Running at Machu Picchu?

You can run up the winding road to Macchu Pichu. Kids race buses up there then come on the bus to ask for money. That would pay for your vacation.

Otherwise there are lots of trails around.

How quickly you adjust to altitude varies by individual.

Are you talking about running along the Inca Trail on the hike to Machu Picchu? Or, are you talking about running from the city at the base of the mountain?

The Inca Trail itself is very steep, and generally during the day, very crowded, and at times, a little dangerous. It would be difficult to run along this trail, and I believe tourists are supposed to be with a guide along the trail. I really do not see it possible to get in any quality training while hiking the trail over the standard 4 day/3 night route. Of course, the porters who carry your tour's gear do sometimes run up and down the trail, and they do it carrying 45 pounds of gear (according to the rules), which of course really weighs more like 60-70+ pounds.

Running from the city at the base of the mountain is certainly possible, and there are trails in the area. You could run from the town up to Machu Picchu and back for a killer hill workout.

I don't know how much running you'd actually be able to do at the site, but there are lots of trails connecting those sites and areas through the Sacred Valley. If you're looking to run, you could try the Salkantay -

http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/treks/salkantay-machu-picchu-map.gif

We hiked it back in 2010 and say two other hikers the whole time (May); 3nights/4day. It looks like it's more popular now, and there are more guided groups going through there. It is (was?) a nice alternative to the meat grinder and cost of the Inca Trail.

If you're a strong trail runner or used to Ultras, it could be done as an overnight (committed thought). The first day is steady climbing from around from 10,000ft up to 15,400ft, from there it's a long descent then flat, losing 9000ft over 20miles. There's a decent climb (1500m?) up to Llactapata, before a final descent to the Hidro, from where you could run the tracks around to Aguas Caliente and run "up" to Machu Picchu.

Hike and jog all you want. But don't ruin your experience. Enjoy the sites and history and people. Try the Cuy on a stick ;-)

FWIW I've been at altitude plenty of times. For whatever I had fairly decent case of altitude sickness shortly after arriving in Cusco to begin my trip. I powered through it but it wasn't pleasant. Going into the valley at 8,000 ft to explore Machu Picchu cleared my symptoms and they didn't return at Cusco.

Be sure to climb Huayna Picchu.

I did the trip 3 years ago. Was in Cuzco for 3wks then went on the 5day salkantay trek to machu picchu. I did quite a bit of running in cuzco and there's a track in town you can get on for like a dollar. Running in the hills outside Cuzco was really fun.

The big issue for me was the elevation. Cuzco is at 11000 ft and very hilly and the running was so tough and not specific to most race events. The trek/hiking didn't bother me as I was well-acclimated, but I didn't do any running. On Salkantay they carry your stuff, so hypothetically you can run, but the guide won't let you get too far away.

I say just enjoy the trip, do some base running mornings. Also worth noting that the town at the bottom of machu picchu, Aguas calientes, is awful and I got bad food poisoning there, so be careful.

I run a summer program (www.strivetrips.org) every year that does volunteer work specifically catered to high school and college athletes in Peru, so I find myself pretty well-suited to answer this question.

The truth is that AT Machu Picchu itself and in Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of the site), it's very tough to get any running in. Aguas Calientes is not accesible by road from the rest of the country, so any roads there are are not very long as they just go through the (small) town. The only decent options I've found in AC are: 1. there's a really nice turf soccer field. Super boring, but nice to do some barefoot laps/strides. 2. The main road that goes to MP and back. This is a bit dangerous at times, though, because the buses drive very quickly and the road is quite narrow.

You could also run out the rail-road tracks, but there isn't a nice trail. You'd be running on medium sized rocks the whole time which I'm not personally crazy about.

You can't really run up the bus road to MP because now-a-days the guards won't let you up without a ticket and passport and it's also super dangerous, so it's discouraged now (it's basically 3M of very steep blind switchbacks which the buses take very quickly).

At the site itself, there are no options to run. You will get yelled at by park rangers for running at all. Just enjoy the site!

Whoever mentioned Salkantay has the right idea, though. I do that trek with my students every year and there are actually a few really great options for running. On day two (I think), the trail follows a valley and there's a hiking trail on one side of the river and a (very quiet) dirt auto road on the other side. We always have a group of our kids that want to run take the auto road, which is a beautiful 8-10M net downhill run through the valley. Like someone else said, if you go with a trekking company, they arrange transport of all your heavy gear for you, so you don't have to worry about carrying anything.

Running on the actual Inca Trail is possible (they have the Inca Trail Marathon), but sounds miserable to me. It's a lot of VERY steep descents and ascents over big stone steps that are often wet - a good way to slip and break your ankle! The Inca Trail is also extremely crowded. Go with Salkantay in any instance - it's half the price, just as pretty, and you'll see one or two other groups the whole time.

If you really want to run in Peru - come to Pisaq. That's where STRIVE programs take place; we have miles of quiet dirt roads to run on, amazing mountains, great, cheap food...! It's about 9000 ft above sea level, which I found to be just about the upper limit to where I can functionally train (Cusco is too high, as others have mentioned, at over 11,000ft).

Have a great trip and enjoy this amazing country! Feel free to email me if you have any more questions about running in Peru.

-Ty

My son ran it earlier this week with the chaski group. Pretty amazing pictures!

I know this was 7 years ago but if anyone has any current experience living anywhere in Peru for for any amount of time and getting some solid running in, let me know. Since I can work remotely I'm considering a visit.