Inca Adventure — Downhill

Wel­come to Peru!

We offer an air­port pick-up on Day 1 at 11:00 a.m. from the air­port in Cus­co (Ale­jan­dro Velas­co Astete Inter­na­tion­al Air­port CUZ). After col­lect­ing your bag­gage, head out to the main pas­sen­ger pick-up area of the air­port, and look for your shut­tle dri­ver with a Sacred Rides sign in their hand. We’ll then trans­fer you to our hotel in Cusco.

After set­tling in to your hotel in Cus­co, we’ll head out for an ear­ly lunch near the bustling main plaza of Cusco.

After lunch, we’ll head back to our hotel to build our bikes. We’ll then head out right from our hotel for a short intro ride to the upper part of the city. Once we are on top of the city, we’ll ride down an Inca trail with a few sur­pris­es thrown in. We’ll end our ride back at our hotel leav­ing enough time to explore Cus­co or catch up on a few lost Z’s from travel.

Tonight, we’ll head to one of the best restau­rants in Cus­co. At din­ner, we’ll take the time to review in detail our full itin­er­ary for the week and answer any ques­tions you may have. Tonight, we can enjoy some of the nightlife this Impe­r­i­al city has to offer.

We’ll trans­fer ear­ly in the morn­ing to the town of Chinchero at 3,750 masl (12,327 ft.), the start of one of the most demand­ing down­hill trails in Cus­co. We’ll cross the Inca site of Chinchero with its incred­i­ble stone archi­tec­ture and infi­nite rock steps to then enter into a deep canyon that will take us direct­ly to the Sacred Val­ley at the vil­lage of Urquil­los (2,950 masl / 9,697 ft.). This is a one hour down­hill with more than 750 meters of ver­ti­cal descent!

We’ll shut­tle up to the top for the next descent where we’ll start near the Inca site of Rac­chi on a nat­ur­al look­out of the Vil­can­o­ta Moun­tain Range. This is an amaz­ing Inca trail that descends to the Sacred Val­ley fol­low­ing steep lines and tight corners.

We’ll enjoy lunch in Urubam­ba, the main city in the Sacred Valley.

After lunch, we’ll trans­fer to Maras to ride anoth­er impres­sive Inca trail with stun­ning views of the glac­i­ers. We’ll pass by the vil­lage of Maras before we drop on an amaz­ing ancient Inca trail down to Sacred Val­ley. It’s a one hour down­hill that will leave us near our hotel in Yuncaypata.

Final­ly, we’ll be trans­ferred to the town of Yun­cay­pa­ta where we’ll be stay­ing for the next three nights.

Today, we’ll ride the Megavalanche down­hill course where the likes of Steve Peat, Cedric Gra­cia and Bri­an Lopes have duked it out.

We start with a one hour bus dri­ve to the Moun­tain pass of Mala­ga at 4,350 m (14,300 ft.), where we’ll have great views of such glac­i­ers as the Veron­i­ca Sum­mit at more than 5,000 meters (16,500 ft.). The trail starts with a wide sin­gle­track on top of the moun­tain and then turns to a nar­row trail with many obsta­cles like rock steps, jumps and close turns. It will take us approx­i­mate­ly one hour to com­plete the trail until we reach the vil­lage of Tan­j­ca in the Sacred Val­ley at an alti­tude of 2,850 masl (9,370 ft.).

We plan to ride this amaz­ing trail twice! 

We’ll enjoy a group din­ner and head back to the same hotel as last night.

The area where we will be rid­ing today has been declared as a Nation­al Pota­to Park,  known for its cul­ti­va­tion of a vari­ety of potatoes.

This is an amaz­ing area locat­ed above the Inca site of Pisac, in the Sacred Val­ley.  The three trails we’ll ride are locat­ed in dif­fer­ent areas of the same val­ley, start­ing at an alti­tude of 4,200 m. We’ll enjoy a full day of grav­i­ty down­hill on ancient Inca Trails.

We’ll enjoy a group din­ner and head back to the same hotel as last night.

Day 5 is a sched­uled rest day with no activ­i­ties planned. For those need­ing to catch up on some extra Z’s are wel­come to take the day at leisure.  The fol­low­ing options are avail­able as Add-Ons through the Add-Ons tab.  Please vis­it the Add-Ons tab for pricing. 

MACHU PICCHU

(Please Note:   the Machu Pic­chu tour is not includ­ed in the trip price. Please vis­it the Add-Ons tabs for pric­ing. The Machu Pic­chu tour includes return train ride to Aguas Calientes, bus to Machu Pic­chu, admis­sion and guide.)

We high­ly rec­om­mend you vis­it Machu Pic­chu while in Peru, con­sid­ered one of the 7 won­ders of the world!

The Machu Pic­chu tour starts with a train ride from Ollan­tay­tam­bo to the town of Aguas Calientes. From there we’ll take a bus up to the Citadel.

Machu Pic­chu (like most of the Quechua names of towns and dif­fer­ent sites in the region) is a com­pound word that comes from Machu = old or ancient, and Pic­chu = peak or moun­tain; there­fore, Machu Pic­chu is trans­lat­ed as “Old Mountain”.

The famous moun­tain that appears in most of the clas­si­cal views of the site is named Way­na Pic­chu (Young Mountain).

We’ll have the entire day to explore the remark­able Citadel and learn about its well-pre­served secrets.

Tonight, we’ll dine in Yanahuara Vil­lage and head back to our lodge for a good night of rest.

RIDE HUCHUY CUSCO, THE INCA FORTRESS

(Please Note: the Huchuy Cus­co ride is not includ­ed in the trip price. Pric­ing for this ride depends on the # of par­tic­i­pants. Please con­tact us to be added to the “Rid­er” list and for more infor­ma­tion on pricing.)

For those choos­ing to ride Huchuy Cus­co, The Inca Fortress, it won’t disappoint!

We’ll have an ear­ly start and head towards the Sacred Val­ley and the sur­round­ing moun­tains in Chinchero.

This expe­ri­ence will be a true epic Enduro ride, where we’ll have to first climb until we reach 4,336 m and then descend fol­low­ing an ancient Inca trail down to Sacred Valley.

This Ride will treat us to amaz­ing views of the moun­tains, small vil­lages and the Inca Fortress of Huchuy Cus­co, locat­ed strate­gi­cal­ly high atop the Sacred Valley.

Tonight, we’ll dine in Ollan­tay­tam­bo and head back to our lodge for a good night of rest.

Today, we’ll ride two dif­fer­ent descents from the top of Lamay Valley.

The first trail starts at the top of the val­ley at an ele­va­tion of 4,350 m (14,271ft.). We’ll expe­ri­ence Enduro style rid­ing on the top, fol­lowed by an incred­i­ble descent down ancient Inca trails to the bot­tom of the val­ley at 2,900m (9,514ft.).

After catch­ing our breath and wip­ing the tears of hap­pi­ness from our wind swept faces, we’ll hop back in our shut­tle and head back to the top of the mountain.

Our sec­ond run will cross moun­tain­side farms where we’ll cross paths with the locals hard at work. This ride will be a true Inca expe­ri­ence, high atop the moun­tains of the Sacred Valley.

Tonight, we’ll dine in Urubam­ba and head back to the same hotel as last night.

After a well deserved break­fast, we’ll trans­fer to the town of Cal­ca in the Sacred Valley.

From Cal­ca, we’ll climb to the moun­tain pass of Lares, locat­ed at 4,350 m (14,300 ft.), where we’ll start anoth­er epic ride going through an impres­sive Inca trail that fol­lows a nar­row val­ley with big walls of gran­ite.  We’ll then enter one of the most impres­sive land­scape in Peru, cross­ing a deep canyon one can access only by foot or by moun­tain bike.  We’ll pass through dif­fer­ent ter­rain types, from flat rocky sur­faces on top of the moun­tain to fer­tile val­leys towards the end of the trail.

We’ll end this epic ride in the town of Cal­ca in the Sacred Val­ley at an alti­tude of 2,900 m (9,533 ft.).

After lunch, we’ll trans­fer back to Cus­co where we’ll end our day rid­ing anoth­er Inca trail that descends to the cen­tre of the city.

We’ll enjoy a group break­fast before hit­ting up more of what Peru has to offer.

Our final day of rid­ing will treat us to the best two down­hill trails in the Cus­co area. 

Our first ride, known to locals as “The Milky Way” because it starts way up on the moun­tains of Cus­co and the ter­rain on top is unre­al.  We’ll first fol­low the ridge of the moun­tain before drop­ping into an ancient Inca trail that descends to the bot­tom of the valley.

Our shut­tle will be ready and wait­ing for us to jump in  to then climb the oth­er side of the val­ley to ride Hua­cot­to.  Hua­cot­to is home to the local down­hill race series held month­ly.  We’ll see big jumps, tight berms, rock gar­dens and much more on a long descent down to Cusco.

Tonight, we’ll head into Cus­co for our final din­ner and last big hoorah of our epic jour­ney togeth­er in Peru.

We have reached the last day of our amaz­ing trip in Peru and it’s time to say good­bye to Cus­co and it’s won­der­ful Inca Trails.

We’ll arrange for your shut­tle to the air­port based on your indi­vid­ual flight times.

Please note: we only offer an air­port shut­tle on Day 9. If you are depart­ing a dif­fer­ent day, we can book an air­port shut­tle for you at an addi­tion­al cost, please vis­it the Ride Add-Ons information