Lares Trek vs Inca Trail

Lares trek vs Inca Trail, compared

Both are 4-day treks from Cusco that end with a guided visit of Machu Picchu; they differ on the permit, what you pass on the way, where you sleep and how you arrive. The comparison uses the top-rated tour on each route, both run by TreXperience.

Which is harder, quieter, easier to book?

The Inca Trail wins on history and the arrival; Lares wins on booking, comfort and contact with people who live in the valleys. Both are guided and supported by a crew, and both reach Machu Picchu on day four.

Is the Lares trek easier than the Inca Trail?

In practice, yes: Lares days are broken up by drives, a hot-springs stop and village visits, while the Inca Trail is four full days on foot with Dead Woman's Pass at 4,215 m. Lares still camps high — the Blue Lagoon site is at 3,900 m and day two crosses Condor Pass — so you need the same two or three days in Cusco to acclimatise before you start.

The Inca Trail is also harder underfoot, with long runs of original stone steps; Lares follows valley paths between villages. If steps worry your knees, Lares is the kinder trek.

Villages on the Lares trek vs ruins on the Inca Trail

The Lares trek is about living Andean culture; the Inca Trail is about the Inca past. On Lares you visit Calca's market and the Inca site of Ancashmarca, see the giant Puya Raimondi plants, soak in the Lares hot springs, watch weavers at a cooperative and walk past alpacas and potato fields to Cancha Cancha. On the Inca Trail you pass Runkurakay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca and Wiñay Wayna before the Sun Gate.

Camping on the Inca Trail vs Lares camps and a hotel

The Inca Trail is three nights in tents at fixed camps; TreXperience's Lares tour camps twice — at the Blue Lagoon and near Cancha Cancha — and spends the third night in a 3-star hotel. That hotel night before Machu Picchu is the comfort most people notice, and reviewers single out the two chefs who cook on the trail.

On both treks the crew carries the camp; sleeping bags, air mattresses and poles are for hire on the Lares tour, as on most Inca Trail tours.

Lares trek and the short Inca Trail in one trip

If you cannot choose, TreXperience sells a 5-day trip that walks the Lares valleys first and then the 2-day short Inca Trail from Km 104 to the Sun Gate. It needs a short-trail permit, but not a classic one, so it can be open when the 4-day trek is sold out. It is new on GetYourGuide, with no reviews yet.

The two tours we compared

Inca Trail4-Day Inca Trail & Panoramic Train★ 4.94 (617) · ≤16 · Circuit 1 & 3 · non-refundable

$798 iCheck availability

Lares4-Day Lares Trek & Panoramic Train★ 4.94 (22) · 2 camps + hotel · non-refundable

$690 iCheck availability