Inca Trail Permit Availability (in real-time)

Step 1: Wait for the government website to load below, this can take a few minutes. Click on "Ingresar Como Invitado" (Enter as a Guest)
Step 2: Click on "Consultas" which can be found at the top left-hand side of the page. This will bring you to a new page entitled Bienvenido Al Modulo de Consultas
Step 3: Click on "Disponibilidad Camino Inca 2009" which can be found on the left-hand sidebar of the page. This will bring you to a new page entitled "Disponibilidad de Espacios Camino Inca 2009"
Literally translated this means "Availability of spaces on the Inca Trail in 2009". You will also see the words "Elija el mes para ver la disponibilidad" which means "Select the month to see the availability". This is followed by a drop-down menu listing the months of the year. The months are similar enough to English to be able to guess the Spanish equivalent. You can select any of the months right up until January 2010. Treks permits for later dates in 2010 will not go on sale until the middle of January 2010.
Step 4: Using the drop-down menu select the month that you are planning on starting the trek, then hit the "Ver Disponibilidad" button (= see availability")
Step 5: The number of remaining spaces for each day of the month will now be shown. (Fecha = date, Disponibles = Available). The maximum number of spaces is 500.

Interpretation of the Results: If the number of spaces available is zero then it basically means that all the trek permits have been sold out for that date and no matter how many companies you contact, none of them will be able to offer you space on the Inca Trail. The only options that you have are to look at an alternative departure date or an alternative trek to the Inca Trail. Even if companies have cancellations regulations prevent them from filling these spaces with other clients. This may sound ridiculous but the system has been designed to prevent "wealthy" companies buying up all the spaces in advance using made-up names and passport numbers and then cancelling them nearer the time only to fill the cancelled spaces with real clients. The number of remaining spaces does not fall steadily, rather it falls exponentially. That it to say that the number of spaces remains between 300 and 500 for quite along time but as it starts to fall below 250 more companies decide to buy permits for their groups and the rate that the spaces drop starts to increase. Often the last 100 spaces can sell out in a day or so. For example just because there may be 150 spaces available on the day that you want to start the trek, by the time you find a suitable trekking company and send them your trek deposit, it doesn't mean that there will still be 150 spaces left! So it is highly recommended to book your Inca Trail as far in advance as possible.