What a Humantay Lake tour costs

Eleven tours side by side

The six tours from our home page come first, then five extras found only in these guides. Each price is the regular "from" figure per person on the cheaper booking site, so your date may differ a little.

What a group day includes

The three shared days cost ~$25–27 for nearly identical packages. Each collects you from a hotel in the historic center of Cusco and puts a bilingual guide in charge of the walk, with breakfast and a buffet lunch in Mollepata. Every operator carries first aid and an emergency oxygen bottle. None covers the lake entrance or a horse, and tips come from your own pocket.

Chullos Travel Peru, from ~$25, is our pick and the cheapest of the six. Its van starts the walk at Challacancha, a little below the usual trailhead, and the guide lends walking sticks. Size is the drawback, since this is the busiest product on the mountain and one reviewer felt hurried. Inka Altitude, from ~$34, collects earlier, between 3:30 and 4 am, and drops you back between 5 and 6 pm. Some reviewers describe cramped vans with unreliable air conditioning.

Kantu Peru Tours, from ~$27, caps its group at 16 and hands each guest a trekking pole. Snacks and drinks are extra on this one, as are toilet stops along the road.

Private days and the dome night

MachuPicchu Journey's private day, from ~$99, puts only your party in the vehicle and folds the entrance into the price together with breakfast and lunch. Viator notes that the price varies by group size, so the figure shown is a starting point, and two people pay more each than four would. It keeps the same timetable as the shared vans, which means you still reach the shore at the busy hour.

exploor's Beat the Crowds day, from ~$199, costs roughly eight times the cheapest group seat. The money buys a 3 am pickup that has you walking around 7:40 am, ahead of the big vans, with the entrance and drinks covered on top of the two meals. BioAndean Expeditions' two-day trip, from ~$350, adds a night in a glass dome with a wood stove at Soraypampa and a second day over the Salkantay Pass. The first breakfast and any alcohol are extra. Humantay and the Salkantay trek goes through both days.

Two of the extras show how far the price can climb for a similar route. Viagens Machu Picchu's full day, from ~$53, keeps a relaxed pace with breakfast and a buffet lunch for 17 people at most. Its catch is that it costs about twice a Chullos or Kantu seat for a day that looks much the same, and you still pay the entrance yourself. CrossoverPeru Tours' hike, from ~$99, walks the same trail from Soraypampa as everyone else. Its edge is the entrance plus a snack and water in the price, and a perfect five-star record, though that record rests on only 93 reviews.

One tour, two prices

The same day can cost different amounts on GetYourGuide and Viator, and both sites often display a reduced price beside the regular one. When we compared them, the gaps looked like this.

• Chullos Travel Peru. ~$25 regular on Viator, often shown cut to about $22.50, against about $28 regular on GetYourGuide, where it often drops to about $21;
• Inka Altitude. ~$34 regular on both sites, with GetYourGuide often showing about $24;
• Kantu Peru Tours. ~$27 on GetYourGuide, often reduced to about $24, against about $30 on Viator.

Reductions come and go by date, so open both listings before you pay.

Cash you need on the day

Every extra on the trail is paid in Peruvian soles, and the listings ask for cash.

• Entrance. 20 soles (about $5–6) per foreign visitor, collected by the local community near the trail; Peruvians pay 10. The private days from MachuPicchu Journey and exploor include it, as does CrossoverPeru;
• A horse. Rented from local families, not from your tour company. Inka Altitude's listing quotes 80 soles (about $21–24) one way and Kantu's 90 soles (about $24–26). Chullos on GetYourGuide says about 100 soles (about $26–29) uphill and 90 down. Riders walk the final steep stretch, and no horse is guaranteed. Riding a horse up to Humantay Lake has the details;
• Toilets and snacks. The trailhead toilets charge a small fee, and drinks or snacks bought along the way cost a few soles more;
• Tips. Not included on the group days. A few soles for the driver and more for a guide who looked after you is the usual habit in Peru.

Two people on a group day, added up

Picture a couple on the Chullos day. The booking costs two times ~$25. On the trail they hand over 40 soles (about $11–12) for two entrance tickets, and one of them, short of breath after a few nights in Cusco, rents a horse uphill for about 100 soles. Add a few soles for the toilet and a snack, then tips. The cash side comes to roughly 150 soles before tips, close to what both seats cost together.

Horses and tips stay extra on every tour, private days included. The thin air is what pushes most people onto a horse, so read altitude at Humantay Lake before deciding how much cash to carry, and check what to wear and bring for the rest of the daypack.

Cancelling and booking ahead

The five day trips on the home page refund in full until 24 hours before the start, with the option to pay later on the group days. BioAndean's dome trip allows no refund and no changes for any reason, so book it only once your dates are fixed. On Viator, exploor's day is booked about 139 days ahead on average, while the three group days usually fill about a month out.

For the hour-by-hour timeline, see getting to Humantay Lake from Cusco. The trail itself is in the hike, step by step. If paying more for space appeals, private and small-group tours weighs it up.