Like so many avid hikers, Mary Narrod had always put Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca citadel in Peru, high on her wish list of places to visit. She planned to someday take a hike to get there.

But her husband, James, was not fond of the idea of camping along the way. "It's not that I won't do it," said Narrod, an active traveler himself, whose recent vacations have included hiking and heli-skiing. "But I like a shower after a day or two."

It's long been possible to avoid roughing it by taking a train ride to Machu Picchu from the southern Peruvian city of Cuzco. But travelers like the Narrods who wanted to reach Machu Picchu the traditional way - on foot - had only one option when it came time to bed down for the night: Pitch a tent and roll out the sleeping bags. Until now, that is.

Mountain Lodges of Peru, a new trekking company, just opened four lodges along an old Inca pilgrimage route in the Cordillera Vilcabamba, which lies on the west side of the Urubamba River Valley. Trekkers begin their hike at the 12-room Salkantay Lodge, located in the Andean valley of Soray Pampa at 12,000 feet and about a 3 1/2-hour drive from Cuzco.