There are plenty of reasons why now is the best time in a decade to visit Europe: you’ll avoid summer crowds, both visiting from elsewhere and taking advantage of the continent’s propensity for extensive August vacationing. Not having to stand in a large crowd to see some of the most architecturally distinctive buildings in the stark light of winter is also a plus. And, if your fondness for sports includes a favorite soccer team somewhere in Europe, you might be able to catch a game while you’re in town. 

There’s also the matter of economics: right now, the Euro is at its lowest level in a decade^[1] relative to the dollar. Lower airfares and less expensive hotel rooms, along with a dollar that can be stretched further than usual make a compelling case for travel. When asked about current bargains to Europe, George Hobica, founder and president of the travel site Airfarewatchdog^[2], said, “There have been some good fares to Scandinavia, Barcelona, Lisbon; and also to Taipei, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam in Asia from NYC, SEA, LAX, SFO. [It’s] also very cheap to Russia although the visas are expensive.”

RELATED: 18 of the Best Modern Cocktail Bars in Europe ^[3]

If you’re visiting Scandinavia, Helsinki might be a good place to start. Its location on the water makes for some scenic vistas, and the vibrant cultural scene includes the Kiasma museum, with an excellent selection of contemporary art. There’s also a heavy sports presence there, including popular soccer (HJK Helsinki) and ice hockey (HIFK) teams. Across the Gulf of Finland is Tallinn, Estonia, where ultra-modern buildings coexist with centuries-old structures, some of which now hold museums, galleries, bars, and music venues. Both cities are home to numerous evocative spaces; if you’re willing to brave the cold, there’s much in both that awaits discovery.

Your interests might lead you further south in Europe: Spain or Portugal, for instance. (Or perhaps you’re just inclined to temperatures that are well above freezing.) Whether you’re opting for a hotel room or an AirBnB spot, there’s an abundance of distinctive spaces in Lisbon to lay your head. And there’s great food to be had there as well: a recent piece in ^[4]The Guardian^[5] shined the spotlight on the wide-ranging food scene found there, which encompasses everything from large-scale dining to the city’s distinctive food kiosks, which elevates street food to heights rarely found elsewhere.

Or you could head east and find yourself in Barcelona, on the Mediterranean Sea. There are plenty of ways to spend your time there, including museums dedicated to the works of Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. In the late winter, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hosts Formula One test days. (The Spanish Grand Prix will be held later in the year.) And the rivalry between local soccer team FC Barcelona and Real Madrid is one of the most heated in professional sports. 

Certain other cities are perennially good values for travelers. Dublin, for instance, offers both the cosmopolitan pleasures of a capital city, but also exists in close proximity to a number of beaches and valleys that visitors can explore. And travelers making their way to Vienna can take in the city’s numerous historical buildings, spend a day or more exploring the cultural institutions and museums that call MuseumsQuartier home, or visiting the wineries that can be found on the outskirts of the city. And if you have a yearning to tackle multiple cities in a single trip, its proximity to several other major cities makes it a good starting point for your trip.

RELATED: How to Sleep on a Plane ^[6]

Whether your interests are focused on food, culture, or sports, there are plenty of options to explore in these cities, along with many others. February brings with it carnivals to a number of cities, along with Munich’s Starkbierzeit (or Strong Beer Festival), which runs across the span of several weeks in February and March. The bargains are there to be had, and the cities are there to be explored. 

References

1. ^{^} its lowest level in a decade (www.reuters.com)
2. ^{^} Airfarewatchdog (www.airfarewatchdog.com)
3. ^{^} RELATED: 18 of the Best Modern Cocktail Bars in Europe  (www.mensjournal.com)
4. ^{^} a recent piece in (www.theguardian.com)
5. ^{^} The Guardian (www.theguardian.com)
6. ^{^} RELATED: How to Sleep on a Plane  (www.mensjournal.com)

Credit: Photographs Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Cartel Land, from director Matthew Heineman, presents a parallel story of U.S. and Mexican vigilantes fighting back against the powerful drug cartels on both sides of the border. The film profiles Tim "Nailer" Foley, of Arizona's Border Recon, who leads a band of grisly, well-armed men who are focused on rooting out the cartel scouts dotting the hills of the Arizona border. Nailer's tale is set against the story of Dr. José Mireles, a Mexican doctor from the state of Michoacán — controlled by the brutal Knights Templar— who leads the Autodefensas, an armed, paramilitary group dedicated to driving the cartels out of their towns. Heineman interviews the meth dealers who say they'd love to go straight, speaks with the victims affected by the violence, and embeds with the Autodefensas as they fight back against the cartels, capturing vivid footage of two shootouts. We spoke with Heineman about the expanding power of cartels on both sides of the border, filming through gunfire, and the current despair in Mexico. Vigilantism is something people may not understand if they live under a functional government.

What did you learn about the motivation of these men?
They have an absolute distrust of the government. They believe the government is failing them, and they believe in a lawless world, a world that is controlled by the cartels. They believe it is their responsibility to step up and take the law into their own hands. When I first went to Arizona it was amazing. This was America, but it was this otherworldly Wild West where there was no sense of any law or any institution. It really felt like this was cartel country, and the cartels were controlling what was happening there.

Why is that?
On all the hillsides and every single mountaintop where we were filming in southern Arizona there are cartel scouts. They are like air traffic control, they have high-powered binoculars, really high tech equipment, and they shepherd drug loads through the valley. We're basically putting a thumb in the dyke to try to stop it.

What did you learn about the cartels that you hadn't understood before?
In the past couple of years the cartels started to control everything. Now they control both the human smuggling and the drug smuggling, so they are this really omnipresent force. If you are just some poor person who is coming to America for a better life you are being shepherded across the border by someone involved in the cartel, so it is much more dangerous now. If you can't pay, they'll throw a pack of drugs on your back. It is indentured servitude to some degree. In Mexico, it is so tragic to be there. There is an evil force that is the rule of law. As much as there are local police around, there is no one down there who hasn't been touched by the cartels. The Knights of Templar, which is the cartel that controls Michoacán, and predominately traffic meth, are particularly brutal. A lot of other cartels are run like businesses so all they want to do is push product. But the Knights of Templar, had a particularly vicious and violent way of exerting their power. They are this amazingly frightening group that harkens back to this mystical Christian order. They wear crosses and they feel like they are doing God's work and they feel like they are almost holy warriors trying to rid evil. The cartel themselves think they are doing good.

What was the hairiest situation you found yourself in?
Being in a shootout. I don't know if it can get much hairier than that. It was frightening. I tried to calm myself down and really just focused on the filmmaking side of things — making sure I was in focus, framing the shot —to ignore how insane the situation was. But honestly, the most frightening part of the filming was the interview I did with a young woman who was kidnapped by the cartel, and her husband was chopped into pieces and burned to death in front of her. To see the hollowness in her eyes — to see that life had been sucked out of her. She was a human being that was breathing, but the horror that she saw was unimaginable.

Matthew Heineman

The violence is all so close to home.
That is the most insane thing. We live in America and this is our neighboring country, and this is happening right next to us. I think that is a lot of what drives the vigilantes in Arizona for better or worse, and they fear that this bloodletting of the Mexican drug wars is going to seep across our borders.

What sort of protection did you have? Did you carry a gun?
I definitely did not carry a gun. It is unethical. I am an outside observer observing them. I wore a bulletproof vest and we had all sort of security precautions in place. We had teams of people who always knew where we were at all times, and what roads we were driving on in case we got kidnapped. There was a whole security apparatus that we had set up beforehand.

Has that desire to fight back against the cartels been squashed?
I think it has been squandered by the current state of affairs. There is a lot of despair that this beautiful thing is no longer beautiful. The horrific disappearance of the 43 students in the state just south of Michoacán — and it was police that had captured them and had handed them over to the cartel — was this very vivid example of the lines between cartel, law enforcement, and justice are so blurred. That's what is so scary. You really don't know who to trust. On the filmmaking side of things, we thought we knew what side we were on, we thought we knew what side we were filming with, but we didn't.

How could the U.S. government resolve the issue?
I really made this film not to talk about policy. I will say that whatever we've been doing is failing. But it is somewhat of an intractable problem. As long as there is demand there will be supply, and I don't see any stop to the demand. As weed is being legalized the states the cartels are just finding other ways to make money. The amount of weed being brought across our borders is lessening every year. The amount of meth, heroin and coke is rising every year. 

Credit: Nate "Igor” Smith

Located at the bottom of the Sunshine State, it's as if everything good and bad about Florida filters its way down to Miami: You get the great weather, all kinds of different cultures, languages, and cuisine, but you also have the tourists, the terrible drivers, and the sports fans^[1] that the media loves to take swings at. The city has always been a strange mix of glamours, seedy, and a little dangerous, with the latter two thanks largely to its reputation as the cocaine capital of the United States in the 1980s. 

Today, the Magic City is again flush in (now mostly questionable^[2] real estate) money, and is still known for its Art Deco buildings, beaches, swirls of Spanish everywhere you go, and parties that go well into the next morning. But Miami is also currently experiencing a cultural boom, something that is especially apparent in December, when Art Basel Miami draws the focus of the entire art world in the biggest event of its kind in the United States. It has also encouraged the opening of dozens of art galleries in the city in the past decade^[3], proving that Miami is simply a place where you go to get a good tan; that there's plenty to experience here. And somewhat unlikely, one of the ambassadors for Miami's new renaissance isn't some native art world darling; it's Iggy Pop. 

On paper he's another retirement-age ex-Midwesterner who's pushing 70, never seen wearing a shirt, and soaking up the South Florida sun. Yet this is Iggy Pop we're talking about — he's one of the greatest lead singers in rock and roll history, constantly referred to as 'the godfather of punk,' and a man who can tell you stories you probably wouldn't believe if anybody else told them to you. 

RELATED: Craig Finn of The Hold Steady on His Favorite Bar^[4]

"I had a home in Mexico that I'd moved to so I could get away from America, and narcoculture was coming in stronger and stronger. So the police would offer me cocaine to bring them a gun from America, and I started thinking I was going to get kidnapped soon," Pop says about the decision to look for a new home in the early-1990s. Although he's best-known for his work with the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band The Stooges, and later with David Bowie in Berlin in the late-1970s, it usually comes as a surprise when to find out Iggy's been in Miami since 1995. "I came down here, nobody shot at me, nothing bad happened," Pop says of an initial visit before buying his first Miami home. "It was so quiet, and nobody knew who I was, and there was the beach. There was the ocean, there was the end of all the tension and complications." 

Coinciding with another resurgence in popularity, thanks in large part to the his song "Lust for Life" being included on the soundtrack for the 1996 film Trainspotting, Pop notes that people were more willing to travel to Miami for meetings, photo shoots, and recording sessions in his part of town he describes as, "A great little dump." He adds, "A great little dumpy dump."  

Now Miami is building itself up once again after the city was reportedly hit harder by the 2008 recession than any city on the entire planet^[5], and people are still coming to see Pop, like Sailor Jerry, the rum distiller named after the famous tattoo artist, Norman Collins, who asked Pop to design a flash collection^[6] celebrated at the gallery and music venue Grand Central^[7], a spot situated in an old train station that looks like it would sit comfortably in Brooklyn or Portland, filled with guests who look like they could live in those capitals of cool. They munched on pulled pork sliders from Sparky's Roadside BBQ^[8], a place that locals say is maybe the best barbecue spot in the state, topped it off with a stocked microbrew list, and then watched the evening's act, local garage rockers who've made it big nationally, the Jacuzzi Boys. And it all went down thanks to Pop. 

While it feels strange to call Pop one of the most active seniors living within the 305 area code, that's the case. He's part of the large population of the retirement age crowd that has populated the city since the middle of the 20th century. And although some of his neighbors might consider keeping busy going on cruises and playing golf, the 67-year-old Pop has a much different set of activities to keep him busy. Whether it be recording new albums, touring, and doing his BBC 6 radio show, Pop doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon. Projects pop up constantly, people like Ke$ha asking him to contribute to tracks, brands asking to use his songs, and more people wondering if he'll ever write a proper memoir like Patti Smith's Just Kids after he recently delivered the keynote John Peel Lecture^[9] to wide acclaim ("If I do it now, the problem is that my life has been so shared that I'd have to write about Ron Asheton, Scott Ashteon, David Bowie; I'd have to write about Nico, all sorts of great people who have a right to their privacy," he says). He thanks moving to Miami in 1995 for the second-wind that keeps the guy who seems ageless going: "I regained my physical vitality and my health" when he moved there nearly twenty years ago. 

RELATED: Tom Petty Still Won't Back Down^[10] 

If you're planning a visit down there, Pop points out that it's Miami's diversity that makes it so special, saying that visitors looking for something to do that they won't find in a guidebook should rent a "reliable" car and drive through neighborhoods like Overtown and Liberty City to experience the mix of West Indian and Latin American culture alongside historic landmarks like the Lyric Theatre on 2nd Avenue.  And while the best Cuban sandwich you will ever have might not be too hard to find, Pop suggests that with a little searching, you can enjoy a plate of roti as delicious as you'd get in Jamaica. He also recommends looking in the windows of the Santería stores ("All the Cuban and Haitian voodoo stuff is beautiful"), and stopping off at South Florida's most popular record store, Sweat^[11]. A place that Pop has championed for over five years now. 

"The first time I spoke to him, I was nauseous from how nervous I was," Sweat owner Lauren Reskin says of her initial exchange with Pop. A longtime DJ, promoter, and music lover, Reskin knew she wasn't talking to just anybody when she reached out to the music legend, asking him to help the store with a fundraiser to buy a new AC system (something that is a necessity anytime of the year in Florida). "It turns out he's the nicest, most gracious and classy guy you'd ever want to meet," she says of Pop, who showed up to the fundraiser as the guest of honor, and then kept coming back, hanging out at the store's annual block party, which happened to fall on his birthday. "We got him an ice cream cake and he hung out for hours watching bands and meeting fans," says Reskin. "I love how much he loves Miami, he really gets what is so wonderful about living here."

Plenty of famous people have Miami homes, Pop is the type of celebrity you're most likely to see around town. It's pretty difficult to miss him: He's usually the shirtless guy with the trademark long blonde hair taking business calls on the flip phone he's still proud to use; take away the excesses of his past, and he's still the same Iggy Pop. He hasn't changed much during his time living in Florida, but the city looks better suited for a rock and roll legend these days than it once did. The decadence and the dirt are balancing out more and more, making Miami the kind of place you visit for an experience, not to just sit by the water all day and watch life pass you by. 

References

1. ^{^} sports fans (www.sbnation.com)
2. ^{^} questionable (www.thenation.com)
3. ^{^} the past decade (www.nytimes.com)
4. ^{^} RELATED: Craig Finn of The Hold Steady on His Favorite Bar (www.mensjournal.com)
5. ^{^} hit harder by the 2008 recession than any city on the entire planet (blogs.miaminewtimes.com)
6. ^{^} a flash collection (www.sailorjerryclothing.com)
7. ^{^} Grand Central (www.grandcentralmiami.com)
8. ^{^} Sparky's Roadside BBQ (www.sparkysroadsidebarbecue.com)
9. ^{^} delivered the keynote John Peel Lecture (www.bbc.co.uk)
10. ^{^} RELATED: Tom Petty Still Won't Back Down (www.mensjournal.com)
11. ^{^} Sweat (sweatrecordsmiami.com)

Credit: Robyn Von Swank for IFC

Marc Maron, comedian and the iconic voice from the WTF podcast,^[1] called me from his home in Northeast Los Angeles, and after just four minutes, he seems to already be considering retirement following his next tour. "Then I'm finished. That's it. It's all done," he says. WTF?

Of course, it takes all of two seconds for him to recant after questioning his own ability to ever actually hang it up. "Yeah... I don’t think I will," he admits. The statement is probably more a simple knee-jerk reaction to the daunting laundry list of obligations he has in front of him. His life is planned from now through Spring 2015, the consequence of his late-blooming popularity that seems to build every year. This is what he wanted though, right? This is why he started a podcast from his modest garage about five years ago, after his Air America radio show was cancelled, isn't it?

Fans of Maron are familiar with the self-analytical thought processes that are peppered throughout his often intense, in-depth podcast interviews with legends of comedy and pop culture. This is what he is known for, that transparency and rampant honesty that seems nearly impossible to find elsewhere in the entertainment landscape, where reality television is farther from reality than the latest episode of Law & Order. This is why he would be hopelessly missed if he ever did in fact stop sharing his thoughts weekly with the world. Especially if he did it before he had a chat with Lorne Michaels [see below].

RELATED: Nick Offerman Goes 'Full Bush'
^[2]

So relax. Marc isn't retiring yet. In fact, he’s full in production on his popular IFC television series Maron, based on his life of course, and preparing to perform at the New York Comedy Festival,^[3] where he’ll be unveiling a brand new hour of stand-up comedy.

Are you excited to perform in New York and visit the old stomping grounds?
You know what, I was just there and I'm still thrilled to go back. The fall is my favorite season in the city. I love the crisp weather. I’ve been missing New York a lot lately. I used to live on 2nd Street, between avenues A and B.

Do you have any places that you like to visit when you’re back?
I find myself at Veselka in the East Village a lot. There’s something about that pierogi. That place has been part of my life more than most places.

Does it also remind you why you left?
When I left New York I was ready to leave. When you live there for years, you find that you have your geography allocated and you don’t get out of it often. Rarely did I go above 14th Street. I had a little radius that I would work in. It’s kind of interesting for me to see right before the real estate changed rapidly. I remember it in the '70s and '80s Lower East Side just had a few bars. It seems to be pretty gone. It's not unpleasant though. There were benefits to when it was more wild and dicey. But it's nice now with the little stores. It doesn’t seem like the same city that I knew.

How has it changed?
You know New York seems like a weekend resort for people from Europe. Is everything just a weekend home here in the city? Does anyone actually live here? I can’t get a handle on the profile. The one great thing about New York is it's falling apart always. There’s always a dude in a hole, with equipment, doing something. That’s the reminder of who the New Yorkers really are. There will always be a guy yelling something over a jackhammer.

You did a podcast walking around New York and you mentioned you stood right where you used to get drugs, which you’ve kicked since. Was it hard to go back?
I was fine. I think I forgot about how fun it was. We had some good times though.

You also met a lot of comedians here that you still work with to this day.
There was a core group of people there when I was working in the 80s. There was a crappy restaurant that we all went to on 2nd Avenue, called Café Kiev. I just specifically remember sitting there with Louis CK, Jeff Ross, Sarah Silverman, and Dave Attell after doing sets for a dozen or so people. Then just a few months ago we were doing the Oddball Tour and all there performing for thousands of people. It’s surreal.

RELATED: Dane Cook Is Growing Up^[4]

Did anyone point out how crazy that was?
Backstage at Red Rocks, Demetri Martin, who was there when we all started turned to me and said, "It’s that weird that we’re performing for 11,000 people and we used to do free sets at Luna Lounge?" Yeah. It is weird.

What’s the idea behind the Marc Maron style?
I like to break in my own pants, I like to break in my own shoes. Sometimes it will come from the wardrobe department for my show, and I’ll to commit to them. I like plaid western shirts seem to work for me and as far as jeans are concerned it’s all about selvedge denim. When I’m in Nashville I’ll buy a pair of jeans at imogen + willie and take a few years to get them to the right point.

You have the next season of Maron coming up, right? Have you started writing it? Are you still basing it for the most part on your life?
Yes. It’s still mainly borrowing from my experiences, but at some point you have to start to fictionalize. Emotionally, I’m mining from my life and there are moments that find their way in. Some of the exact stories are made up but the true story is also there under the surface. Who knows where we will go with it later on though, perhaps we can start a storyline of what could have happened and not so much exactly taken from the headlines.

I feel like when Maron came on Netflix, it introduced you to a whole new crowd.
That was the greatest thing in the world. I’m a still pretty unknown entity and then Netflix went and released that season and I’m get approached by a whole new audience, coming out of the woodwork, asking me who I am and what this is. All I can say is I’ve been doing this for half of my life, but glad they’re on board now. If they see the show and like it I think they're usually pleasantly surprised that there are 500 episodes of a podcast and my stand-up available for them to discover.

Do you still get in trouble with friends and family when they see an episode that may be based on them?
There are characters that are similar to people I have in my real life. I’ve gotten into some real trouble with my girlfriends and with my father. But there is a lot that is made up, so I can always say that.

Are there any secrets in your life? Or is it all out there?
Oh, sure. There is only so much that will fit on a TV show, or in an hour of stand-up. There are some things people don’t know. That's probably for the best. But I've kind of arrived in a medium that I'm allowed to be true to myself. I don't want to feel like I'm holding back. I'm generating the best material that I ever have at this point.

Is there anyone that you haven’t been able to get on the podcast that has been your White Whale?
Lorne Michaels. We have a bit of a history and I have a few questions it’s be great to ask him on the show.

Has he heard that you want to talk to him?
Yes. He’s heard about it. I called his office once to kind of feel it out. I haven’t heard back.

Well. You are coming to New York…
That’s true. Maybe I’ll give them another call.

References

1. ^{^} WTF podcast, (www.wtfpod.com)
2. ^{^} RELATED: Nick Offerman Goes 'Full Bush' (www.mensjournal.com)
3. ^{^} New York Comedy Festival, (nycomedyfestival.com)
4. ^{^} RELATED: Dane Cook Is Growing Up (www.mensjournal.com)

The approach to Machu Picchu is a winding, narrow climb through a forest of begonias, orchids, and mosses. Moving clouds of predawn mist cloak the peaks. The chirping of parakeets rings through the thin Andean air. 

RELATED: Best National Park Adventures^[1]

That, at least, is the way the Incas walked into their sacred city 500 years ago. Nowadays such a serene entrance is nearly impossible, especially if you've hiked in on the Inca Trail, the traditional thoroughfare to the ruins. In the past decade this 28-mile route has been overrun by tourists; some 89,000 hikers made the trek last year, and complaints about noise, litter, and a general lack of tranquillity are widespread. 

Recently, though, independent hikers and a few outfitters have re-discovered an entire network of ancient Incan paths to Machu Picchu that bypass the tourism superhighway. These little-known routes weave an interconnected skein through the heart of the Sacred Valley, bisecting fields populated by burros, bulls, and the occasional farmer, with the snow-capped crags of the Andes as a backdrop. Many trails wind through stone ruins similar to those along the Inca Trail itself. There's even a partially excavated ancient city called Choquequirao, with temples and living quarters on display. 

RELATED: The 10 Most Dangerous Hikes in the U.S.^[2]

Hidden treasures like these — and the thrill of traveling literally off the beaten path — are luring adventurous travelers. "I had no intention of staring at a middle-aged Englishwoman's sweaty ass for three days while poor Peruvian farmers carried our packs, set up our tents, and cooked our food," says Dave Panitz, a student from Northern California who was one of just 3,500 people who hiked the Choquequirao route last year. Camping at night in open fields and among ruins, he met local farmers and villagers — and very few outsiders. Other trails are even less traveled than Choquequirao. 

Adventure Specialists, a Colorado-based boutique outfitter, has run trips on these alternate trails since the mid-1970s. But now local companies, such as Auqui Mountain Spirit, and a growing number of bigger American outfits, including Mountain Travel Sobek and Wilderness Travel, are responding to the demand for a more authentic experience in the Sacred Valley. "Once you get off the main thoroughfares, it's like stepping back in time 500 years," says Gary Ziegler, founder of Adventure Specialists and an archaeologist who has spent the last three decades in the area. Last year Ziegler was on an expedition that found Incan ruins two miles from Machu Picchu — an indication of how much undiscovered history lies just outside the tourist zone. 

It used to be possible to walk the Inca Trail without a guide and without hordes of backpackers. But overuse was causing erosion, and the Peruvian government responded by instituting a slew of restrictions in 2001, including a higher trail use fee, a limit on the number of trekkers per day (500), and a requirement that all hikers use a registered guide. And the overflow from the Inca Trail is bound to find its way into the rest of the valley — which remains unprotected. "With too much disruption, it could end in disaster," Ziegler says. "But right now, the trails and the locals are wonderful."

Travel Planner 

Getting There: Fly into Cuzco, gateway city to Machu Picchu, via Lima; then take a bus to Ollantaytambo, the best place to overnight before your trek. 

Trekking: If you go sans guide, buy topo maps from South American Explorers in Cuzco (saexplorers.org^[3]). Adventure Specialists leads 12-day hiking and horsepack trips (adventurespecialists.org^[4]), and Mountain Travel Sobek offers two-week treks (mtsobek.com^[5]).

Route-Finding: There are many ways to bypass the crowded Inca Trail. The favorite Men's Journal route is an easy-to-follow riverside trip along the Rio Urubamba beginning at the ruins of Qoriwayrachina, where most trekkers on the traditional Inca Trail also start, and hiking northwest 26 miles past several ruins to Machu Picchu. 

Best Rest Stop: When you arrive at Machu Picchu the journey is only half over — you still need to hike back. Before hitting the trail again, rest up at the Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, in Aguas Calientes, 20 minutes by hotel shuttle from the ruins. A Zen-like atmosphere (whitewashed cottages set among waterfalls and the world's largest collection of native orchids), along with an Andean hot-stone sauna and a choice of spa treatments, will turn your stiff muscles to putty (inkaterra.com^[6]). 

Best Trip Extension: Whitewater rafters on the Class IV–V Apurimac River get their fill of both adrenaline and archaeology. A new 10-day rafting and hiking trip with Bio Bio Expeditions World Wide (bbxrafting.com^[7]) begins with a strenuous climb up the Apurimac Canyon and includes a stop at the ruins of Choquequirao — set in a cloud forest more than 5,000 feet above the river.

References

1. ^{^} RELATED: Best National Park Adventures (www.mensjournal.com)
2. ^{^} RELATED: The 10 Most Dangerous Hikes in the U.S. (www.mensjournal.com)
3. ^{^} saexplorers.org (saexplorers.org)
4. ^{^} adventurespecialists.org (adventurespecialists.org)
5. ^{^} mtsobek.com (www.mtsobek.com)
6. ^{^} inkaterra.com (www.inkaterra.com)
7. ^{^} bbxrafting.com (bbxrafting.com)