Comments on: The Salkantay Trek: From Glaciers to Machu Picchu

By: Giovana

Giovana — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 03:42:03 +0000

Hi!! Great post! I have a question though. When did you guys did the trekking? I’m going to Cusco next week, i really wanna go to the Salkantay trek, but i’m afraid i’ll only have raining days… What do you say? Thank u so far!!!

By: ST

ST — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 16:14:38 +0000

Salkantay is a great trek but a challenge too, almost all the people who have taken the trek have a really great experience. Just one suggestion for the those that will do the trek; acclimatize at least 2 or 3 days before, to avoid the altitude sickness, and of course take some coca leaf tea.

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 22:05:52 +0000

In reply to tom jorde.

You are welcome.

Chewing coca leaves and drinking coca tea generally felt helpful to us. It certainly did not seem to hurt.

Most importantly of all at altitude is to drink a lot of water, as in several liters of water a day.

Most mountain guides and sherpas we have spoken to have warned us away from Diamox and suggested that it’s a last resort. (By the way, if you take Diamoxx you must drink even more water because of what it does to your blood.)

For more on our thoughts on Diamoxx, read item #6 here: https://uncorneredmarket.com/around-the-world-travel-health-tips/

Good luck and enjoy Salkantay!

By: tom jorde

tom jorde — Tue, 20 May 2014 19:35:26 +0000

Thanks for the great blog post and pictures. My family (ages 67, 63, 27, 25, 25) will be hiking the Sulkantay Trail this coming June (with REI – staying in the mountain lodges along the way). We definitely believe the journey is as important as the destination! Two questions regarding altitude: did you find the coca leaf tea and leaves helpful? Did you or anyone in your group take Diamox?

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 02:28:52 +0000

@Adam: Absolutely terrific. Thank you for the feedback and all the best enjoying the great experience that the Salkantay Trek is. Any more questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 21:24:00 +0000

Great post. I am doing the Salkantay Trail next year! I have read a lot of stuff and have to say this is the best written of all of the posts I have read and certainly the most inspiring.

By: Audrey Scott

Audrey Scott — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:30:18 +0000

@Tove: Glad you enjoyed the post and thanks for bringing up an important question. We arrived in Cusco without any Machu Picchu tickets/permits, but our Salkantay Trek tour included this. And we booked our tour in Cusco just a few days in advance. All the tour companies we talked to in Cusco include tickets/permits to Machu Picchu – it’s as if they reserve them in advance with the expectation that people will book last minute. If you are going in high season, then you may want to talk with a travel agency in advance to book both your Machu Picchu permits/tickets and transportation as buses and trains fill up quickly.

By: Tove

Tove — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 11:31:20 +0000

Hi, and thank you for a great post and one of my favourite travel websites! I’m not sure anyone will se this, but i thought i’d try! I have a question about the entrance permit in to machu picchu. Did you book that one in advance and got to cuzco with the entrance permit but no tour booked? Because of the daily limit of 2500 people in to machu picchu, maybe that’s a good idea? And then hope to get a good price on a tour in cuzo?

Thanks again! 🙂
Tove

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:03:46 +0000

@Jonny: Glad this post was helpful. It’s a difficult decision between the traditional Machu Picchu trail and Salkantay, but you can’t go wrong. As for the panorama of Salkantay and Wayna Picchu, one of these days we are going to write a how-to. It’s on the list. Funny you noticed the detail of the woman and her mobile phone in the panorama. Didn’t notice that ’til now.

By: Jonny

Jonny — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:47:29 +0000

Great post, like everyone’s said, helps making a decision between the two. Fantastic panorama, going to have to learn how you did that. There’s a lady in an orange hat on her mobile phone looking like she’s just popped to the shops in the Huayna Piccu picture.. classic.