Get ready for this once in a lifetime trip! We joined Salkantay Trekking for a 4-day hike along the 51 km / 31 miles of the Camino de Salkantay: a perfect trekking for those who aren’t afraid to push their limits a little, enjoy gorgeous mountain and tropical landscapes and chewing some coca leaves :).
The Salkantay trek used to be an Incan trade route for coca and potatoes. Nowadays it still leads around the Salkantay (obviously the trek’s namesake); at 6,271 m / 20,574 feet the highest peak of the Willkapampa Mountain Range. The Inca thought that the Salkantay was a deity and that it controlled the weather and thus the fertility of the grounds in the region west of Cusco. The name comes from the Quechua word sallqa, which means as much as ‘savage’ or ‘wild’. Therefore the mountain is translated as ‘savage mountain’.
And savage the trekking is. The path leads along an old waterway system, a gorgeous waterfall, the epic Humantay Lake, through the snow-capped mountain Salkantay pass, along the edge of the cloud forest, includes a visit to a coffee plantation, a stop near some lovely hot springs, goes into an abundant tropical forest starring the lesser-known Llactapata Inca ruins, before finally finishing with a sunrise on the 5th morning at the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.
Curious how it all looks like? See for yourself in our drone video!
Here’s where to find that trek/mountain in Peru!
Brent Hagy
July 19, 2021 at 9:23 am
Great video! Did you have to register your drone while in Peru or just declare it at customs and pay the VAT?