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En route to Machu Picchu (Rob Rachowiecki) |
You can't avoid huge crowds en route to the best known site in Peru, so don't try. Just appreciate Machu Picchu for what it is: a mysterious 500-year-old Inca ruin that wasn't known by outsiders until Yale historian Hiram Bingham reached it in 1911. The most dramatic of Inca sites, set on a remote high Andean ridge, it's now the centerpiece of a national park and a world heritage site. Though everyone does it, the hike isn't that easy; the steep climb from the trailhead at 7,000 feet over 14,200-foot "Huarmiwaqusca" (Dead Woman's Pass) exhausts thousands of trekkers a year. Because of the altitude, we recommend at least three days to enjoy it, though many folks take four.
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