This was a once in a lifetime trip! Action Peru Treks was INCREDIBLE and made the hike informative, safe and FUN! Our guide, Christian was PHENOMENAL! His humor, knowledge and personality made our experience unforgettable. The hike itself was beautiful and every day took my breath away. Peru Action Treks is the company to use if you are looking for an amazing time, fast responses/great communication, the best food and the trip of a life time.
Hiking the Inca Trail with Action Peru Treks was an unforgettable trip. Even though we were traveling in the Amazon rainforest, our porters and our chef Illaquin made every campsite feel like home. The tents were comfortable, the food was delicious, and we were excited for every new day.
The hike itself is a special experience, with wildlife and incredible vistas at every turn. We were lucky enough to get clear views from the Sun Gate and guardhouse once we got to Machu Picchu, and I’ll never forget those images.
The best part of the whole trip was without a doubt our tour guide Christian. He was so kind and patient with hikers of all skill levels. I really enjoyed speaking with him during our hike, either in English (he is fluent) or in Spanish (I am not fluent, but he taught me a ton). It was awesome to learn about the Incan civilization as we visited different archaeological sites, and he also helped us to understand the lives of the Peruvians who live in small towns along the trail. He was able to connect with our whole group, making the journey feel special for everyone. I hope to stay in touch with him, and I’d recommend Christian to anyone visiting Cuzco.
I cannot begin to express how amazing this experience was!!!! I was with my fiancé, sister, her bf, and his sister and we had a private tour with Action Peru Treks and it was above and beyond expectations, truly full service and completely customized for our group. We had a tour guide, Darío, and 12 porters (11 porters and 1 chef, Joel) and they were all incredible. Every meal was multi- course and unbelievable, ready for us by the time we got to the lunch or camp spots, but of course we wouldn’t eat before tea time! How Joel made what he did while we were on the trail with limited supplies blew our minds! We also had a few dietary restrictions as well (no dairy for one and a vegan) and he was able to accommodate! He even made a cake for my sisters birthday on the last day, unbelievable!! They also boiled all of our water for us so we never had to worry about filtering it ourselves. The rest of the porters carried our tents, sleeping bags, air mattresses and duffle bags with majority of supplies (we only carried rain gear, water and sunscreen in our day packs) and would leave after us breaking down camp and pass us on the trail to set everything up again for us before we got to camp. ****important: one of the reason we chose Action Peru Treks and we saw it in real life on the trail is how the company treats the porters. They are all given uniforms (proper rain gear, backpacks, shoes etc) while we saw other porters hiking this insane hike in sandals, horrible backpacks etc. They all worked so incredibly hard to make our experience amazing, it was very important to us to make sure they had proper gear.
Darío, our guide, was the best. He is so knowledgeable about the many archaeological sites we saw along the way, Incan history, flora and fauna along the trail and full of great stories from past trips. When we finally got to Machu Picchu, he took us through the whole site as well.
I completely believe there is no better company to tour with on the Incan Trail. Other lower cost companies are horrible don’t provide this level of service (unsafe water, you need to carry all of your own gear etc…) or they don’t treat their porters well. Action Peru is the best of everything and make the magical experience that much more amazing.
Other tips unrelated to Action Peru: March was a great time to go. Not very busy on the trail and pretty warm. We did get some rain but it wasn’t bad at all. If you can, the classic Incan trail is the way to go. We saw 10+ different archaeological sites along the way, slept in a small farming town one of the nights, and the view of Machu Picchu from the Sun gate is unmatched. It’s not an easy hike so prepare adequately, I got a little altitude sickness on day 2 (dead woman’s pass is ~14k feet!) but so rewarding.
Overall a life changing experience.