We are a Cusco-based tour operator running our own departures on the Salkantay Trek, the Inca Trail and the classic routes to Machu Picchu. Our guides, cooks and muleteers are local and work with us directly, not through subcontractors. On the Salkantay Trek you sleep in our own Sky Star Domes, with transparent walls facing the glaciers and the night sky — two nights on the 4 and 5-day itineraries, one on the 3-day version.
Machu Picchu Team is a tour operator based in Cusco, running our own departures on the Salkantay Trek, the Inca Trail, the Inca Jungle and the classic routes to Machu Picchu. Our guides, cooks and muleteers are local and work with us directly, not through subcontractors.
That means we can tell you honestly which route fits your dates, your fitness and your budget — and adapt the plan when the weather, the mountain or ticket availability says otherwise.
There are hundreds of agencies in Cusco selling the same routes. These six things are what actually change when you book with us.
We are not a booking agency that resells someone else's departure. The guides, cooks and muleteers on your trek are our own team, and the equipment is ours. When something needs to change on the mountain — the weather, the pace, a traveler who is struggling — the decision is made by people who work for us, not by a subcontractor you never met.
On our 4 and 5-day Salkantay itineraries you sleep two nights in our Sky Star Domes: geodesic domes with 360° transparent walls, proper mattresses and pillows, looking straight out at the glaciers and the night sky. Two guaranteed nights, not one, and not a tent on the cold sections of the route. Very few operators on the Salkantay can offer that.
Because we run the operation ourselves, our departures do not depend on filling a minimum group. You will never hear from us that your trip is cancelled for lack of travelers. Pick your date and we go.
Certified guides, staff trained in first aid, satellite communication in remote sections and equipment kept under strict maintenance. Every guide carries a first aid kit and oxygen. These are the routes we walk every week, and the safety standard applies equally to travelers and to the crew working alongside them.
We cap our departures deliberately. Smaller groups mean a guide who knows how each traveler is doing, photographs without a crowd in the frame, and a group that actually functions as one. Where the itinerary allows, we adapt the services to what each traveler booked rather than moving everyone through the same template.
We follow leave-no-trace practices on every route, and we pay fair wages to everyone on the team — porters, guides, cooks and support crew alike. We also work directly with the Andean communities along our routes, hiring locally and involving them in the tourism their land makes possible. It is not a marketing line: it is why the same crews come back to work with us season after season.
Our rates reflect what these tours actually cost to run well in the local market, within Peruvian regulations. We are not the cheapest option and we are not trying to be the most expensive one either. A low price should not mean underpaid porters or cut corners, and a high price does not automatically buy a better mountain. What you pay covers a properly equipped, properly staffed trip — and leaves the people running it earning a living from it.
Trip planning falls apart in the gaps between messages. Our office is a block from the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, staffed seven days a week, and the same team that answers your first WhatsApp is the one that runs your briefing the night before departure. If something changes while you are on the trail, your family can reach a real person in Cusco, not a form.
The briefing happens the evening before departure, in our office, and it covers what most agencies leave for the trail: the exact pick-up time, what the horses carry and what you carry, which meals are included, where the showers cost money, and what is genuinely not covered. You should know what your trip involves before you hand over a payment, not after.
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Simple answers to help you plan your trip with clarity.
You can book directly through our website or by contacting us via email or WhatsApp. Our team will guide you step by step and confirm availability before securing your reservation.
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Real experiences shared by travelers who explored Peru with our local team.
Tell us your travel dates, group size and the route you are considering. Our Cusco-based team will help you choose the right itinerary, permits, tickets and timing.
A warm mountain lodge for our Salkantay passengers, surrounded by coffee farms, cloud forest and quiet Andean views. It is a restful stop to shower, enjoy local food and recover before continuing toward Machu Picchu.
Lucmabamba Lodge is part of the experience we offer to travelers hiking the Salkantay route to Machu Picchu. It gives our guests a calmer, more comfortable place to rest, shower, enjoy local food and wake up close to the green landscapes of the cloud forest.
Here, the journey feels slower and more personal: cloud forest views, a real rest for hikers, simple comfort, quiet evenings, coffee culture and a natural gateway before continuing toward Machu Picchu.
