5-Day Salkantay Trek to MachuPicchu with Optional Hot Spring Bath

I booked the 5 days Salkantay Trek with another company without knowing that KB Adventures would be the organizing operator. The trek in itself was amazing, the food was good and I recommend to do this tour if you don't mind if it's quite crowdy. However not with this company. They have been too many different informations for not to say wrong informations. Sadly the list is long, I am gonna pick the big ones to share with you. I was told in Cusco that I will be with a guide from Cusco to Cusco. I was also told that I would be better to buy the Machu Pichu ticket in Aguas Calientes with the guide to be in the same group at the same hour. At the third night our leading guide, Maritza, told me that it would be better for me to skip the hike to Hydroelectrika to be earlier in Aguas calientes to buy the Machu Pichu ticket. She came up with that information at 9pm when it was hardly possible to communicate with my booking agency in Cusco. Another member of our groupe got a similar situation the next day at the same hour about the guiding in Machu Pichu. I do not understand why Maritza was waiting so late with these bad news. I totally understand that it is not her fault that the agencies have a cruel lack of communication (or do not care?), but - even if it is uncomfortable for her and Fernando the second guide - it is part of her job to find solutions and stay polite. Finally I skipped that hike to be early in Aguas Calientes. She announced us an additional fee of 30 soles pp. The transfer bus was one hour late, then we had to hike on ourselves to Aguas Calientes and to buy the tickets without the guide. She made us buy tickets for 6am and the next day we woke up early to be at Machu Pichu at 6am to wait one hour for the other members of our groupe while Maritza was complaining that is was too cold. No guides with us to take the train back. Some other points were confusing to annoying. The main complaint is how the guides handled the problems. We could see that they were annoyed when it came to problem solving. They were more and more tired and less and less likeable. This is not a professional attitude. Even getting the free t-shirt became complicated. Fernando said "Just walk into the office and they will give to you." At the KB office they refused to give us the t-shirts without writing a TripAdvisor review. I told the KB woman that it would better for them if I won't do that, but she remained firm in her position.

Macchu Picchu USA is not a tour operator. Our first surprise came when we reached Cusco and tried to visit their HQ because they were not responding: it is located within a shopping center where no one heard of them. After reaching back through TripAdvisor Customer Support, we finally managed to meet « the guide » which turned out to be a glorified salesman that did not accompany us for the trip. The fake guide promised to arrange a meeting with the group before the tour left but did not deliver - cancelling 1h before. The tour did not go as described: incomplete Macchu Picchu visit, no zipline contrary to what was advertised, no handling of our luggage for the last day of walking contrary to what advised. The tour itself was great but handled by another travel agency, KB tours, which I would recommend if you travel to Cusco. When we informed Macchu Picchu USA of those issues, they proposed to arrange a free tour for us but that we had already done. When informed we already went, they stopped answering our messages. An expensive and unreliable middle man. Go directly to one of the agencies that actually walk the Macchu Picchu treks and avoid paying a hefty margin to incompetents middle man that have no clue what they’re selling.

My son was travelling for 4 months in South America and when he asked if I'd like to accompany him to trek and see Machu Pichu I jumped at the chance. The trek was superbly agonised and the food was amazing! I wouldn't say it was easy for a 54 year old but my son and the group and guide we were with kept me going. Worth every day of waking up at 4:45am with a cup of cocoa tea delivered to you! Our guide, Felix, was so knowledgeable about all the history, land and culture so we were well educated along every step of the way. We had the add-ons, with the poles, sleeping bags and the extra day hike to Rainbow Mountain. Totally recommend it to anyone that wants to do it in style and enjoy it!

Our guide Nilton was part of a sister company called KB Adventures. He was very enthusiastic and helpful along the entire route, took time to check on the group and ensure we were all in good stead. I thoroughly enjoyed this trek. Day 2 is by far the toughest / longest but it all evens out. We were fed well and as a plant based machine I felt very looked after and was rarely hungry - that coupled with pre bought nuts and some delicious chocolate from San Pedro market kept me fuelled up. MachuPicchu USA guide was very informative and was able to help with surplus bags and logistics whilst on the trek. Thank you for all the incredible memories!

If you're going to do the Salkantay, I highly recommend booking through Machu Picchu Reservations and asking for Carlos and Huevito. They were both extremely knowledgeable, fun to talk to, and always looking for ways to engage everyone. I've heard some horror stories about other booking services and guides. Trust me: this was the best money I've ever spent. You won't regret it.

We have booked this trip as part of our honeymoon and we don't regret it! It was a great experience! Our guide was Raul Bueno and we had a wonderful time together. He provided great info, was funny and make our group interact really great. The fact that he woke us up with coca tea every morning was really an added bonus! Thanks, Raul! We were 10 in the group, only couples and all of us in the same age range - the fact they have grouped us together was the best. We had a really great time. The information provided, the explanations and the accommodation were really good. And about the food - it was EXCELLENT! Our group chef, Freddy, did wonders! Thank you, all, for making this experience an unforgettable one!

This trip was recommended to us by a friend and was more than worth it! We had a good guide, a nice group and a great cooking team who served us the best food. The trips were sometimes tough, but you were always rewarded with a beautiful view! One day we both saw a glacier up close and spent the night in a jungle. The last day Machu Picchu is an ideal reward for five great days. If you have the chance to zip line too, definitely do! The hot springs are also worth it!

Our guide was juan, very funny and well organized. Two or three times we had a inca-history-lesson with him. The overnight-places are very cute and adventurous and the tents were in good shape. The food was always amazing. Every morning you get waken up by some assistants with tea. Overall it was so exiting and we recommend it a lot

A once-in-a-lifetime experience... but without an agency and without a guide! By paying a trek to 500CHF per person my friend and I thought the Service offered by the agency for this price would be impeccable, unfortunately this was not the case at all. Initially, we had to send an email to give them the name of our hotel in Cuzco so that one of the guides could come to give us the latest information as well as to know the location of the hotel to which he should pick us up on the D-day. The information given by the guide was not at all complete: he mentions showers at each camp (essential for days of 6 hours of walking), plugs to charge mobiles and WIFI. The truth was that the first camp did not have a shower, that in the second the hot shower was paid and unhealthy, that in the third if we did not participate in the extra (so paid) activity of thermal baths we would not have had a shower either, finally, the fourth had one. For the charging points, the camps were not equipped where then you had to pay for to charge your battery. The WIFI was indeed existing but paying again. "No Service" for us during the first 2 days. As for the cooking, we almost always ate well and had plenty enough, the lunches could have been more consistent seen the days of walking ahead. Secondly, as we did not receive any information regarding what was included in our trek or not, we thought that all the things we would do would be taken into account in the 500CHF. However, we had to give “tips” to our kitchen team (40sol p / person), tips (10sol p / person) for the people who transported our extra bags (bag given by the agency to “relieve” us of the weight of the backpacks), we also had to pay for water at all breakpoints (because we never have water in meals, always tea or sugary drinks), hot shower, charging mobiles, baths (optional activity but only solution to shower). In addition, throughout the trek we were ill-informed about the organization of things. Information sketchy, imprecise and often given “to the snatch” which we were very tired. The guide was very kind and cultured about the nature around us, however he was not clear and organized enough in what he said and did. On the fourth day, we (our group) even had to wait 20 minutes for him to catch up with us. What disappointed us a lot was that our Machu Picchu tickets, issued on the fourth evening, gave us access to the site from 8:00 a.m. while our entire group had it since 7:00 a.m. So we couldn’t enjoy the magical moment of visiting the site with our group and lost contact with them when it was the last moments we could be together. Speaking of which, this trek allowed us to meet a real small family of twelve from all over the world. We created incredible bonds day by day and they were beautiful moments shared. Evenings of laughter and dance! Finally, the trek included, it is true, really nice things like an activity with zip lines that flew over beautiful Peruvian landscapes. However, if we combine everything included in the price, we unfortunately still cannot understand the amount of this trek considering what we have experienced. We advise you to make this “pilgrimage” to Salkantay alone because you do not depend on anyone, the paths are very well marked (it has people on the paths, so you will easily find your way), you can sleep in hotels and therefore spend better nights than ours, and you will pay much less for all this!

I did the trek of Salkantay (5 days, 4 nights) in a group of 6 people with a phenomenal guide and highly recommended, called Ayben. After the second day when arriving at the Salkantay open I thought there can be no more wonder and adventure but I was wrong: every day had special things, nature, excellent food (!) from the llama path team, thermals and in the end of course Machu Picchu. Thanks to the very good organization and excellent team of llama path the walk became a unique experience. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.