Choose the Inca Trail if you want to walk on an original Inca road past Inca sites and arrive at Machu Picchu on foot through the Sun Gate, and you can book months ahead. Choose the Lares Trek if your dates are sold out or close, if you are more interested in Andean villages and high mountain scenery than in ruins, or if you want to spend less. Lares needs no Inca Trail permit, but its highest pass is higher: about 4,700 m (15,420 ft), against 4,215 m on the Inca Trail. Here is the honest comparison, with the figures from our own two treks.
- No permiton Lares: it can be booked at short notice.
- 4,700 mLares’ highest pass, nearly 500 m above Dead Woman’s Pass.
- US$580 vs US$795our Lares 4-day and Classic Inca Trail 4-day prices.
Inca Trail vs Lares at a glance
| Classic Inca Trail, 4 days | Lares Trek, 4 days | |
|---|---|---|
| Permit | Required; 500 people a day including staff, sold out months ahead in high season | Not needed; you only need a Machu Picchu ticket |
| Walking | About 42 km (26 mi) over 4 days | About 35 km (22 mi) over 3 days, then the Machu Picchu visit |
| Highest point | 4,215 m (13,828 ft), Dead Woman’s Pass | About 4,700 m (15,420 ft), Pachacutec Pass |
| The path | Original Inca stone road and many stairs | Mountain and village paths, fewer stairs |
| Along the way | Inca sites almost every few hours: Llaqtapata, Runkurakay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca, Wiñay Wayna | Quechua farming villages such as Quishuarani and Cancha Cancha, lakes, glaciers, llamas and alpacas |
| Nights | 3 nights camping | 2 nights camping + 1 night in a hotel in Aguas Calientes |
| Who carries the gear | Porters, plus up to 5 kg of your things | Horses, plus up to 7 kg of your things; an emergency horse goes with the group |
| Arriving at Machu Picchu | On foot through the Sun Gate on day 4 | By train to Aguas Calientes on day 3, and the first buses up on day 4 |
| Price with us | From US$795 | From US$580 |
Figures from our tour pages. The Classic Inca Trail is US$795 for 2027 departures booked by 31 December 2026, and US$820 for bookings made from 2027.
The real difference: arriving at Machu Picchu
This is what most comparisons skip. On the Inca Trail, the trek and Machu Picchu are one journey: you walk the last kilometers on the same road the Incas used and see the citadel for the first time from the Sun Gate. On Lares, the trek ends in the Sacred Valley; you take the train to Aguas Calientes, sleep in a hotel and go up to Machu Picchu by bus the next morning, like any other visitor. It is a great visit, rested and showered, but it is not the arrival on foot.
If that arrival on foot matters to you and the Classic route is full, there is a middle way: our Lares Trek + Short Inca Trail in 6 days combines the Lares villages with the last section of the Inca Trail, from Km 104 to the Sun Gate. It needs a 2-day Inca Trail permit, which has its own quota of 250 people a day.
Difficulty and altitude
Both treks are rated challenging. They are hard in different ways:
- The Inca Trail is a stair trek. Day 2 climbs about 1,215 m to Dead Woman’s Pass, and day 3 drops about 1,400 m on Inca steps. See how hard the Inca Trail is.
- Lares goes higher but on softer ground. Day 1 crosses a pass at about 4,200 m, and day 2, the hardest, climbs to the Pachacutec Pass at about 4,700 m before dropping to Cancha Cancha at 3,700 m. Day 3 is a short descent of about 3 hours to Huaran, in the Sacred Valley.
- Altitude matters more on Lares. You sleep around 3,700 m and cross a pass close to 4,700 m, so two or three days of acclimatization in Cusco or the Sacred Valley are essential. Read our guide to altitude sickness.
People and culture
The Inca Trail is about the Incas: ruins, terraces and the road itself, most of it inside the protected Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary. Lares is about the people who live in the Andes today. You camp next to Quechua-speaking farming communities, pass herds of llamas and alpacas, and your guide translates and teaches you some words of Quechua. In Cancha Cancha, one of the most traditional villages on the route, there is time to meet a local family.
Which one should you choose?
- Choose the Inca Trail if…you want Inca sites every day and to walk into Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate, and you can reserve before the permits sell out. Check the 2027 permit status.
- Choose Lares if…your dates are already sold out or less than a few months away, you prefer villages and mountain landscapes, you want fewer hikers and a lower price, and you are comfortable with a higher pass.
- Choose the combination if…you want both the villages and the arrival on foot: Lares plus the Short Inca Trail in 6 days.
Want a shorter Lares without Machu Picchu? Our Lares Valley Trek in 3 days starts at the Lares hot springs and crosses a pass at about 4,420 m. Still comparing? See all the alternatives to the Inca Trail and our Inca Trail vs Salkantay comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Lares Trek harder than the Inca Trail?
Do you need a permit for the Lares Trek?
Does the Lares Trek end at Machu Picchu?
Which is cheaper, Lares or the Inca Trail?
Can I combine the Lares Trek and the Inca Trail?
About the author
Raquel Sánchez co-founded Terra Quechua Peru in Cusco in 2012 together with Edwin Medina, both with extensive trekking experience. She writes our Inca Trail guides from the day-to-day work of securing permits and organizing every departure with our guides, cooks and porters.