Featuring jaw-dropping views of snowcapped Andes mountains and ancient ruins, the Inca Trail remains one of the world's great hikes. The challenging four-day route culminates with a huge sense of achievement as you arrive at Machu Picchu, left to us by a lost civilisation in the heart of the wildest of landscapes.

Because of this, the trail remains as popular as ever. Most people set off walking and choose their campsites to reach the fabled Sun Gate at dawn on the final morning. The result? Hundreds of tired hikers packed together trying to find a place to stand for a sunrise that often never comes. This is cloud forest after all...

Our solution is simple, yet astonishingly effective. We set off half a day behind everyone else, camping at peaceful sites and arriving at the Sun Gate in the quiet afternoon. The crowds are long gone, the light invariably at its golden best.

Your private guide stays with you throughout your travels. As you hike along the Inca Trail, you have the luxury of being able to set your own pace and take breaks when you want. Your guide is there to share their stories, but also to know when to leave you in peace and simply let you enjoy the blissful tranquillity.

Away from the trail, they will introduce you to farmers, shepherds, local families and weavers, as well as guiding you through the fruits of the Peruvian harvest. They'll present you with your first huge glass of chicha and have even been known to score invites to impromptu barbecues in the gardens of our Peru office.

Our trips have been created to share the wonderful places, people and experiences which we feel best represent the Peruvian Andes. Though you might see some of the place names on other itineraries, you simply will not find trips with the same depth, texture and attention to detail.

Our ability to do so derives from the unique way we work, conceiving, testing out and delivering every aspect of your trip ourselves and working directly with all of the people you will meet, rather than passing it all on to a third-party agency in Peru. We are therefore always happy to discuss other trips and highlight the key differences, but we hope we have made them obvious in this proposal.

This is a place of vibrant culture which is very much alive, alongside rich and fascinating history. It deserves so much more attention than most operators give it. We sidestep the standard ways of doing things to share with you a Peru which is both old and new, expected and unexpected, running our own office and team on the ground, in the heart of the Sacred Valley.

This trip is designed to start and end in Cusco. The best route is usually with Avianca via Bógota from London, or flying via Lima from most major US cities.

Peru’s size and highly diverse geography result in very variable weather patterns, on a typical trip you can expect to come across a wide range of conditions, so it depends on which areas you will be visiting.

Generally, there is a dry season and a wet season. The best time to visit Peru is during the dry season which is between May and October. You can expect warm sunny days and clear skies with chilly nights in the Andes (Cusco, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu).

The wet season is between November and April, with the wettest months being January and February. The Inca Trail generally closes in February. You can still comfortably travel in November, December as well as late March to April as long as you are prepared for a bit of rain. It is quieter, the scenery is greener, and international flights will cost less.

June to September is the busier period but we always steer you away from crowds so the trip still works very well in this period.

This is an active holiday and you’ll see why Peru is considered as one of the best adventure playgrounds in South America.

The mountain biking is aimed at those of all abilities. The day is completely flexible, so you can cycle for as little as 45 minutes and still get the wonderful views, or you can extend it up to a whole day. There is a support vehicle with you throughout so you can jump in at any time. If cycling isn't your thing, there are plenty of other options on foot or in the car.

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu covers 28 miles over four days so distances are not great. However, it is at very high altitude (highest altitude is 4,200m) with a number of steep ascents and descents as well as lots of narrow steps meaning that the going can be slow and fairly tough. We can also offer the one-day Inca Trail - you arrive at Sun Gate on foot but no need to camp.

What you get in return for these exertions are four days’ walking in the beautiful mountain surroundings of the Peruvian Andes finished off with the exhilaration of arriving at Machu Picchu on foot in the quiet afternoon. We pace our Inca Trail differently to most, timing it to be half a day behind the main daily intake onto the trail (limited by permit to 500 people in total). Where the majority of hikers are moving along together and sleeping at the same campsites, you walk in peace and sleep with few others in sight.

We also only offer private Inca Trail trips so it is you, your guide and your porters. No one else. You can therefore set the pace you are most comfortable with.

Day one of our trail is very short, only around two hours of walking . Over the course of a moderate second day, you regain altitude gradually to reach a level similar to Cusco. The third day of our trail is the hardest, pushing over Dead Woman's Pass, the highest point on the trail (4,200m), before going down into a valley and back up over a second high pass at 3,900m to finish on a high plateau at 3,600m. During the day you will be walking up and down long stretches of steps as well as uphill and downhill slopes.

The fourth and final day is also quite long and can be particularly hard on the knees as you walk down a lot of narrow steps on the way to Machu Picchu at 2,400m.

Where most people hiking the Inca Trail cross the high pass on day two, our pace gives you extra time to acclimatise.

Unlike many tour operators, we have complete independence to work with whichever hotels we wish to in Peru. We spend a great deal of time getting to know the best options and returning to make sure they still meet our exacting standards. They're not just places for you to nod off each night. They need to be memorable and enjoyable places to spend time. A great view or particularly good food always goes down well.

The hotels we choose to work with in Peru are very comfortable with welcoming hosts, a great location and often lots of local charm. We tend not to go in for the flashy 5* chain hotels as they rarely deliver the experience we want for you. We prefer a bit of heart and soul, not luxury for the sake of it, but nice 3-4* standard.

The Inca Trail camp is set up by the porters. You sleep two people to a tent. Tents are generally three-person size so fairly spacious and comfortable for two people.

We're happy to share full details of the places we suggest for your trip, so please get in touch for full details.

In Cusco, you have a great deal of choice on your doorstep and frankly, we wouldn't want to rob you of the chance to decide for yourself. As part of our service to you, we provide our own personal recommendations in your Travel Guide app to supplement your own research.

In the Sacred Valley, we usually include dinner on the first night and a special dinner with a local family as part of the 'day in the life of' experience. For the other nights, you can of course continue to dine in at your hotel's restaurant. There are a few other restaurants in the village, including (somewhat surprisingly), a vegan restaurant a 10-minute walk away.

Absolutely, yes. We want you to leave Peru feeling like you know the country and more than anything, that means its people. We take you off the beaten track where nothing is contrived. On your walks in the Andes you will meet locals usually on their way to the village to buy supplies. You’ll see that colourful woven fabrics really are worn by shepherds in the high mountains. You will meet landowners who lost all their land in the 1960s and had to start again. You will meet villagers who never had anything to lose. You will help out in the kitchen of a local family and eat dinner together.

The weavers you visit are not some random ethno-Disney plants at the back of a gift shop, far from it. The history of this co-operative, run by women for women, is remarkable and fascinating. Suffice to say that these weavers were showcased in the 2022 British Museum Peru exhibition and the powerhouse behind it all, Nilda, was quoted on the walls.

We pace your time in the Andes to allow for acclimatisation and with your own private guide, the pace is entirely flexible to suit you. It is completely normal to feel a little short of breath and nauseous when you first arrive, as well as a loss of appetite, as your body adapts to the thinner air. This is regardless of age, health and fitness levels and usually passes in 24 hours. Drink lots of water both before and during your time at altitude. Arriving well-hydrated does help.

We use the Sacred Valley as your first base, which is at 2,800m and 600m lower than Cusco. This really make a difference and makes your first few days that much easier. Arrival day and the first full day are both very gentle with the focus on local life and cultural interaction. We then pace the hikes building up along the Inca Trail. Machu Picchu is at 2,430 so you shouldn’t feel any effects at all by the time you arrive.

Absolutely. We can tailor your trip in any number of ways, from tweaking the activities, extending your time in any destination, adding other destinations or combining with other countries such as Ecuador and Galapagos. Just drop us a line to start the conversation.