Compared to elsewhere on the Salktantay trail, I found this to be quite expensive, and lacking both quality and quantity. I am unsure what other options are in Soraypampa and how this compares. You also have limited options to buy any other meals in Soraypampa so it kind of is what it is.
We deduced dinner was at 1730, served closer to 1800, a cup of soup, fried rice with a little bit of chicken, and some stewed apple for dessert, and tea to drink. Personally I was left feeling hungry afterwards, my wife was okay.
Clear day but rain came through around 1400, and got heavy at 1600.
Electricity turned off at around 1930, but the wifi still worked. Wifi here was extremely good-they use starlink, with reports of wifi coverage 1km up the mountain on the Humantay hike. Electricity back on by about 0515, I think they have a generator for this, so you can charge your phone before the hike if you need.
Day 2.
Breakfast option at the hostel was very basic. You also had to wait for breakfast to be served, which was at about 0545. Breakfast is buffet style, scrambled eggs, pancakes, cut up fried potato, yoghurt, juice, bread. Things go quickly though and the portion you may get could be quite small-one "plate" that we would call a saucer per person. Optional thought would be to bring your own breakfast.
We started hiking around 0610, the hardest part was dodging the tour groups! There are a lot of people going up from Soraypampa, much more than I had thought there would be. It eventually clears but getting around people was tough. A number of people appear to be novice hikers and not aware of etiquette-blocking the path when taking breaks, using trekking poles to point out landmarks etc. Hence my comment about bringing your own breakfast if you can, due to being able to get an earlier start to beat the tour groups. Tour groups seem to start early, maybe around 0530?
Going up from Soraypampa to the pass was a steep walk uphill via a series of switchbacks, through a valley, eventually climbing the side of a mountain (7 snakes) and entering a field. The guides run horses and donkeys through so you must be aware of safe places to stop. The field was very muddy in parts so we used the rocks to the right to walk through-knee deep mud in sections. It seems like a lot of people will stop here for a quick bit of food. Once you pass through you will reach a false peak, a further climb uphill and you will reach the pass. It should take between 2-3hrs. We stayed at the pass for 20 minutes to have some water and some trail mix and muesli bars. The scenery from Soraypampa to the pass is absolutely beautiful, you are surrounded by mountains, creeks, grazing horses etc.
The path is mostly good, some very muddy parts which the donkeys tear up. It is easy to navigate, I didn't need to look at my map at all. The walk up to the pass and at the pass is probably my favourite for the whole of the trail.
After the pass you spend the rest of the trail walking downhill. It can get quite cold at the pass and walking down into the valley. At the valley there is a little town where you may be able to buy some small items like water, gatorade, chocolate etc.
The walk continues down, the path is okay, small rocks etc. I have IT band syndrome so I had to go quite slow to take care of that. If you have knee issues, hiking poles would be useful due to the length of this section The scenery turns into more of a rainforest, mountains covered by trees, a rushing river. We hiked with an English guy who commented on the humidity and thought it quite warm.
You most likely won't find anything substantial for lunch on this section (chocolate, bananas, maybe muesli bars) so consider bringing some food with you if you feel you need it. We had muesli bars, trail mix, and some lollies we had bought in Lima. But if you feel you would need more pack accordingly or buy a sandwich to go from your accommodation the night before.
We arrived in Chaullay at 1230, so 6hrs and 20 minutes overall. We stayed at Salktantay Hostel Chaullay, booked on booking.com. Accommodation was really nice, hot water, comfortable, very good food (including big portions lol), lovely people. Electricity was on at all times for us. Ended up having a beer on their patio, it was a lovely end to the day. Manuel, the hotel owner, gives a talk at dinner about route options for day 3. Basically due to landslide you can walk the trail for 5km but will end up on the road eventually. It's up to you whether you take the road from the start or not.
Clear day, rain came in around 1400 and last until around 1700 but wasn't too heavy.
Day 3.
Third day we had a delicious breakfast (Bread, pancakes, omelette, banana, coffee (I know this sounds similar to the day before but it was a lot better quality) in Chaullay at 6am and left around 0645. We walked through to Lucmabamba via the car road the whole way, however you can walk for around 5km on the trail. To do this you would walk down steps at the first car bridge down to the river, cross the river and head along the trail, there is then a little sign telling you not to continue along the trail. You then cross a bridge to the other side of the river back to the car road. We chose the road section as the proper path is single file and by the time we reached it multiple tour groups were filing through. Due to the experience from Salktantay Pass, we chose to avoid the groups. Ideally we would have left our accommodation before 0600 to walk the path. The walk is largely downhill or flat so you can cover the walk quite quickly. You walk alongside the river, with the scenery being the tree cladded mountains. Some waterfalls crossing the road, requiring us to hop across some rocks but otherwise normal dirt road. We arrived in Lucmabamba at about 1030, so roughly 4 hour walk. It seems like the tours left between 0630 and 0700?
We stayed at Lucmabamba Lodge, hot water a bit hit and miss in the shower, beautiful garden and surroundings with plenty of birds. They have a small coffee plantation and other fruiting trees. Enjoyed a coffee which I believe they pick, grind and roast their own beans.
Electricity was on at all times.
Dinner was excellent, Lomo Saltado in huge portions, tea as well. Served around 1830.
No rain at all for us at any point today.
Third day there were a lot of different options for a proper lunch (not just snacks), choose where you want. We had multiple restaurants/houses asking us to come in to buy lunch or their sandwiches. You can eat Lucmabamba or in the small village before it.
Day 4.
Started early, breakfast at 0500 which was again very nice, fresh avocado, honey pancakes, bananas, omelette, bread, coffee. The honey is local and you can taste the difference.
We set off around 0545, for the climb up to Llactapata. Roughly 6km up, walking up the side of a mountain. Not difficult at this hour, but would have been harder in the afternoon heat and humidity of the day before. The path up was good, and the views as you climb are nice, with various tree cladded mountains surrounding you, the river and the clouds below you. Once we reached the top we detoured to Mesa Para, the path is very muddy reminiscent of a pig sty, no views at 0830 or so, only a thick blanket of cloud, depends on the day. We then started the walk along the top and down, a km or two of very muddy paths. We stopped to purchase water at Llactapata. You may get a view of Machu Picchu from here, we apparently just missed the view, some people just behind us were able to catch a quick glimpse. What follows is a walk down the other side of the mountain to the river below. The path was quite good down, more of a forest landscape, eventually turning to more loose stone. I found the descent on day 2 harder on my knee potentially due to the longevity, hiking poles useful here too. After finally reaching the river, you come to a pretty cool bridge which asks for only 6 people to cross at a time. The path turns into a bit more of a road. The river is rushing here and you soon come to a very impressive waterfall, the spray coming from the waterfall is immense. I think the most intense waterfall I've ever seen, which a local said is from hidroelectrica which made sense (penny drop type comment).
We came to a little office and signed our names, passport details etc. and continued on arriving at the Hidroelectrica train station. We walked along the train tracks for a small amount of time and then had to take some stairs on the right up to another set of train tracks. This then started the long walk alongside the train tracks to Aguas Calientes. This walk seemed to take an absolute age, and I found the train tracks stone harder to walk on than I thought. The longest 10km of my life, it seemed to drag on forever, perhaps the previous days fatigue setting in. Finally we were able to connect to the road and were finally at Aguas Calientes. I personally found this the toughest day, probably due to fatigue from the previous days. If I were to do it all again I would have liked to walk to Llactapata on day 3 and stay there the night. This would be an absolute must if you didn't have Machu Picchu tickets pre-booked. I'd want to then leave Llactapata as early as possible. The lines while we were in Aguas Calientes were crazy, and getting worse.
Aguas Calientes is very expensive compared to elsewhere in Peru. It's a bustling town, but seemed to really die down after around 1630 or so, not sure if that aligns with other people's experiences.
At 1630 I purchased a bus ticket to Machu Picchu for the next day, which took less than 5 minutes. Ticket prices are advertised in USD but they had a very small sign with the conversion. $24USD equals 84.50 sole. Why the need to advertise in USD at all?
Day 1, Cusco to Soraypampa:
Collectivo - 100 sole
Dinner - 40 sole
Water (2.5L) - 10 sole
Accommodation thru Air Bnb - 200 sole
Day 2, Soraypampa to Chaullay
Breakfast - 40 sole
Water (2.5L) - 10 sole
Beer x2 - 20 sole
Dinner - 40 sole
Accommodation - 180 sole
Day 3, Chaullay to Lucmabamba
Breakfast - free
Water (3.5L) - 20 sole
Dinner - 30 sole
Accommodation - 157
Day 4, Lucmabamba to Aguas Calientes
Breakfast - free
Water (4.5L) - 30 sole
Lunch (Aguas Calientes) - 60 sole
Accommodation (2 nights) - 190 sole
Machu Picchu
Day One-Route 1a
We had 0700 tickets for 1a. You line up at 0545 (as told to by the guy who sells the bus tickets) just outside the Consettur. There's a sign that says 0700, this is your Machu Picchu tickets time not the bus time. Workers will come and check your bus ticket against your passport, and your Machu Picchu tickets here multiple times. Have them handy. It's a 15min bus ride up. At Machu Picchu find the sign that corresponds to your ticket route, show tickets and passport and you're through. You follow the signs to the mountain, register at the little hut. It didn't affect us, but we heard the worked informing people that they must start their descent by 1230 due to safety/potentially changing conditions etc.
Route 1a is tough. It's 2km up with 580m of elevation as per All Trails. It's basically all uneven steps, very steep. I do not recommend this route for anyone without a medium level of fitness. It took us 40mins to get from the registry office to the top. There are landings for photo opportunities on the way, you do not need do climb the entire way. In saying that, it is still hard work to climb up to these landings. At the top it levels off and you have incredible views of Machu Picchu and the mountain surrounds. We could see Llactapata and our route from the day before. Overall, highly recommend to do this, but be aware of your limitations, bring water.
Day Two - route 2B
I understand why it's everyone's preferred route. You get good views of the entire site, and the ability to walk through. Overall, it took us 2 hours at a very slow pace to walk through. We did not hire a tour guide, but if you're into history I would recommend. The engineering is very impressive. Not much to add on this route, it's a gentle walk with some stairs. We had no problem following the 2B path. It's signed and the ropes guide the way.
Acclimatisation: we didn't take any medication, tried cocoa tea and decided it has no effect for us. We were slightly more out of breath at altitude but that's all. Important to note we had spent two weeks in Huaraz before going to Lima for 3 days, then Cusco for 3 days. Even in Huaraz we had no issues with acclimatisation coming from Quito, Ecuador.
Shoes: Altra lone peak 7, Hoka Challengers. We both loved our shoes. Comfortable, handled the terrain well. If they got wet they dried quickly. We don't think you need a proper hiking boot for Salktantay, but each their own. Probably a different story if you are walking in wet season.