The complete rafting trip to the Urubamba rain forest, we start this rafting in Santa Teresa, running rapids level III and IV with incredible scenery. In the way you will be able to see small villages and banana, papaya and other jungle plantations. You will arrive to Quillabamba which is a nice town that still is not crowded with tourist, after the second day you will be able to walk around and experience the local life of this place.

Itinerary

DAY 1 SANTA TERESA - SANTA ROSA-SANTA MARIA

You can start your trip in Santa Teresa after you finish your visiting Machu Picchu, more details about this trip bellow.
If the trip starts in Cusco, our private vehicle will pick you up from your hotel at 6:00 am. Our bus journey take us through the Andean villages of Poroy, Chinchero and Maras until, we arrive to the Sacred Valley (Urubamba) and then to continue to Ollantaytambo, here we have a little stop where passengers can have breakfast or buy the last supplies for the Inca jungle tour. We start going uphill until Malaga path (14,500 ft 4,350 meters above sea level) which is the highest place of the tour, here the scenery is spectacular, snow capped mountains, waterfalls and a lot of Andean communities. Two hours more driving and you will arrive to Santa Maria, small rain forest village, one more hour and we will be at Santa Rosa which is the beginning of the tour. 

We will be arriving to the beginning of the trip between 11 am, before we jump to the water we will organize the trip pumps the boats, tight the food and the rafting gear and then we will have lunch. Before jumping into the water, we are going to have a safety briefing followed by practice in the river. Once passenger and guides will be confident with the commands and safety we will start going down river. During the first hour we will be running rapids Class II, III and III+, with nice long waves and holes.
After two exciting hours of practice and running rapids we will stop to rest. We will rest in the small town of Santa Maria, the accommodation is simple with clean double beds rooms with shared bathrooms. Meals Included 1 lunch-1 dinner)

DAY 2 SANTA TERESA-SANTA-MARIA-QUILLABAMBA

After a good breakfast we will star running the river, there will be rapids class II, III and IV. In the way we will see two more tributaries joining the river, you will see that the river rapids change, more water with bigger waves and holes.
Scenery is amazing, mountains with full of trees, farm with oranges banana and other jungle fruits. The best of this section is that after each rapid, we have calm water making the river safe to run. We stop at Chaullay or Maranura to have lunch, after we continue until Quillabamba where we sleep in a local Hostel in a double occupancy rooms with private bathrooms. Quillabamba is a town that still is not crowded by tourist; most of our clients find this place fascinating, you will walk around parks, plazas and you will visit some of the local markets where you will see all kind of jungle products. Dinner will be in a local restaurant where you can try local food. Meals Included (1 brakfast-1 lunch-1 dinner)

DAY 3 QUILLABAMBA-ECHARATE

Our last day. From Quillabamba the river goes into a gorge, nature is amazing colorful mountains with papaya, coffee, avocado oranges and many other jungle platantions. The rapids are not very difficult but still nice; you will have rapids class II, III and III +, ending in Echarate. After, you will go back to Cusco. Travel Time from Echarate to Cusco 6 hours. Meals Included (1 brakfast-1 lunch-1 dinner)

What's included

Meals: 3 lunch, 2 breakfast and 2 dinners, snacks.

Equipment: boat, guide, safety kayak or safety cataract, life jacket, wet suit, helmet, paddle-jacket, paddle), all camping gear.

Transport: public and private transport.

What's not included

Train tickets from Cusco to Santa Teresa or from Machu Picchu to Santa Teresa, all this can be arranged upon request. For more details ask our contact mail.

What to bring

Long trousers, shorts, fleece, t-shirts, bathing costume, sandals, personal items, sun block, insect repellent. Travel Time from Quillabamba to Cusco 5 hours.

River tour notes

To raft the Urubamba, we recommend you,

There is a train service from Aguas Calientes to Hydroelectric, (10 USD) it takes 30 minutes. At hydroelectric you will have to cross the Urubamba River using a zip line, then you will have to walk for over 1 hour until you arrive to Santa Teresa, we recommend to sleep in this place (We can arrange accommodations (20 USD), meals etc). Here, we pick you up from your hostel so you can start your rafting trip.

We can always organize everything from you, your Machu Picchu tour starting In Cusco, train from Aguas Calientes to Hidroelectric, accommodation in Santa Teresa and transport in a public bus back to Cusco.

You can also do your trip to Machu Picchu starting first with the rafting trip for one, two or 3 days, then you can continue on with your trip to Machu Picchu. If you have 2 or 4 day Inca trail tour, you will at list need an extra day to start your rafting trip.

For the Salcantay trek, usually trekkers will sleep one day in Santa Teresa, we recommend starting your trip here and then you can continue on with your trip to Machu Picchu after your rafting trip.