CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
1323 km from Huanipaca to Huanipaca, about 22 h 50 of riding. The stops in between: Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata, Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu and back through Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 51 km this is Sacred Valley Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Choquequirao is sometimes called the sister of Machu Picchu, and you can tell why when you see the photographs: a ridge of white-walled terraces and plazas, perched above a canyon, with snow peaks looming in the background. It is also a good deal harder to reach. The ruins sit at around three thousand metres on the far side of the Apurímac valley, a day's hard walk from the end of the road, and a fraction of the visitors who crowd Machu Picchu make the journey. The name is usually translated as cradle of gold.
Read the complete Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao is where the day begins. Next is Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata.
This is a stretch of the Inca road, and it is made for feet. The Qhapaq Ñan was the great road system of the Inca empire, more than thirty thousand kilometres of stone causeways, steps, bridges and tunnels linking the Pacific coast to the high Andes and from Colombia down to Chile and Argentina. UNESCO listed the network across six countries in 2014. The segment between Mach'ay and Samarinapata runs through the mountains of the Cusco region, west of Machu Picchu, and its name tells the story. A mach'ay is a cave, and samarina is a place to rest, so the route marks shelters and stopping points for travellers and for the chasquis, the relay runners who carried messages and goods at great speed across the empire.
Read the complete Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata comes up about 84 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu is the most famous place in the Andes, and it is also one of the hardest to reach for a rider, because no road goes there. The sanctuary is about thirty kilometres from Ollantaytambo, on a ridge nearly twenty-four hundred metres above the sea, above a loop of the Urubamba river, with cloud forest on every side. The citadel is reached only by train or by walking, and then by a bus up a zigzag road from the town of Aguas Calientes, at the foot of the mountain.
Read the complete Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 270 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu. Next is Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu.
Manco Inca fled here with his army in 1537, after his great siege of Cusco failed, and Vitcos became the capital of what was left of the Inca Empire. For thirty-five years, in the jungle-covered mountains of Vilcabama, the last independent Incas held out against the Spaniards, raiding Spanish roads, sheltering rebels and keeping alive the old religion. In 1572 the Spaniards finally reached the inner refuge and captured Tupac Amaru, the last Inca, who was taken to Cusco and beheaded in the main square.
Read the complete Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu, about halfway.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu sits at 663 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu comes up about 860 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 1057 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu. Next is back through Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata, late in the day. Next is Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 1323 km.
Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao → Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata → Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu is 186 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu → Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu is 197 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu → Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu is 197 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu → back through Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu is 197 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Vitkus-Abra Choqetakarpu → back through Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu is 197 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu → back through Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata is 186 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata → Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.