The Inca Trail Hike | A Complete Guide — ALONG DUSTY ROADS

Health + Safety on the Inca Trail

Being in decent shape, acclimatising, carrying out a few practice hikes at home, keeping yourself hydrated, wearing in your hiking boots, and taking out the correct travel insurance are essential to staying safe and healthy on this hike; if you’ve made it this far down in our Inca Trail Guide and taken our advice on board, then you should have very few issues once you hit the Trail.

Will I Get Altitude Sickness on the Inca Trail?

Many of the most popular places in Peru, such as Cusco and Arequipa, are at high altitude; this means that for anyone planning a trip to Peru understanding altitude sickness (and how to avoid it) is incredibly important. In fact, not approaching altitude correctly is one of the biggest mistakes of travellers in South America.

The best way to minimise the likelihood and / or impact of altitude sickness is factoring in enough time into your Peru itinerary to acclimatise to the conditions. This means that it is incredibly foolish to arrive in Cusco, which is at 3,339m (11,151 feet) above sea-level, and leave the next day to do a strenuous hike or even start the Inca Trail. Your body needs the time to adjust!

A good rule of thumb is to give yourself and your body two easy days at altitude to acclimatise to the change, and to keep yourself well hydrated throughout. In our group of 10, three people were feeling the altitude on the first day of the tour due to lack of acclimatisation, but with more time, water, and a healthy dose of coca tea (the age-old Peruvian cure!) they soon adjusted and had no issues by day one of the hike itself.

For more information on altitude sickness, the symptoms, and how to deal with them in Peru, read this post.

What Do I Do With My Valuables?

This is one area where the tour companies could provide a better solution, although we appreciate our situation as travel photographers and bloggers who carry a lot of technology is a little unique.

Your main luggage will be left in a secure hotel luggage storage room in Cusco, however we do not advise leaving any important or valuable items there – instead, it’s better to take them with you and keep them in your own daypack. If hotels and tour companies offered lockers in Cusco which travellers could secure with their own padlock, then this would have allowed us to leave various cards, cash, and tech with confidence (and insurance coverage) in the city rather than carrying it all in our backpack on the trail (Andrew actually lugged 18 kgs on his back for the entirety of the trail because of this, so views himself as an honorary porter!)

Remember to pack smart and pack light for the Inca Trail – find out exactly what you need to bring and leave behind in our Inca Trail Packing List.

What About Medication?

Obviously, medical attention and facilities along the Inca Trail are pretty much non-existent so you need to bring any of your own required medication with you and keep it on your own person or in the daypack. If you do have any pre-existing medical requirements, inform your tour company when booking and also remind the CEO before setting out.

Don’t Skimp on Travel Insurance

We’ve mentioned this earlier, but with the understanding that this is such an important purchase before you step foot in Peru, we thought it only correct to mention it again here.

Despite your best efforts (as well as the efforts of your CEO, porters etc), things can and do go wrong; if you get sick whilst hiking and are unable to make your own way back, without travel insurance, your evacuation will get expensive pretty quickly. Now, the important thing to note here is that your bog-standard, one-size-fits-all travel insurance will almost certainly not cover you getting unwell at significant altitude – you’ll need to buy an add-on which specially covers hiking at high altitude. We have used True Traveller for years, and they offer an add-on for a reasonable price that covers most altitude hikes found in Peru.

If you have any doubts about whether you are covered for hiking the Inca Trail, speak with your insurance company. Lastly, make sure you have the policy number, insurance provider, and emergency contact number on your person whilst hiking.