The network of roads was built by the andean people in order to connect their inka's cities like Machupicchu.
The Inka Trail to Machupicchu is Peru's most popular trail and spectacular trekkings in the world. The Inka Trail forms part of the more than 40,000 kilometers/24,854 miles of roads built by the Inkas. Each year, more than 25,000 people from the world walk the 43 kilometer/26.7 miles of stone-paved trail, which ends at the once amazing Inka's village, lied in the cloud forest of Peru’s Amazon jungle.
The Trail runs through an impressive altitude ranges, where microclimates and ecosystems vary from high Andean mountains to the cloud forest. The trail climbs up through two highland passes* before reaching Machupicchu passing through the Inti Punku (“Sun Gate”).
One of the attractions of the Inka Trail is the carved path of granite that it has ruins like Llaqtapata, Sayaqmarqa, Phuyupatamarca and Wiñaywayna, among others, and is surrounded by sceneries, flora, and fauna. In The forest abound differents species of plants and flowers (orchids), brightly-colored birds and animals.
The Inka Trail is ratedfor reasonably fit people to complete the trek with little difficulty.
* The highest pass is Warmiwañusqa (Dead Women Pass) at 4,200 meters/13,780 feet above sea level
PATALLAQTA
A large archaeological complex consisting of approximately 112 rooms, each constructed using roughly-finished stone and mud-based mortar. Nearby there is another important site known as Pulpituyoq. Continuing along the Trail, are the sites of Tarayoq, Huayllabamba, the high pass of Warmiwanuska (“Dead Woman's Pass”), Runkuraqay and Sayaqmarka
SAYAQMARKA
An important archaeological site that boasts a number of chambers, shrines, canals, water fountains and a curved section of stonework from where the beautiful Aobamba Valley can be seen stretched out in all its splendor below.
Q'ONCHAMARKA AND PHUYUPATAMARKA
Located just beyond Sayaqmarka, these two sites comprise a dozen rooms of varying size built in harmony with the sinuous bedrock and constructed from perfectly-fitted stones. The site is also noteworthy for the channeling of the stream that runs through the area, via a large carved rock, suggesting that the site was originally a shrine associated with the worship of water. A little further up the trail is Q'antupata.
WINAYWAYNA
The site consists of two sectors – a higher and lower one. The upper sector is comprised of granite constructions built from finely polished stones, fit together with great precision, forming what might once have been an Inkan ceremonial site. The lower section features a series of terraces alternating with a row of water fountains, and a number of chambers with rectangular bases of different sizes. These buildings still retain the cylindrical stone roof supports emerging from their walls that are known locally as "stone keys,” which once held up the wooden gables.
INTIPATA
At the end of the Trail, located at 2,850 meters/ 9350 feet above sea level, on the slopes of Qoriwayrachina hill, is Intipata – a series of agricultural terraces with stone retaining walls held together with mud-based mortar. Of particular interest are the stone steps that project from the terrace walls, called “sarunas,” which provide easy access to the terraces. In the upper part of the complex stand the remains of a number of buildings of different sizes that were probably once guard posts. In the lower section there are three more rooms that may once have been used as storehouses during harvest season.
INTI PUNKU
The "Sun Gate" is the main entrance to the lost city of Machupicchu. Inti Punku is a series of stepped, stone platforms made from carved blocks which form an entrance way. On the facade there are three trapezoidal niches, on there the north wall there are four more niches on and the southern wall, there are two more.
MACHUPICCHU
Machu Picchu ("old mountain" in Quechua, the ancient language of the Inkas) nestles on top of a mountain saddle high above the Urubamba River in the middle of the cloud forest. It was both a center of worship and astronomic observatory.
It is split into two major areas: the agricultural zone, made up of terracing and food storehouses; and the urban zone, featuring the sacred sector, with temples, squares and royal tombs which have been carved to an extraordinary degree of perfection. The stone staircases and canals are found throughout this unique archaeological site. Over the citadel looms Huayna Picchu ("young mountain" in Quechua), which can be climbed up a steep stone-paved trail.
