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Your Essential Inca Trail Packing List – Machu Picchu Hike

Hiking the Inca Trail? Here is a list of everything you need to pack.

Before we get into the Inca Trail packing list, we wanted to talk about booking your trip. There is a restriction of the number of people allowed on the Inca trail every day, so they recommended booking at least 4 months in advance.

Although we were flexible with our dates, we booked 4 months ahead and even then we saw that some of the dates were not available. We booked Info Cusco as our tour group and did the traditional Inca Trail hike for 4 days and 3 nights in early August.

They were not the cheapest option or the most expensive, but overall we loved our experience. We also recently went to Patagonia with OneSeed (use LOCAL10 when booking for 10% off) and they now have the Classic Inca Trail hike.

What to pack on your 4 day Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu.

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Last Updated: March 9, 2024

Inca Trail Packing List for Your 4-Day Hike (What They Recommend + Our Additions)

This was our first major multi-day hike so we tried to be as prepared as possible. Even with our preparation, we learned a lot of tips we used for future multi-day hikes.

See More: Your Ultimate Guide to Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

What to Pack for Machu Picchu / Inca Trail Packing List.

Essential Items

See More: How to Hike the Inca Trail Day 1

Guided Tour to Machu Picchu - Inca Trail Day 1 // localadventurer.com

Clothes

See More: How to Hike the Inca Trail Day 2 – Surviving Dead Woman’s Pass

Optional Items in the Inca Trail Packing List

  • Flip Flops: to give your feet a break during stops. These are the comfiest ones I’ve found.
  • Lightweight Hat: to keep the sun off your face. I’ve done longer hikes both with a hike and without. Sometimes it feels like it’s in the way.
  • Camera / Phone / Journal: to record all the beauty you’ll encounter. We carried a Canon 5D.
  • Earplugs: If you’re a light sleeper and you have snorers in your group, you’re going to need these.
  • Bug Spray: We used these. They recommended 2 bottles per person. We only used a total of one bottle between the two of us, but the amount of bugs probably differs for everyone depending on the season & weather. These wipes can be handy too.

Now, as you can see below, I take my snacks very seriously… it ended up weighing over 10 pounds. If you’re an avid hiker, then you probably know this is a big mistake. The energy blasts & the bars were the most useful on our trip.  We even had some extra to share with our guide and porter. If I had a do-over, I would have tossed the Haribo gummy bears. As much as I love them, they were so so SO ridiculously heavy. I felt like an idiot.

See More: 25 Best Hikes in the World to Put on Your Bucket List

What to Pack for Machu Picchu / Inca Trail Packing List.

Planning Checklist

Anything else I missed on our Inca Trail packing list that you would like to add?

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Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

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