If you are coming to Peru to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, you will need to look for the services of a Travel Agency or a Tour Operator. There are several Travel Agencies and Tour Operators offering Inca Trail tours but not all of them offer the same service. The service that a Tour Operator provides usually depends on the amount of money that they charge. Basically, you get what you pay for. Also, porters, cooks and guides will get paid what you are paying for.

The Peruvian government has ruled the minimum requirements that a Tour Operator has to comply in order to be able to offer tours in the Inca Trail. The majority of Tour Operators only comply with the basic regulations while only a few Tour Operators make efforts to provide a quality service. Porters, cooks and guides are the key for a successful Inca Trail. In our opinion all of them are equally important but porters are the ones who will amuse you. Your porters will be the ones carrying all the equipment and food necessary to make of your Inca Trail experience the best one of your life.

In the Inca Trail, porters are the ones working harder than anybody else but they are usually the ones who are getting the lower payment and the ones who are usually abused by most tour operators. In order to avoid these abuses, the Peruvian government introduced a bill stipulating that a porter should get about USD 14.00 per day and carry a maximum of 44 pounds. Unfortunately, this bill is not always respected by the majority of tour operators so it is important to hire a tour operator or travel agency providing good treatment to its porters.

Since USD 14.00 per day is not enough for the hard work of the porters, there is a tradition in Inca Trail (this tradition applies  to all treks being offered in Peru.) This tradition consists of a ceremony performed at the end of the third day. At the end of this ceremony trekkers have the opportunity to tip them and thank them for making possible such a beautiful journey. If you decide to tip porters, please make sure that each porter gets a specific amount of money. If you give the tip to the cook or the guide, it is possible that porters get less money.