Customer Reviews

The Inca Trail, Cusco & Machu Picchu, 2nd: Includes The Vilcabamba Trail and Lima City Guide

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My husband and I just spent 10 days in Cuzco and hiked the Inca Trail, guided mainly by Mr. Danbury's book. I also bought the standard travel guides on Peru, but quickly discarded them as it became clear that Danbury's suggestions were far superior in every respect: more current, easy to locate, and forthright. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone traveling to the Cuzco region. Aside from offering outstanding recomendations on lodging, food, sites, etc., Danbury has a great sense of humor and casual writing style. Buy this book before you go to Cuzco!

We have just come off the Inca Trail, where we relied heavily on this book. The best features may be the maps, which enable you to see what is ahead, where you can camp, etc. Danbury also has good descriptions of Cuzco and Lima and Machu Piccu itself.

This book was good as a general introduction to the trail and to get an idea of what to expect. However, while actually in Machu Picchu, nothing can beat a tour guide. More than half the book is dedicated to the trail and preparing for the hike, so if you have done this already or you are going with a group, this entire section will not be very helpful. The remainder of the book gives an average description of the site while leaving some serious gaps. Tour guides are great in this respect. The maps of the trail itself were a bit confusing and lacked detail. I would have preferred to buy another book on the subject. However, after looking at the books both in the states and while I was in Peru, I discovered that this is the best book out there - unfortunately. So if you want advance information on the trail and the ruins before you get there (and can get yourself a tour guide), buy this book. Just don't expect much.

I got this book as a gift just as I was to embark on a most magical 10 day trip to Lima/Cuzco and to hike the Inka Trail to Machu Picchu from Km-82. It is a treasure. I carried it along everywhere that I went. The Lima section needs some updates (Archaeological Museum is CLOSED on Mondays!) and I wish there were more spanish to english phrases but these are nits, the history and the trail description are fantastic and that is the main intent of the book. You do not need any other book! Good show.

I just got back from Peru where my husband and I hiked the trail to Machu Picchu. We brought this book with us and found it to be very inaccurate. I do not necessarily blame the author as there have been many, many changes in policies regarding hiking the Inca Trail this past year (2005) and there are bound to be even more changes in the near future as Peru tries to balance income from tourism with preserving the trail and forest. In addition, pricing for hostels in Cusco have drastically changed and I COMPLETELY disagreed with the author's food reviews. The best hot chocolate in Cusco is certainly NOT the Swiss owned place on Cuenta San Blas but rather I found, after testing many hot chocolates all around the city, that the best hot chocolate was a corner restaurant on Cuenta San Blas and Carmen Alto (on the corner of Plaza San Blas). Also, the best chicken burger was actually a 3 sole burger that I bought in a restaurant on a side street (Plateros) a few steps from the Plaza de Armas. The author tended to choose the more expensive restaurants to put in his book, but I found the food in the cheaper places to be much better. Just down Plateros from the chicken burger place, there are two markets which were better than the ones at the end of Ave de Sol which the author recommended. They were just as willing to bargain, had a larger variety of things, and were only a few hundred feet from the Plaza de Armas instead of 12 blocks away like the ones on the Ave de Sol. To top it off, Inkaray is a fantastic restaurant on the same street as the market and the chicken burger place that has 4 course meals for 12 soles! It was good food and lots of it for super cheap. It's about 4 blocks from the Plaza de Armas on Plateros, on the right hand side as you're leaving the plaza. It has handwritten referral signs in English posted on the windows from happy patrons...we didn't write a sign, but we agreed with each and every one of them. If you have a sweet tooth like me, I recommend the pancakes with banana and chocolate as a dessert, or for breakfast. At 6 soles, they're darn good and HUGE! Bottomline, this book was useful as far as the Incan history stuff and maps of Cusco, but was fairly useless for the nitty gritty stuff like prices, food, and Inca Trail hiking policies. Not a backpacker friend. I've heard that there might be a newer version. If so, I'd pick that one up instead.

Richard Danbury's book gives a detailed description not only of Machu Picchu and Cusco, but a host of other ruins in the area. The maps provided are detailed and allow a self-tour of each site. Reccomendations for side tours are terrific, plus he provides alternate trails to Machu Picchu for "the road less traveled". There is a brief chapter on Lima, as well as shopping and travel tips for the region.

Great book!

I took this book and the Lonely Planet's on my recent trip to Peru, leaving the Insight Guide books at home. This book is much better in every respect to it's competitors. I only wish it had a section on the Colca Canyon. But for Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu, it's ideal.

I bought this book because of the maps and the information it gave as to how to be a good independent backpacker. If it were not for the hidden pages at the end of the book, I would give this book 10 stars. Hidden at the back of the book, you have an update section. This section mentions that independent backpacking is no longer allowed. The only thing usefull about the book now is its sections about lima and cuzco but if I wanted a normal guide book, I woul buy the Lonely Planet, not this one

This book gives wonderful advice and preparation if you are going to hike on the Inka Trail to Machu Picchu. There is great advice for safety, route descriptions, and is best for preparation. Info is given on the history of the land, its people and culture, food, places to stay, as well as safety tips for health in the region.
However, as another reviewer said below, a professional tour guide would serve you well.
Overall a great guide for preparing to walk solo on an ancient and breathtaking trail.

I was hoping this book would have better descriptions of finding hikes in the Cusco area. The author seemed to like to share his political views. Overall there were some good travel tips, but you definately need a good travel guide to accomponany it.