Machu Picchu is a historic site built by the Inca around 1400 AD. It was (re) discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911. Having heard stories about the ancient city, Bingham worked his way down the Urubamba River searching for information about the ancient city. He was directed to the ruins by locals, who were well aware of the existence of Machu Picchu. Bingham didn’t really “discover” Machu Picchu, but he certainly made the location known to the world. The historic site currently hosts 300,000 visitors per year.
Getting to Machu Picchu is half the fun. Visitors don’t just “go” to Machu Picchu. The remote mountain location requires a degree of planning if you want to visit. This planning is simplified if you hire a tour company to assist in obtaining tickets. If you decide to undertake the planning yourself, you can purchase some of the tickets online. The bus tickets and entrance tickets to Machu Picchu can be purchased when you arrive in Aguas Calientes.
The airport in Cuzco, Peru does handle international flights. However, if you are flying from the United States, your flight to Cuzco will probably take you through the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima. If you are going through Lima, you may decide you want to visit some of the Lima attractions as part of your itinerary. You can also book your travel to Machu Picchu apart from your airline tickets to Lima. This will provide you additional options.
Flights from Lima to Cuzco vary in price. LAN is a partner with American Airlines and has a fleet of aircraft that operate using instruments. This is important during rainy season because the LAN flights are able to take off and land in spite of heavy rains. LAN also operates the greatest number of daily flights into Cuzco. If you want the security of knowing your flights won’t be delayed by rain, pay the extra money for LAN. Round trip tickets from Lima to Cuzco were $350 each during my trip. Cheaper airlines include TACA, Peruvian and Star Peru. I initially booked on Star Peru for a substantial savings ($200 per ticket) but was delayed two hours on my departure. I had to change my return dates and ended up spending $300 per ticket for new tickets on LAN because Star Peru was booked the day I needed to return. They only run two flights per day. I ended up spending more money in the long run. If I had it to do over again, I would have booked with LAN to begin with.
Cuzco is sort of the staging area for trips to Machu Picchu. You can schedule day trips all the way to Machu Picchu and back on the same day, leaving and retuning to Cuzco. You can also schedule overnight trips with compact luggage. We stayed at the Hotel San Augustin El Dorado in Cuzco. They checked our luggage into a storage room for us while we traveled to Machu Picchu. This allowed my wife and I to pack a few overnight items in backpacks rather than carrying heavy luggage on a journey that is not conducive to that type of trip. The trains do have luggage areas in each car, but dragging heavy luggage with all of the buses and trains you have to ride is not the best way to go.
If you book your trip from Cuzco on Peru Rail, the train will provide a bus that will deliver you to the train station in Ollantaytambo. The train will take you from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu. Ollantaytambo is in the Sacred Valley. There are plenty of great attractions that you will miss if you go straight to Machu Picchu. I would recommend taking a tour of the sacred valley with a tour company that will leave you in Urubamba or Ollantaytambo. Enjoy the local scenery and attractions before boarding the train in Ollantaytambo for Aguas Calientes. There are also plenty of excellent restaurants in this area. You can still book a trip through Peru Rail from Ollantaytambo, with a return all the way back to Cuzco. My wife and I used this method and thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Sacred Valley.
Peru Rail operates several different trains. The Expedition Train worked fine for our purposes. You can purchase round-trip train tickets from Cuzco as cheap as one hundred dollars. If you want luxury treatment, double that price and go with the Vistadome. Both trains offer scenic views enhanced by overhead windows. The train ambles along the Urubamba River providing plenty of opportunities for great photos. The bus from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo will take you two and a half to three hours each direction. The train from Ollantaytambo will take you two hours (mostly downhill) to Aguas Calientes. Add about an hour for the uphill climb on the return trip.
When you arrive in Aguas Calientes, you are still not quite there. You can walk to Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes. The trip is mostly vertical and will take the better part of two hours to hike in. The trip by bus takes approximately twenty minutes using a series of swtich-backs up the side of a mountain. The buses pass each other dangerously close during the ascent. Round trip tickets for the bus were just under twenty dollars each (45 soles) when we traveled up. The tickets can be purchased from booths close to the train station. You will see the buses queued up waiting to take passengers to the top.
Before arriving at the entrance to Machu Picchu, you need to purchase entrance tickets. You can purchase them in Aguas Calientes. They can also be purchased online. Tickets for admission to the park run just under fifty dollars unless you also want to hike up Waynu Picchu. This hike is limited to 400 people per day, so you need to make your reservations weeks in advance if you want to add this to your trip. Your passport will be used for identification when you present your tickets at the entrance gate. There is also a booth near the front entrance where you can have your passport stamped with a special Machu Picchu stamp.
If you decide you want to spend more than one day at Machu Picchu, you have several options. I spent a single day and found it was plenty of time for my own needs. However, I did not hike Waynu Picchu or navigate much of the Inca Trail. If you want to spend more time, you can shell out five hundred to fifteen hundred dollars per night, you can stay at the five-star Sanctuary Lodge. If you have a more modest budget, there are a host of hotels and hostals in Aguas Calientes where you can stay for under one hundred dollars per night.
It is advisable for visitors to bring a backpack with some salty snacks and plenty of water. The salty snacks will help tide you over to a full meal while replacing the salt you will lose from hiking the trails or even just navigating the steep stone stairs of the ruins. You can purchase water and other drinks from an overpriced snack bar at the entrance to the park. A bottle of water in town will run you under one dollar. At Machu Picchu, the same bottle costs three dollars. You also may not want to return to the entrance to get water or snacks. It is convenient to have them with you as you explore the ruins.
My visit was during the rainy season, so I brought a good pair of waterproof hiking boots, a hat and sunscreen. I got a pretty decent sunburn in just two hours at a ruins in Ollantaytambo and quickly decided to purchase a “tourist” hat to prevent further damage from the sun. My wife and I also came prepared with altitude sickness pills. The locals provide coca tea to help with altitude sickness, but the pills are relatively inexpensive and work well if you plan before your trip. We did not have any issues with insects, but if you plan to hike the trails, some bug repellant is a good idea. I would also warn against eating any “street food” and be careful about the water you drink. It is a good idea to have some Immodium with you, just in case.
The toilets are also located at the entrance to Machu Picchu. When traveling in Peru, it is a good idea to keep small change in your pockets. Most toilets charge a one sole fee. They often don’t like making change. For one sole, you will get a few tissues (for drying your hands). If you plan on doing anything that requires more than just a few tissues, it is a good idea to pack some in your backpack. Most restrooms that are not in a hotel or nice restaurant are not likely to have any tissue available for you.
Machu Picchu is a sprawling historical site that you can roam at your leisure. However, you will not get the full benefit of this site without a guide. You can use a written guide, but I think that approach loses something. My wife and I did our tour as part of a group. We were provided an English-speaking guide for a group of approximately ten people. Having a guide helps bring the historical features of Machu Picchu to life. Our guide spoke great English and was aided through the use of earphones that made it easy for everyone to hear him. His informative lectures were augmented with historical excerpts from a “canned” tour that were sprinkled in at brief intervals.
Machu Picchu is divided into an upper and lower section. Tour groups tend to wind their way around the upper tiers of the ruins before returning along the lower route. The attractions within the ruins include a couple of temples, altars, the King’s bedroom, an ancient bathroom, fountains, workers quarters, stone shrines, restored buildings that provide insight into how the site once looked and much more. Our guide stopped at key locations explaining the history and significance of each attraction with an explanation regarding how historians have pieced together the importance of each attraction.
At the far end of the park is the entrance to Waynu (Huayna) Picchu. If you have purchased tickets to hike Waynu Picchu in advance, you are given a start time for your ascent. Several hikers have died on this near vertical hike. Before departing up the side of this mountain, hikers are required to sign a log book listing their country of origin and signature. You sign again when you return. The tickets for Waynu Picchu are available through the website for Machu Picchu and only cost about ten dollars more than regular admission tickets. However, you often have to schedule the tickets weeks in advance. Warning are posted that people with heart disease or vertigo should not venture on this hike.
Near the main entrance to Machu Picchu is a small trail that heads steeply off the main trail. This trail leads to the Inca Trail. If you are visiting Machu Picchu on a day trip and want to do a bit of hiking, this is a good place to start. This portion of the Inca Trail runs fairly straight along the side of Machu Picchu to the “Sun Gate.” If you have about three hours to spare, this hike is one alternative to hiking Waynu Picchu without the added cost of steep vertical climbs.
If you would rather hike to the top of Machu Picchu, you need to set aside five hours for the complete trip. I had more limited time and opted for a hike to the Inca Bridge. The trail to the Inca Bridge picks up on the back side of the ruins near the very top of the ancient city. This hike will take approximately one hour round trip. Like Waynu Picchu, hikers are required to sign a log book to ensure that they make it back. The trail is not vigorous, but does have some incredibly steep drops. It also provides awesome panoramic views of the valley below. The trail is slick in parts, due to rain water, so careful footing and good hiking shoes are important. There is no need to rush. There is one final ascent toward the bridge that includes a rope attached to the face of the mountain. This area is very slick. I am not ashamed to admit that I held the rope on my way down. Gracefulness is not my strong suit. The entrance to the rickety bridge is blocked by a small wooden gate near the entrance to the bridge. It was an enjoyable, scenic hike.
When you are finished with your visit to Machu Picchu, you will need to catch a bus back to the Aguas Calientes. The buses leave every ten minutes from a shelter located just below the entrance to the park. If you only purchased a one-way ticket to the top (or if you hiked in and don’t feel up to hiking back out) you can purchase one-way tickets for the bus adjacent to the shelter. The buses will drop you off where they picked you up earlier in the day. If you are departing by train, you do not return to the area where the train dropped you off. There is a foot bridge that crosses the road above the buses. You can access the bridge from a small alleyway off the main road. This bridge will lead you to a sprawling market of local arts and crafts. The departure terminal for the train is located on the other side of the marketplace.
Machu Picchu was among the places on my “bucket list.” I almost did not complete my trip due to a rockslide on the train tracks on the original date of my trip. If you are planning to visit Machu Picchu during the rainy season, it is very important to leave enough flexibility in your schedule to allow for this type of inconvenience. If you allow for an extra day or two, you have the ability to change your arrangements so you are still able to make the trek to Machu Picchu. I cut it very close, but I am glad to have finally made it to this historic ruins. It was an excellent adventure with varying degrees of difficulty. It takes a while to get there, but it was well worth the trip. Enjoy some of the beauty of Machu Picchu below without the narrative:
All photos are my own. They may be reproduced with prior permission.
