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In those “top 10 treks of the world” lists, inevitably you find The Inca Trail. Yet most hikers agree there are many better hikes in Peru, and better ways to hike to Machu Picchu. Specifically, Choquequirao to Machu Picchu.

Finally — the popular media is starting to catch-on. From the New York Times, June 2007:

This was Peru, but not the famous Machu Picchu. I was at Choquequirao, a sister city of similar significance built along similar lines, but harder to reach and, for the time being, still sufficiently free of tourists for a visitor to imagine, without much effort, the priests and builders, the supplicants and courtiers roaming its paths and plaza. Twenty-five years ago, Machu Picchu must have looked much like this.

Choquequirao’s builder, Topa Inca, chose his city’s site and design precisely because of the similarities to Machu Picchu, the city of his predecessor, Pachachuti, according to Gary Ziegler, an independent American archaeologist who worked on the first Choquequirao excavation. The two cities were about the same size and served the same religious, political and agricultural functions. But because archaeologists long underestimated the importance of Choquequirao, the city’s existence was known for almost 300 years before the first restoration was begun in 1993. It is still only 30 percent uncovered. The Peruvian government is just beginning to plan for large-scale tourism there.

In 2006 Choquequirao drew 6,800 visitors, according to Peru’s National Cultural Institute, more than double the total in 2003 but a little more than 1 percent of the number who went to Machu Picchu. For now, Choquequirao remains “an Inca site you can visit without a 60-person Japanese tour group and two tour guides with umbrellas and megaphones,” Mr. Ziegler had told me — a “journey for the savvy traveler.” …

The Other Machu Picchu - New York Times

Best Inca Ruins trek of them all is to hike to Choquequirao. Then continue to Machu Picchu on the same trip. You can book this easily in Cuzco, Peru.

Check our Choquequirao to Machu Picchu information page.

(via Gadling)

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