The Inca
Trail is Peru's most popular trekking route. It
runs for more than 40km and reaches 4,200 m.a.s.l. at
its highest point, the Warmiwañuska or Dead Woman's
Pass. It arrives to Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate,
a location that overlooks the old Inca citadel, offering
some spectacular views of the complex.
The stone-paved trail is part of the more than 23,000
km of roads built by the Incas across South America.
It crosses an impressive range of natural landscapes
and eco-systems, from thick tropical jungle to the bear,
unwelcoming rocks of the Andean mountains. It was only
discovered in 1960.