1 Day Inca Trail Tour to Machu Picchu Hike

Yuri (or Juri) scammer!

The person who organized our transfer introduced himself as Yuri (or possibly Juri in Spanish). Unfortunately, our experience with him was extremely negative and unprofessional. He offered us a transfer from Hidroeléctrica to Ollantaytambo for 50 soles. After we agreed and paid, he refused to give us any ticket (saying didn't have enough paper tickets which wasn't true at all becose before he even showed quickly to us) or proof of the purchase, and he also refused to tell us the name of the agency he was working for. Because of this, we asked another passenger on the same transport who had a ticket if we could take a photo of it, just to see the name of the company. That is the reason why I have the photo. We were told that the departure would be around 1:30–1:40 PM at the latest, but in reality we had to wait from 12:00 PM until about 2:30 PM. When I became tired of waiting and asked for a refund so that we could find another solution, he treated me very badly and refused to return our money. After we paid, he took our backpacks and locked them inside his personal car (visible in the photos). He then locked the car and disappeared for almost two hours, leaving us unable to access our belongings during that entire time. When finally we were going t leave, he did not even depart with his car. Instead, we were placed in a completely different minibus that was waiting for a train to come! That's why we left so late, even if I asked specifically if we were leaving not later than 1.30, and Mr Juri (or Yuri) liar, promise me max 1.40. Looking online, I found an other feedback from Reddit, from someone that has our same experience! Overall, this was a very stressful and unprofessional experience. We had no ticket, no agency name, no clear information, and our belongings were locked in his car for hours without our consent. I strongly recommend that other travelers be careful with this person. He is a scammer, liar, rude. Shame on him, ruining the reputation of lovely peruvian people.

Response from the operator: Hello, dear Serena M. We are pleased to receive your review of your travel experience from Hydroelectric to Cusco, Peru. However, this review doesn’t correspond to our company, "MACHUPICCHU ANDES TOURS", as we don’t offer transportation services from Hydroelectric to Cusco and we don’t know the Yuri/Juri you mention. In the image you attached, there is a red car with license plate B9Z197, which according to the Peruvian vehicle registry (SUNARP VEHICULAR) belongs to Mr. Aurelio Huamani Andia. These cars provide local transportation services from Hydroelectric to Santa Teresa and vice versa. Most of these bad local drivers take advantage of foreign travelers who request transportation from Hydroelectric to Cusco. They offer this transfer service and charge a high price (Available seats reseller), but they never provide the service themselves. What they do is make you wait until 2:30-45 p.m. to transfer you to another vehicle that has seats available. At 2:30 p.m., minibuses from travel and tourism agencies leave directly from Hydroelectric to Cusco. Most of these minibuses are full with reserved seats, and some may have seats available. Dear Serena M., the person named Yuri/Juri with whom you made a deal isn’t an employee of any travel and tourism agency. He is a local driver from Hydroelectric who took advantage of you and perhaps other people as well. You also attached an image of a voucher from a travel agency. The name is very similar to ours, but it has nothing to do with us, nor is it responsible for the bad experience you had at Hydroelectric. Therefore, dear Serena M., we understand your discomfort with the bad experience you had, but we kindly ask you to remove your review, which has nothing to do with us. Please, we cannot have another bad review because of others, as this negatively affects our company, Machupicchu Andes Tours, a company that has nothing to do with the bad experience you had. We also kindly ask TripAdvisor to remove this review, which doesn’t correspond to the service provided by our company.

via Tripadvisor

Epic 1 Day Inka Trail Hike to Machu Picchu

This was a bucket list trip. AB Expeditions make it perfect. Edwin Monzon was a spectacular Guide. We got picked up from our hotel at 5 am. We caught the trail at Ollantaytambo to KM 104. Due to the rainy season, the trail went up the "porter" switchbacks. This made the initial accent challenging. Edwin was extremely patient with the speed of the accent and the lunch at the top was incredible. After lunch, we hiked to the Inka Sun Gate and got a first view of Machu Picchu. This was truly breathtaking. From there, we hiked down to Circuit 1A and the classic picture. After exiting Circuit 1, we also completed Circuit 3. This gave us an incredible tour of the lower part of Machu Picchu. Edwin provided an amazing background on this incredible site. After completing the tour of Machu Picchu, we took the bus down to Aguas Calientes. We had dinner at Mistura which was awesome after 12 km hike with over 2500 ft of elevation gain. Finally, we caught the train back to Ollantaytambo where a driver met us and took us back to our hotel. It was a long day (5 am to 10 pm), but it was truly an epic experience!!!

via Tripadvisor

One day Inca trail hike - worth it!

Guido was an awesome tour guide! He was interactive and educational and let us set the pace and tone of the tour. He also took awesome photos of us (he studied photography!) which was an added bonus to being a great hike leader and educator on Machu Picchu and Incan history. We did the one day Incan trail from 104 km and it took about 6 hours including lunch - highly recommend!

Response from the operator: Thank you very much, Taylor, for sharing your wonderful experience visiting Machu Picchu via the Short Inca Trail. We also thank you for choosing Machupicchu Andes Tours for your visit to one of the wonders of the world. Guido is one of the many qualified and professional guides on our team. Although Gracie and you almost gave up on this tour for health reasons, Machupicchu Andes Tours is very happy to know that you are very happy and satisfied with our service. Note: we always recommend making your reservation 2 months in advance because availability to Machu Picchu sells out very quickly.

via Tripadvisor

Unbelievable 10/10

Guido is the most incredible tour guide and gave us the most unbelievable experiencing hiking Machu Picchu. He was extremely informative, and his love for this sacred space was infectious and inspiring. He set the perfect pace for us, carved out quiet spaces for us to stop and learn about what we were seeing, answered all our questions, and took great photos for us:)! Truly couldn’t imagine a more professional, wonderful person to guide us through this amazing place. Overall, this entire experience was completely seamless and every detail was thought through intentionally. Communication was clear and helpful, and we couldn’t have had more of a positive experience. The price was also completely reasonable once you see everything that goes into planning the full day (logistics, tickets, guide, etc). The hike itself is not super challenging but it’s a long day and is best for people who are physically fit.

Response from the operator: Thank you very much, Gracie, for sharing your wonderful experience visiting Machu Picchu via the Short Inca Trail. We also thank you for choosing Machupicchu Andes Tours for your visit to one of the wonders of the world. Guido is one of the many qualified and professional guides on our team. Although Taylor and you almost gave up on this tour for health reasons, Machupicchu Andes Tours is very happy to know that you are very happy and satisfied with our service. Important: we always recommend making your reservation 2 months in advance because availability to Machu Picchu sells out very quickly.

via Tripadvisor

Great guide, needs better communication

The hike and the tour itself was amazing! Our guide, Jair was fantastic and gave us an amazing review of Incan history/spirituality, and told exciting stories of being a travel guide. If this review was for Jair only it would be 5 stars. However, the communication with the agency was sparse, the itinerary wasn’t clear, and questions were left unanswered. Viator told us to pick up our tickets from a far off location but there was no one there and we got the tickets virtually later. The worst was getting train seats in separate cars, which is not what you expect for booking months in advance. Everything worked out, but could be smoother.

via Viator