Inca Trail permits update

23rd February 2011

Update: Wednesday 23 February 2011

You may have read the scare stories in certain sections of the weekend press over the allocation of Inca Trail permits for the 2011 season.

These articles have suggested that the new process devised by the Regional Cultural Directorate (DRC) in Cuzco is a "lottery" and that some tour operators are being given priority over others when it comes to securing permits for their clients.

The authors of these articles have misrepresented the facts over the permit issue, and we would like to reassure our clients that there has been little effect on the processes we follow when purchasing permits for the Inca Trail. Here is a brief explanation of the permit system:  

1) In the past, permits for the entire trekking year were released for sale on one date (usually the start of February, which coincides with the annual closure of the trail for cleanup and maintenance). 500 permits are available each day - this includes porters, trekking guides and trekkers, so the actual number available to the public is somewhere around 250.  

2) This year, the DRC allowed advance registration in mid-January for all Inca Trail trekking dates, with permits (again 500 per day) being released from 1 February onwards. At this point, we sent the names and passport details of all Exodus clients with firm Inca Trail bookings to the DRC in order to pre-register for the permits. Any bookings made between mid-January and 1 February were also advised to the DRC in advance of the permit allocation.  

3) Permits for treks beginning in March 2011 were released on 1 February, with April permits being released on 4 February, May on 8 February etc. Again, all clients with bookings made prior to these release dates have had their details sent to the DRC and permits have been purchased. Every Peruvian tour operator licensed to sell permits has been given these release dates and there has been no staggering of releases by tour operator, only by trekking month. 

We are now at the stage where all our clients have permits for the Inca Trail up to the end of September, with October permits going on sale today (25 February). All trek dates up to the end of January 2012 will be released by 8 March 2011, and we are confident that all of our customers who are currently booked on departures from October onwards will be able to secure permits. 

We carefully monitor the number of permits remaining for every departure date of our treks, and our website is updated as soon as permits have run out for a given date. Before we accept any new booking, we check there are permits available and purchase them immediately. If there are no permits available, we will advise of alternative dates which still have availability or offer an alternative trekking route which does not require permits (see our Moonstone Trek page for more details). This is the same process we have followed in previous years when there was no staggering of permit release since the same "first come first served" rule still applies once they have gone on general sale. 

As the majority of permits have already been released, and demand appears extremely strong this year with March to May trek dates almost entirely sold out already, we would like to stress the importance of making early bookings for your preferred Inca Trail dates in order to avoid disappointment. 

Previous update: 02 February 2011

Celebrate 100 Years of Hiram Bingham's Machu Picchu

Are you one of the many people with Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail on your ultimate travel wish list? Well, this year marks 100 years since the magnificent Inca citadel was brought to the world's attention by Hiram Bingham and his team of Yale archaeologists, so what better time to tick this awe-inspiring ancient wonder off the list?

If you are thinking of walking the famous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu this year you really need to be booking your holiday early!

The number of permits for the Inca Trail is now limited to 500 people per day on all trails from all access points. This also includes the trek crews and porters who escort all tours on the trail. Permits are issued on a first come first served basis and we anticipate that they will begin to run out for the peak periods of 2011 by the end of March, so it's crucial you book sooner rather than later.

However, if you do find that permits are no longer available for your chosen dates then take a look at our alternative to the traditional Inca Trail route - The Moonstone Trek.

This takes a higher route, well off the tourist path and offers remote walking past several recently discovered Inca and pre-Inca archaeological sites. And you still visit Machu Picchu at the end of the trek!

For the full story on this exciting route, please click here!

Trips requiring an Inca Trail permit: