Choquequirao Trek

4 days / 3 nights – Private Services

Choquequirao Trek

4 days / 3 nights – Private Services

Choquequirao Treks

Private Services

Luxury Services

Special Interest Treks

Choquequirao

Still way off the increasingly trod track, Choquequirao (“Cradle of Gold” in Quechua—“The Other Machu Picchu,” as The New York Times called it in 2007), is an amazingly preserved Inca outpost, dramatically perched on a promontory nearly 1800 m / 6000 ft above the roaring Apurimac River Gorge.

Choquequirao (3,103 m/10,178 ft), built in a similar fashion to its sister city Machu Picchu although harder to reach, is thought to have had about the same size population and to have served the same religious, political and agricultural functions. However, because archaeologists long underestimated the importance of Choquequirao, the city’s existence was known for almost 300 years before the first restoration in 1993, and it has only recently been accessible to non-academics, now quickly joining the ranks of the world’s great Lost Cities.

The archaeological complex is 1,800 hectares, of which only 30–40% is excavated. It is considered to be one of the last bastions of resistance and refuge of the Inca Manco Inca Yupanqui from the Spanish as he fled Cusco after his siege of the city failed in 1535.

According to the Peruvian Tourism Office, Choquequirao was “…an administrative hub serving political, social and economic functions. Its urban design has followed the symbolic patterns of the imperial capital, with ritual places dedicated to Inti (the Inca Sun God) and the ancestors, to the earth, water and other divinities, with mansions for administrators and houses for artisans, warehouses, large dormitories or kallankas and farming terraces belonging to the Inca or the local people. Spreading over 700 meters, the ceremonial area drops as much as 65 meters from the elevated areas to the main square.” The city was considered to probably be one of the entrance check points to Vilcabamba, the last refuge of the Incas until it fell to the Spaniards in 1572, and also played an important role as a link between the Amazon jungle and the city of Cusco.

About this Trek

This spectacular 60-km trek is not a circuit and rather, it uses the same trail to reach Choquequirao and to then return. Starting at the gorgeous village of Cachora, with views similar to those in the Swiss Alps but in a Peruvian Andes version, with towering snow-capped peaks and unpretentious adobe houses, one descends to the mighty Apurimac River, affluent to the Amazon later in its path, to then cross it and ascend on the other side. A long and demanding zigzagging uphill separates us from the next community, where one can still taste the sugar cane extracted right in front of us, giving us strength to continue uphill until we get close to Choquequirao. Our destination of Choquequirao is breathtaking; admiring the truly amazing stonework, the breath-taking location, and imagining how big it actually is, as a big portion of the site is still covered by overgrowth. A vast canyon below us, and condors spotted above, it is the remote Andes of Peru in all its glory.

Enigma’s experienced trekking guides enrich the days with their knowledge and sharing, covering diverse topics such as Inca history, archaeology, architecture, social structure, economy, politics, astronomy, and fascinating traditions and beliefs. Lodging is within designated and authorized campsites along the route.

This trek is operated in four days for travellers coming to Peru with a tighter schedule. The five-day version allows for an extra day of exploration and relaxed enjoyment in the area of Choquequirao. It is operated with the support of mules and horses, and it runs at an altitude below that of Cusco, generally not causing altitude sickness problems and requiring less acclimatization than treks running at higher elevations. However, it is highly demanding in terms of fitness, as the change in level is significant and is best enjoyed if physically fit.

Our Insight

The citadel of Choquequirao is a huge archaeological complex, still under cleaning and restoration, located nearby the sacred Salkantay mountain (6.271m/20569ft) and the Apurimac River canyon. The beauty and mystique of this Inca citadel is enhanced by the green overgrowth from centuries passed. Its astonishing location and surrounding mountain scenery, as well as plentiful Andean flora and fauna, with the chance to spot condors in its natural habitat, are some of the most appreciated attractions of this program.

TREK ITINERARY

Day 1 Cusco to Chiquisca

We leave Cusco at 5:00 am in our private transport and drive towards Cachora, an Andean community located four to five hours from Cusco at 2800m/9184ft, the starting point of the trek where we meet our horsemen and horses. We start our hike climbing for two and a half hours towards the Abra Capuliyoc at 2750m/9020ft, where may we enjoy beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and the Apurimac River Canyon. We then continue descending for two more hours towards Chiquisca, where we set our camp and spend the night.

Meals: L, D

Total distance 16 km (9.94 miles)
Estimated hiking time 7–8 hours
Maximum altitude point 2,750 m (9,020 ft)
Campsite altitude 1,910 m (6,265 ft)

Day 2 Chiquisca to Choquequirao

We leave Chiquisca as early as 6:00am to go down to Rosalina Beach, which will take about one hour. We then cross the Apurimac River and start climbing towards Santa Rosa, zigzagging up a steep slope. This climb will take approximately two hours, and it is important that we leave early so that the heat does not make it more difficult. In Santa Rosa, we take a half hour break, where those who wish may try Cambray, a local sugar cane extract. Afterwards, we continue our hike slowly climbing for two and a half hours until we reach our lunch spot in Marampata. From here we walk another two hours until we reach the archaeological complex of Choquequirao, located at 3103m/10178ft, where we will set up camp and enjoy some free time to explore the terraces and buildings. When the sun starts to set, you might want to sit and contemplate the canyon, where condors are sometimes spotted.

Meals: B, L, D

Total distance 14 km (8,70 miles)
Estimated hiking time 6-7 hours
Maximum altitude point 3,103 m (10,178 ft)
Campsite altitude 3,103 m (10,178 ft)

Day 3 Choquequirao to Rosalina Beach

This morning we enjoy a complete guided tour of the Choquequirao complex: we will visit the high parts (Hanan), and the lower parts (Urin), and some areas that are still covered in wild foliage, waiting to be revealed. After the tour, we start our walk back towards Santa Rosa, where we have lunch. We then continue descending for another two hours until we reach Rosalina Beach at 1450m/4756ft, where we might have time to take a refreshing dip in the waters of the Apurimac River. We camp and dine here.

Meals: B, L, D

Total distance 12.5 km (7,77 miles)
Estimated hiking time 6 hours
Maximum altitude point 3,103 m (10,178 ft)
Campsite altitude 1,450 m (4,756 ft)

Day 4 Rosalina Beach to Cachora and back to Cusco

We leave camp after breakfast to start the two- to three-hour climb to Chiquisca, to then make our way back to the Abra Capuliyoc, close to which we have our lunch. In the afternoon, we continue on our two-hour return route to Cachora, where a private transport will be waiting to take us back to Cusco. Estimated arrival time around 9.00pm.

Meals: B, L

Total distance 17.5 km (10,87 miles)
Estimated hiking time 6 hours
Maximum altitude point 2,750 m (9,020 ft)

* Departure and arrival times are approximate
** Campsites are subject to change according to the designation of the governmental institution regulating the use of the Inca Trail, as well as to our guide’s criteria and the group progress

TREK DETAILS

Difficulty

Very Challenging: The route has steep ups and downs, with changes of altitude in one day of over 1600m/5200ft and usually warm weather during the day due to the lower altitude vs. Cusco. We recommend allowing one-day acclimatization in Cusco prior to the trek departure.

Departure Dates

Daily departures are available throughout the year, although due to weather conditions, the recommended period for this trek is April to November.

All private service departure dates are adapted to your request.

Group Size

Size requested by client

Price Information

Price per person

Prices per person depend on the group size, the larger the group the lower the price per person.

Please contact us to check our prices, specifying:

  • trekking program
  • number of people in the trek
  • departure date
  • requested train service: Expedition (Economy), Vistadome (Superior) or Hiram Bingham (Belmond Luxury train service)

Available discounts (these discounts are not cumulative)

  • Teenagers: US$ 6.00 (up to 18 years of age, passport copy required for all bookings)
  • Children: US$ 12.00 (up to 3 years of age, passport copy required for all bookings)

Additional discounts (may be added to the above)

  • Early bookings: 5% on full program price for all bookings confirmed at least six months in advance. This discount may not be applicable in case a promotional price is offered.

What’s Included

  • Pre-departure briefing
  • Pick up from your hotel in the morning and transfer in private transport to Cachora (starting point of the trek)
  • Choquequirao entrance fee for visitors and agency staff
  • Personal tents: 2 people in each 4-people-capacity tent, to allow for higher comfort and a safe keeping of backpacks. Our tents are 3-season, highly maintained to ensure an excellent performance in the field. Eureka Timberline 4 Outfitter tents are employed when double accommodation is requested and Eureka Timberline 2XT for single travelers.
  • One inflatable sleeping pad per person
  • One sleeping bag per person: our sleeping bags are -18ºC-comfort (0ºF), mummy form and include a sleeping liner. They are cleaned after every use and have a maximum usage of 30 trips
  • One pillow per person
  • Dining tent with tables and chairs
  • Kitchen tent
  • Toilet tent with bio-degradable toilet facilities
  • English-speaking, professional, and official tourist guide (2 guides for groups of over 8 people)
  • Chef and cooking equipment
  • Pack animals (to carry tents, food and cooking equipment)
  • Pack animals to carry personal gear up to a maximum of 10kg per person (including sleeping bag and sleeping pad)
  • 1 emergency horse every 6 persons
  • Wranglers
  • Accommodation for all our staff
  • Meals (03B, 04L, 03D + daily morning snack + daily tea service except last day). Vegetarian or special menus are available at no extra cost
  • One textile snack bag per person, to avoid the usage of plastic bags that contaminate our environment
  • Filtered boiled water from lunch time on first day onwards
  • Bio-degradable personal hand soaps
  • Bio-degradable dishwashing detergents used by our kitchen staff
  • Other things: hot water every morning and evening for washing purposes / boiled water to fill in your water bottle every morning and night, and at lunch time if requested with enough advance notice
  • First-aid kit including emergency oxygen bottle
  • Private transport from Cachora to your hotel in Cusco
  • 24-hour guest service: please ask for the emergency number available during your time of visit

What’s Not Included

  • Breakfast on the first day
  • Dinner on the last day
  • Tips: please note that our agency staff is well paid so please feel free to tip or not as you wish

Optional services at additional cost

This private service already includes a horse to carry up to 10kg of personal items, a personal sleeping bag and a personal sleeping pad.

Please contact us should you require additional services.

PRE-TREK INFORMATION

Climate

Cusco’s climate is divided into two differentiated seasons: the rainy season, from November to April (the heaviest rainfalls occurring usually between January – March); and the dry season, from May to October. The dry season is colder, so temperatures can drop to below 0 ºC at night.

Along the route to Choquequirao, temperatures range from 15-25ºC during the day if it’s sunny, to 10-20ºC during the day if not sunny. Temperatures drop in the evening and at night, especially in Choquequirao, at a higher elevation, reaching as low as 5ºC although rarely below. Warm clothes are necessary for this hike.

Appropriate clothing along the Inca Trail

Hiking pants and T-shirts are recommended during the day, eventually complemented by sweaters, fleeces and jackets in the evening. We recommend convertible hiking pants and / or shorts as some parts of the route run at low altitude and warm weather. It is also very convenient to have light raingear available in the daypack (rain poncho or jacket and/or rain pants) as the weather changes easily and rains can suddenly occur. At night, warm clothing is required along the route. The rest of necessary implements are included in the Pack List.

What’s Included

  • A backpack with a change of clothes for the whole period of the trek
  • Rain gear (jacket and pants if available) or rain poncho (plastic ponchos can be purchased in Cusco)
  • Strong footwear, waterproof trekking boots recommended
  • Sandals or jogging shoes for a higher comfort while at camp
  • Warm clothes, including jacket and fleeces
  • Flashlight/headlamp and batteries
  • Camera and batteries (batteries consume more quickly under cold conditions)
  • Hat or cap to protect you from the sun, rain and cold
  • Sun block
  • After-sun cream or hydrating cream for face and body
  • Insect repellent – minimum recommended 20% DEET – no malaria risk has been reported
  • Toilet paper and tissues
  • Snacks: biscuits, energy bars, chocolate, dried fruits, muesli, etc. Please note that we do provide a daily morning snack and our meal service is very complete and well supplied. This recommendation applies for all clients being used to a specific snack, as it may happen that it is not included in our selection.
    • Water container and water for the first morning.
    • Optionally: water-sterilizing tablets in case you pick up water from streams or rivers along the route. Otherwise, we provide filtered boiled water, which is safe to drink and has never reported any health issues.
  • Small towel
  • Swimsuit (if you wish to take a bath in the river)
  • Cash in soles and/or US$
  • Original passport
  • Optional: walking sticks or poles (rubber covers required in order not to damage archaeological sites)

HOW TO BOOK

If you would like to make a reservation for this trek, please follow the process below:

  1. Please make sure to read and agree with the Booking Terms & Conditions as your booking is subject to these terms.
  2. Then click on the Book Now button below. This will lead you to a Reservation Form that we kindly request you to fill out and submit.
  3. Once received by us, one of our travel consultants will reply within 48 hours to confirm or discuss options available for your booking.
  4. When your booking is confirmed, a money deposit will be requested within a specific time frame to secure your reservation.
  5. Once we have received your deposit and if received in time, your booking is secured and confirmed. A service confirmation form will be sent to you including all the details of your program.

In case you have any questions or require additional information, please contact us, we will be very glad to assist you.

WHY TREK WITH ENIGMA

  • Because all our treks are only and strictly operated by Enigma and its very professional staff. Other agents claiming daily departures operate their treks jointly with other companies in service rotation. Hence, you book a departure with tour operator A, which risks being operated by tour operator B without you knowing. ENIGMA has a high quality of service and a great reputation, which is only possible by ensuring that only ENIGMA staff operates ENIGMA treks. Even if we only have a single traveller for a set departure date, we will operate this trek.
  • Because we have and can prove an excellent treatment of our staff, including chefs, porters, and wranglers. ENIGMA not only complies with the Porter Law and Regulation, but our wages are above the minimum requested by law and above the average paid by most of the tour operators. All our staff eats well and more than enough, they are provided with sleeping bags, thermal clothes, sleeping tents, trekking boots, thick rain ponchos, harnesses, and lumbar support for their duty on field. Most importantly, they have a program ensuring them a minimum number of departures per month and hence, a minimum income per month as well.
  • Because we are very careful to choose and train the best guides for each group. About 80% of our guides work exclusively for ENIGMA and are highly trained, have excellent language proficiency and communication skills, and are regularly evaluated by the reports each guest fills out after each service. We have specific guides for special requests (ornithology, history and archaeology, flora and fauna, and also generalist guides). Our guides have been trained in Wilderness First Response and/or Advanced First Aid by NOLS and are updated every two years by local authorized schools. We also have guides proficient in several languages besides English and Spanish, including French, Italian, German, Chinese and Japanese. In all of our treks, not only on the Inca Trail, there will be a guide for every 8 guests with one of them being the head guide. This ensures a higher safety and attention to guests versus other operators.
  • Because we have some of the best equipment in field, renewed every year, employing excellent brand and performance tents, surgical steel vaiselle for best hygiene, the best water filters, therm-a-rest sleeping systems, with adequate-warmth bags and inflatable and high-isolation pads, and orthopedic foamy three-level base sleeping pads, among others.
  • Because we have one of the best in-field meal services in the area: throughout our decades of operation, our chefs have been trained by several institutes in Lima and Cusco, with chefs coming from the NY Culinary Institute and renowned chefs from Lima as well, with whom menus have been designed and implemented. Their operation ensures maximum hygiene. Above all, be prepared to not only have a superb trekking experience but also a culinary one, including generous and delicious breakfasts, snacks, lunches, tea services and dinners that we can adapt to your very specific requests. Our menus include a variety of Peruvian and international food and also cater to vegetarian, vegan and special dietary requests (Atkins, Gluten-free, etc.), all at no extra cost. ENIGMA is recognized for its gourmet meals, the quantity and quality of food, as well as for its outstanding menu design. We take natural, locally sourced ingredients on the treks and prepare them in the field; we do not take prepared low-quality food, the meals being an added experience in all of our programs.
  • Because ENIGMA’s responsible operation makes sure to have a minimal impact on the environment of the natural protected areas in which it runs. We train all our staff in our environmental policy, and while ENIGMA used to be the only Inca Trail Official Operator to run a yearly Inca Trail Clean-Up, this initiative has now been taken over by the government, and we continue to participate actively.
    • Because we pay legal taxes on all services contributing to the country’s growth and development. Other tour operators do not declare their sales or most of their earnings, or declare them with a lower value, thus allowing them to lower their prices through a dishonest competition. We always declare our earnings and pay the appropriate taxes.
  • Because all our Group Services have a maximum group size of 12, whereas most tour operators work with a maximum of 16 on the Inca Trail, since this is the number authorized by law, or even higher on other routes. We have established 12 as a maximum since this increases the quality of our service, as there are spots along the treks where being 16 makes it impossible to provide a personalized service.
  • Private Services have no size limit. Enigma guarantees to assign 1 guide for each 8 trekking guests, which means an additional guide is added as of guest number 9.
  • Also, our excellent treatment to our staff is not reduced in the low season: porter wages and guide fees are maintained throughout the rainy season, a gesture highly appreciated by our staff.
  • Finally, due to all of the above, we have very highly satisfied guests, as our numerous testimonials prove. In our Testimonials section of our website, you may find reports dating from 2003 (when we started our operation) to today. The original reports are available at our office in Cusco.
  • We are aware other operators may offer the Inca Trail or other programs at a lower price. This does not mean they are offering the same program at a lower price: the level of service will not be the same. We understand price is an issue, but we kindly request our potential guests and clients to choose a responsible tour operator as otherwise, you risk indirectly promoting the exploitation of rural communities and the growth of informal and illegal operators that do not support the country’s development and growth.

“Our team went above and beyond my expectations. The group Enigma was absolutely amazing. Thank you!”

Natalie Behrens /USA
Choquequirao 5d/4n
June 2019