BootsnAll Travel Community

Tom Robbins and Gemma Bowes
Sunday May 29, 2005
The Observer

The Inca Trail, one of the world's most celebrated adventure hikes, has become so overrun with tourists that a leading tour operator is dropping it from its program altogether

The image of the trail's destination, the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu, surrounded by mist-wreathed mountains, has been an icon of adventure travel for years and inspired generations of back-packers to head to Peru. But now the reality is crowded campsites and clogged trails.

'This trail is no longer the unique experience that it once was, and the solitude sought by trekkers has virtually disappeared,' said Charlie Hopkinson, marketing director of Dragoman, which will run its final trip to the Inca Trail this summer. 'Too many recent travellers have commented on how unbelievably commercial the trail has become, with up to 2,000 people trekking at any one time.'

Ironically, Dragoman's decision is partly the result of efforts by the Peruvian authorities to regulate the number of tourists on the route after it boomed in the late 1990s. The latest regulations have reduced the number starting the trail each day to a maximum of 500. However, they also demand that everyone stay in the same official camp sites, which Dragoman complains, concentrates the tourists together.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/travel/story/0,6903,1494696,00.html

Makes me wish I was older and got the chance to do it before it got like this. Perhaps things will slow down now? Probably not.

I don't think it will slow down, only speed up. It's kind of sad, but I guess there are many places to visit around the world.

Apparently there is another route up to Macchu Picchu that isn't loaded with tourists.

Donovan

hi, new here

I'm going on an encounter trip from august 16th to september 23rd this year (05)

I was going to do the inca trail but its now too expensive at £320 for a trekking permit

Ther is another route, which a local peruvian company called Andina Travel pioneered for dragoman / encounter. It ends up at Macchu Picchu and takes the same time as the classic inca trail, just no trekking permits needed.

I'm doing the new trek, the classic is just too expensive (it'd really screw up the budget ) and overcrowded for my liking.

Things won't slow down, it's just a popular trek to do. I did it last year. The trail is limited to 500 trekkers a day (due to overcrowding, they've put in regulations). It is pretty busy. And by far, Day 4, you're hiking fast paced with 499 other people...that's when you really notice how busy the classic trip is. But it really depends on what you want...

There are other routes and options available with different time frames as well (2 day, 5 day, 7 day, etc). I wanted to do the classic trip because it traversed through the mountains and encountered important sites in the Incan civilization. There's one trail that you can take that, I believe for the most part, goes along the Urubamba river, a low road. This wouldn't challenge me enough..I wanted to see if I could make it all the way up to Dead Woman's Pass, a physical and mental challenge for me as I had never done anything close to that before.

rc, the price you've been quoted is because you're going through a UK company. Last year, I paid $270 US for the 4 day classic Inca Trail trip, which included meals, camping equipment, etc. If you went with a Peruvian company (i.e. no middleman like Encounter), it would not be £320 (about $560 US)!!! Last year, I went with SAS (excellent services, bilingual guides), and their prices for this year's classic trek are $330 US for non-students and $300 US for students.

One suggestion I have for anyone looking to do the Inca Trail trek...book through a Peruvian agency. You'll be supporting the local people that way, and will not have to pay some exhorbitant amount through an agency through the states, the UK, etc. You can inquire with some of the Peruvian agencies online (SAS, United Mice, and Andean Life have good reputations).