Multi Day Tour of Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu in from Lima

Experience Overshadowed by Ineffective Communication Service

TLDR: The purpose of this review is to guide people to avoid a bad experience similar to mine. If you want to do the Salkantay trek I recommend you book directly with an Operating Enterprise, and not with Peru Bucket List (PBL). My partner and I booked the 5 day and 4 night Salkantay trek, which included entrance to Machu Picchu and return transportation to Cusco. With so many tourist agencies and operators it was difficult to know with which to book this trip. We decided to opt for Peru Bucket List as an agency because it came recommended and its price was reasonable. The tour experience operated by another Enterprise was fantastic. The views and scenery, the regional food, and the quality time with the hiking group made it worth taking this trip. Unfortunately, my dissatisfaction with Peru Bucket List revolves around the lack of effective communication, before, during, and after the Salkantay trek ends. 1. Prior to the trek, PBL did not advise us in advance that Machu Picchu tickets were not purchased, despite being their responsibility. I found out because on my own initiative I wrote 2 weeks before my trip. Otherwise, I would have been surprised not to have tickets already in Cusco without the opportunity to manage my options. We were not given the apology at the time for the inconvenience. 2. During the trek, communication with the Agency was almost nil. There are areas of trekking where there is no reception of telephone or mobile data, and this affects everyone equally. But travelers who booked with the Operator directly had the guides as intermediaries with satellite radios. The physical presence of an Agency Representative or Operator is very valuable here, as it helps to manage emergencies or changes of itinerary. Without a PBL Representative with us, we had no one-off help for important issues. 3. At the end of the trek, we wanted to contact the agency to formalize our dissatisfaction and what we think are points of improvement. On the one hand, we were due the refund of the Machu Picchu ticket, which we paid in advance as part of the package. The agency took more than 2 weeks to make the refund, despite saying they would do so immediately. In my experience, the only official communication channel that PBL offers is through WhatsApp chat. They didn’t answer phone calls, they didn’t answer email when requesting help for Machu Picchu, they didn’t answer my SMS messages during the trekking requesting one-off help. I find this very limiting in the face of any emergency that may occur during the trip and for customer support. In short, the tour is amazing, but the Peru Bucket List agency made the whole booking and management process stressful and frustrating. My recommendation is to contact the operators directly.

via Tripadvisor (translated)

3rd Party- Don't Book!

We booked the 5 day 4 night Salkantay trek with them from August 8th to 12th. This company is a third party provider and has you do the trek with KB Adventures (which as operators were fantastic). Issue one was a week before we left for Peru we reached out to confirm that we were all set for the trip to which they responded that in the end they weren't able to get us tickets to Machu Picchu. Over a month and a half earlier they had confirmed that circuit 2 was sold out but there would be no problem getting us circuit 1 tickets. With everything we read and knowing how difficult it can be to get a last minute ticket in high season, we were happy with any ticket and told them to purchase it, sending them photos of passports and all details they needed. So for us to find out that they never booked those was extremely frustrating, but the fact that they weren't the ones to inform us, it was only because we reached out to confirm, shows how unprofessional this company is in addition to the lack of communication we experienced. They then assured us that we'd be able to get in line when we arrived to purchase tickets for the following day (August 12th). Once again, everything I had read online showed that the reality of that scenario was a very low chance to get next day tickets in high season, so we reorganized our trip to start the hike a day earlier (august 7th instead of 8th) so we'd have an extra day in aguas calientes (arrive the 10th and get tickets for the 12th) and not miss our flight the following day on August 13th (which we had already booked because we were under the impression we had tickets to Machu Picchu). They were able to organize this for us but we told them not to cancel the reservation for the hotel in aguas calientes because we'd need that extra night to go to Machu Picchu a day later. (spoiler, they didn't and we were left without a hotel and had to wander around/ pay extra to find a last minute hotel room). We got to Cuzco and on August 6th, the day before we were meant to start hiking, the company messaged us at 3pm saying there was a mandatory "15 minute" meeting we'd need to attend at 6pm. We already had an evening planned which we had to change in order to attend what ended up being an hour and a half long meeting. I want to clarify that KB Adventures did an excellent job and all issues we had were related to Peru Bucket List. The hike itself was fantastic but on the 2nd night (August 9th) our guide received a message saying tickets for Monday, August 11th had just sold out. This meant that the next day we cut our trek a day short by hiking what we were meant to that morning, but then paying for a cab to then drive us from the campsite to Hidroeléctrica so we could finish hiking the train tracks and arrive to purchase our tickets, 3 days prior to entering MP! After the stress of finally obtaining these tickets, (August 12th 6am) we still needed to organize the train back. Once again, no communication from Peru Bucket List. In the end they finally responded and said the only tickets left were for 9:30pm, which meant having to spend the entire day waiting in aguas calientes and getting back to Cuzco very late and before our early morning flight the next day. Finally, because we had already paid Peru Bucket List for the tickets to MP but then had to buy them ourselves, we asked to be refunded the money. They (Peru Bucket List) told us that KB Adventures would give us this money in cash, which they (KB Adventures) told us that was not their jurisdiction and Peru Bucket List was responsible for this. We reached out again and they said they would need to send the money via pay pal. We gave them our information and after sending them multiple follow up texts they sent us a screenshot that the money had been sent however, this screenshot was of someone else's bank details not ours! We informed them and they deleted the photo and said they'd send our money the following day. *A week later* and many more messages, we finally received our money.

via Tripadvisor

Great experience and got last minute Machu Pichu Tickets!

I had a fantastic time. Wellington, Edwin and Franco were all amazing and too great care of us. 10/10 experience. They helped us throughout the entire trip and were able to get us last minute Machu Pichu tickets.

Response from the operator: Thank you for your review! We are very pleased to hear you had a fantastic time. It's wonderful that Willington, Edwin, and Franco took such great care of you throughout your experience.

via Tripadvisor

Great experience

I had a great time with Perú bucket list. Got short notice macchu pichu tickets. Was able to get 7am 2A tour which was the best one. Edwin and Franco took great care of us the whole time. Very helpful with hiking and other information

Response from the operator: Thank you for your review! We are very pleased to hear you had a great time with Peru Bucket List. It's excellent that Edwin and Franco took such good care of you throughout the experience.

via Tripadvisor

What an adventure!

Enjoy the diverse and beautiful nature of this trek with an experienced guide who knows everything about the plants and animals you'll encounter. The food our chefs prepared was absolutely delicious. The grand final, seeing Machu Picchu, is the perfect ending for this trek. Thank you very much! 10/10 recommended company.

Response from the operator: Thank you for your fantastic review! We're so happy to hear you had such an incredible experience on your trek. We truly appreciate your recommendation!

via Tripadvisor