Qhapaq Ñan

The Qhapaq Ñan is the road network that held the Inca state together: something on the order of thirty to forty thousand kilometres by different estimates running from southern Colombia to central Chile and Argentina, with two main north-south trunk routes - one along the coast, one through the sierra - linked by transverse roads, and served by tambos for lodging and storage and by chasqui relay posts. It was built for foot and llama traffic, so it uses stairways, causeways across bogs, cuttings and suspension bridges rather than gradients suitable for wheels. UNESCO listed it in 2014 as a single site shared by six countries. In Peru, walkable sections survive widely: the permit-controlled Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is the famous one, but stretches near Huánuco Pampa, over Pariacaca, around Aypate in Piura and in many other places are open, often better preserved, and almost empty.

History

Much of the network came from the Incas claiming exclusive right to older routes, many built centuries earlier by the Wari Empire of the central highlands and by Tiwanaku, which flourished around Lake Titicaca between the 6th and 12th centuries, while the Incas built or greatly improved other sections, such as the road through Chile's Atacama Desert. The Incas ruled only the region of Cusco in the Late Intermediate period, and from around 1438, after Pachakutiq began the expansion, their conquests from the coastal valleys to the rest of Chinchaysuyu went hand in hand with roads linking each new territory to Cusco, until the system ran some 40,000 kilometres on two main north-south routes along the coast and through the mountains. In the first years of Spanish rule disease and war cut the native population from more than 12 million to about 1.1 million in fifty years, destroying the labour that kept the roads up, and the network was left to decay or adapted to carry minerals and goods to the coast (Wikipedia, Inca road system).

What to look for

• The paving - stone surfaces, stairways and causeways built for feet, not wheels.
• The tambos - waystations and storehouses spaced along the routes.
• The scale - some thirty to forty thousand kilometres across what became six countries.
• The open sections - stretches far from Machu Picchu that need no permit.

When to go

May to September in the highlands. The Inca Trail requires permits booked months ahead and closes each February. Other sections range from an hour's walk to multi-day treks.

Before you go

Most sections are at high altitude with no facilities, and need guides or good route information. Preservation varies enormously - some stretches are pristine, others are a modern track over the line. The Inca Trail's permit system sells out far in advance.

Nearby

Huánuco Pampa, Aypate and the Pariacaca crossing are among the best-preserved Peruvian sections.

Key facts