4-day hike on the Ingapirca Trail

This 4 days trekking in the Ecuadorian Andes will take us to Ingapirca, the largest Inca ruins and Inca archeological site in Ecuador. The trail follows the old roads used by the Incas as commercial routes to connect the center of the empire in Peru with the northern limits in what nowadays is Colombia.

The trails runs above 3000m, and the highest altitude we reach is 4200m, before we arrive to the ruins near the beautiful city of Cuenca, in the south of Ecuador.

Proposed Itinerary:

Day 01: This adventure begins in Riobamba, where we will take the 7:00 A.M. train to Sibambe. This is the famous “Devil’s Nose” train ride, where you can ride on the roof of the train as it passes through native indigenous farms and the remote Allot Indian villages of the Province of Chimborazo. After arriving at the village of Alausí, the train continues towards the Devil’s Nose section, which is a switchback system of tracks, built on a steep hillside of andecite volcanic rock. This is the highlight of the train ride and the point where your adrenaline really starts pumping. Finally, we arrive in Sibambe, where we’ll disembark. After lunch, we’ll drive to La Moya and the Achupallas village (3,300 m/10,824 ft) and on to our campsite, where we’ll arrive at 3:00 P.M. Here, we’ll have dinner and camp overnight.

Day 02: We’ll have breakfast at 8:00 A.M., break down our campsite at 10:00 A.M., and begin hiking on a road that was, over 500 years ago, an important commercial connection that the Incas used between Colombia and Peru. After five hours hiking, we’ll arrive at our next campsite located in the middle of a nice valley below a hill named Tres Cruces (4,100 m / 13,448 ft.). We’ll have dinner and spend the night in the tents.

Day 03: We’ll continue walking up the wild paramo countryside. After an hour we’ll cross over the Tres Cruces (4,200 m / 13,776 ft) and pass a small lake. Quite often, this area is covered with snow and is usually quite cold. We continue with an easy journey that takes us to the highest point of the trail located at 4,200 m (13,776 ft.). From here, we’ll enjoy a spectacular view of the numerous mountain peaks before heading down to Culebrillas lake. After lunch, we’ll continue our walk, crossing a swampy valley floor and arriving at our next campsite in Paredones (3,700 m / 12,136 ft) at 3:00 P.M. Here, we’ll have dinner and spend the night in the tents.

Day 04: We’ll have breakfast at 8:00 A.M. and then continue our hike along the Inca trail which drops down to a fertile, agricultural valley, where we’ll pass several farms and campesino houses before arriving at the famous Ingapirca ruins. After a 2 hour tour in the ruins, we’ll have private transportation taking us to our hotel in Cuenca, where we’ll arrive around 6:00 P.M.

Please contact me if you are interested in doing this fascinating trekking, following the trail of the mythical Inca Empire!