Training for the Inca Trail: The 12-Week Plan That Actually Works

The Inca Trail is 43 kilometres over four days, including a 1,200-metre ascent to Dead Woman's Pass on day two. At altitude, your lungs operate at around 60% capacity. Every guide on the trail has watched supremely fit athletes reduced to a crawl because they trained at sea level and assumed cardiovascular fitness alone was enough.

It is not. The key is training on consecutive days — not rest-day recovery — because the trail gives you no such luxury. Our recommended plan combines stair-climbing (900 stairs three times a week from week one), loaded hiking with a 10kg daypack, and altitude acclimatisation in Cusco for at least three days before departure.

Arrive in Cusco four days early. Spend the first two doing nothing more strenuous than walking to a café. On days three and four, take day hikes to 3,800 metres. Then the trail will feel manageable — still hard, but not broken.