Trekking in Peru in comfort.

As youngsters we enjoyed multi-day treks on long routes that had us staying intents night upon night, with no hygiene facilities and little creaturecomforts. In Peru such treks as the Inca Trail, Choquequirao and Lares in the Cusco area south of Lima, and the Santa-Cruz, Cedros and Huayhuash in the northern Cordilleras. These treks are usually in large groups moving at the speed of the (s) lowest common denominator. Or if you are the slowest you feel rushed by the rest of the group.

As we get older and wiser we feel less inclined to travel in large groups or to camp for many a night with all of the resulting discomforts. This can be very limiting to our trekking outings, but there have to be other options to camping, right? Right!

OPTION 1.Ultra-trail. Ultra trail is the practice of RUNNING many of these treks and instead of in 4 days in just 7 hours, avoiding the camping issue and therefore traveling super light. However, this is an Ultra-Human endeavour and out of the realm of possibility for most of us mere Normal-Humans. The extended Lares Trek of 100km, will be done by some in under 20hours.

OPTION 2.The second option is the multi-day lodge-to lodge treks, in which two companiesin particular have made a name for themselves in Peru; these are widely known and wildly expensive: Andean Lodges on the Ausangate circuit & MountainLodges of Peru on the Salkantay circuit. Of course, these operators limit what you can take with you on the trek, but make no mistake they are quality operators.

OPTION 3.My favourites by far: the Day Trek Lodge that puts you in the midst of all the action whilst giving you as much/little aid/intervention as you need to enjoy the area.

There are several day trek lodges in an area lesser known than Cusco, in the most spectacular area of the Andes, the Cordillera Blanca. Now the Cordillera Blanca is something else, and pretty much no-one knows about it apart from a hardcore of mountaineers and serious trekkers. In fact it is only second to the Himalayas the world´s highest range. This is where the vertiginous Llanganuco gorge and it´s lakes  abscond themselves and through this spectacular gorge lies the hidden gem of the Andes; Lake 69 -probably the single most stunning day trek in the world, towered over by beasts such as Huascaran (6768m),Chacaraju (6112m), Huandoy (6395m) amongst others.

A crazy Englishman, Charlie Good one of these Ultra-Humans, and his dogShackleton chose this to be their place of rest and endeavour meanwhile. They offer you probably the most ideally located day trek lodge in the Americas; Llanganuco Mountain Lodge. Giving you more than a dozen day trek options, some on rediscovered ancient Inca trail, some past 4500 year old ruin sites, others through the cloud forest, a couple taking you to touch the receding glaciers, but all liberating you from travel schedules, tour buses and the lowest common denominator. Quite apart from that it is rather a nice spot to hang out; as Martin Fletcher wrote in theFT travel supplement, “There is no more beautiful place to eat breakfast than on Good’s lawn” high praise indeed.

This is how adventure travel was always meant to be, not churned out by corporations, but crafted by hand by our intrepid adventurers who have chosen to make an adventure out of their lives and to make their life mission to give to you what they want from our world.

Whether you choose to do the lodge to lodge treks and/or stay in a day trek lodge, these are becoming such strong offerings that many people in their twenties are choosing to forego the camping “experience” for a much more civilised experience…. and wouldn´t we have? if they had been available.