Travel to Peru, Cusco and Machu Picchu.

Many countries have mountain ranges with beautiful scenery and Peru itself is richly blessed in this respect with many other areas for hiking. However the scenery is only one of the elements responsible for the magic of the Inca Trail. Can there be any walk anywhere in the world with such a combination of natural beauty, history and sheer mystery and with such an awe-inspiring destination? The various ruins along the way serve to heighten the hiker's sense of anticipation as he or she approaches what would surely find a place in any new list of archaeological wonders of the world - Machu Picchu.
Though there are many Inca trails in South America it is the 45km or so of path following the Cusichaca River up from the Urubamba before cutting through mountain passes and across valleys on the way to Machu Picchu that has become known as the Inca Trail. After abandonment with the fall of the Inca Empire the trail and its destination, Machu Picchu, became lost to the wider world since the paths were generally too narrow for the movement of the Spanish with horses and goods.
The site of Machu Picchu was arguably rediscovered (and later brought the attention of the world after photographs published in National Geographic) by Yale historian Hiram Bingham in 1911 during an expedition to find Vilcabamba, the last Inca city to fall to the Spanish. Initially Hiram Bingham seemed unimpressed with the site, it was heavily overgrown and it would have been much harder to get an impression of the scale of the site hidden by forest. He spent just five hours at the site taking only brief notes and only later reflected on the potential importance of the site. A year later Bingham returned to Peru, Macchu Picchu was visited for fairly routine clearing of vegetation from the site and the enormity and beauty of the site were revealed. Bingham took the photographs that became immortalized by the National Geographic and then moved on to other projects; his preoccupation with other projects around this time suggests that he was blind to the importance of his historic discovery.

Machu Picchu was connected with the city of Cusco and the rest of the Inca Empire by amazing trails, specifically designed for the use of the Incas in a perfect harmony with the flora and fauna of the area. It has to be said that they had an absolutely wonderful knowledge of architecture and construction. Throughout the whole trail you can locate some shelters surrounded by gorgeous country sites and great views, some of the trails lead you to a few archeological rests such as:
Llaqtapata or the Town on the Hillside, is the first of the ruins that you come across if you begin at the traditional starting point for the Inca Trail.
Runkuraqay or the Egg Hut was probably an Inca tambo or post house which got its name from its oval shape.
Sayaqmarka The name means Inaccessible Town or possibly Dominant Town. On descending the Trail from the Second Pass and approaching the bottom of the valley Sayaqmarka will be seen a short way up the hillside on the left.
Inca Tunnel an Indian porter with a load on his back disappearing into a 20 meters long tunnel that the Incas dug through solid rock without modern tools and equipment. The Trail passes through a forest and after the tunnel there is a gentle climb to the Third Pass.
Phuyupatamarka or Cloud-Level Town is just after the Third Pass. From it you can see down to the River Urubamba and the terraces of Intipata and Wiñawayna.
Intipata means Sun Place The terraces of Intipata have a convex shape where as those of Wiñawayna are concave.
Wiñawayna or Forever Young is the romantic name of these ruins that were only discovered in 1941. They are as beautiful as the name - a lot more impressive close-up than seen from a distance - with many buildings in addition to the terraces.
View of the Intipunku from Machu Picchu: Intipunku, or the Sun Gate is in the notch on the hillside. It is at the Sun Gate that hikers get their first sight of their destination - Machu Picchu, the so-called Lost City of the Incas.