Trip to Machu Picchu as acclimatization?

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Machu Picchu is a world-famous mysterious monument of the Inca era, located in the mountains of Peru, 80 km from the capital of the Cusco region and 520 km from Lima. Of course, visiting this wonderful object is of great interest; without any hesitation you can call Machu Picchu one of the key attractions of Peru and one of the 7 wonders of the world. However, in the context of the active tourism and mountaineering, often comes the question - how to combine sightseeing excursion to Machu Picchu with the other, more active parts of the tourist program?

The standard option - a trip to Cusco and an excursion to Machu Picchu are postponed to the final segment of the overall program, at a time when all the climbing, trekking and other mountain activities have already been completed. There is a certain reason for this - after all, for the majority of participants of my mountain programs in Peru, the main interest is in the active blocks of the program - climbing and trekking. The main part of the time is reserved for the ascents of the summits and general being in the mountains. The excursion of sightseeing part, especially such "resource-consuming" as Cusco and Machu Picchu, remains for the "dessert", or is undeservedly excluded from the overall plans.

However, visiting Peru without the opportunity to visit Machu Picchu - such self-restraint can make your trip on its own lopsided. Still, for all its bright pop-tourist nature, an excursion to Machu Picchu significantly expands the horizons and makes it possible to experience vivid emotions even for the most experienced travelers. Denying yourself this experience is not always justified, even if you are not a fan of the most popular tourist destinations.

Based on my personal experience, I want to offer another, more rational (in my opinion) format for integrating an interesting excursion to Machu Picchu into the climbing or active mountain programs. The fact is that the Machu Picchu monument (and the entire Cusco region) are located significantly higher than the coastal zone of Peru, in the climatic zone called the Sierra - a high-altitude desert.

Absolute altitudes at this level range from 2800 m to 3800 m. In other words, staying in this region is associated with a certain high-altitude load on the body. From this point of view, a trip to Machu Picchu and an excursion program in the Cusco region can be considered as a pre-acclimatization program before the mountain ascents at the altitudes of 4-6000 m.

Such an approach makes it possible to more compactly and rationally distribute time and save space of the tourist program. It allows to integrate qualitatively the most interesting excursion block into the active mountain climbing program, to make it possible to go through the acclimatization process more smoothly and safely.

What do we need for this? First - to pay attention to the acclimatization schedule and follow the main general recommendations for preparing for the high altitude mountain programs:

• Do not overload and do not force the schedule of the program, always leaving time for a good rest
• Recover well after any stressful load
• Avoid any overload of the body during the adaptation period
• Avoid junk food, alcohol
• Add light workouts to the list of the daily activities (intensive walking, short runs, general exercises in the gym)

It should not be forgotten that in addition to high-altitude and climatic stress loads on the body, many travelers to Peru face additional difficulties due to the transition to another time zone (UTC -4, the difference with Europe is 5 hours). As a rule, travelers need 3-5 days for the physiological processes in the body to adjust to a different time schedule.

That is also a good reason for choosing trip to Machu Picchu before the start of the active part of the mountain program. In this case, it is possible to recover, to pass the jet lag period and adapt smoothly to the new conditions in a comfortable environment and fascinating atmosphere of the most interesting excursions.

In summary, if you decide to include an excursion to Cusco and Machu Picchu in your active program in Peru (especially mountain climbing), you should consider a program schedule that begins, rather than ends with an excursion to Machu Picchu.

Author of text and photos Alex Trubachev
Mountain Guide for Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile

MCS EDIT 2023