visiting Machu Picchu

If you’re looking for a no-fuss, easy access guide for everything you need to know about visiting Machu Picchu then look no further! When we originally researched it it was a bit confusing as there seems to be a few different options to get to this magical wonder, so in this guide we’ll tell you exactly how to get there as cheaply and quickly as possible. If you’re budget travelers like us then sometimes the cost of seeing these ancient sites can be a bit of a shock to the system, but if there’s just one thing we (and many others) recommend you to see while in Peru then it’s Machu Picchu!

ACCLIMATISE IN CUSCO

First things first, we highly recommend getting yourself to Cusco for a few days before heading to Machu Picchu. This will give you a chance to acclimatise to the high altitudes. Believe us when we say altitude sickness is real and can mess you up. Even the fittest, strongest people can be turned into sloth-like, unbalanced, out-of-breath messes as a result of being so high up. Cusco sits at 3,399 metres above sea level so after a couple of days here you’ll be ready to go to Machu Picchu which is at a lower altitude of 2,430 metres but requires a lot more exertion as its a large site. We recommend 3 days in Cusco, which will give you plenty of time to explore (slowly), acclimatise and get yourself prepped for Machu Picchu.

BUYING YOUR MACHU PICCHU TICKETS

We didn’t have a set plan for when we wanted to visit Machu Picchu so didn’t bother pre-booking our tickets. However, this isn’t the recommended method as there’s a limit of 2500 tickets daily and they go fast, especially in high season between June – August, but we were fortunate enough to get them the day before from the ticket office in Cusco with minimal queuing. We don’t like to plan things too far in advance while travelling in case we’re really enjoying a place, but hey! that’s us, I know others would be filled with anxiety at the thought of this so I would advise pre-booking to save any disappointment, especially if you’re working on a tight schedule.

If you go down our route you’ll need to go to the ‘Direccion Regional de Cultura’ office with your passport at:

Avenida de la Cultura 238, Condominio Huáscar in Cusco.

Opening hours: Monday – Saturday 07.15 – 18.30. Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays

Below is a map of the office location. Most hostels are based around the central area so you’ll never be more than a 15-minute walk from this office.

There are a few different ticket options on offer which entitle you to different areas of the site. The price of the standard ticket, which is the one we went for, is 53 GBP/ 229 SOL/ 70 USD.

You can find full information about buying your ticket in advance and other ticket options by clicking here

We will talk in more detail about what our ticket entitled us to further down in the post but for now, we will just tell you that it was A LOT! There is the added option of being able to climb Huayna Picchu mountain (overlooking the citadel) in allocated time slots as well.

ORGANISING TRAVEL TO MACHU PICCHU

The next step after buying your site ticket is to decide how you want to get there. There’s a few different options for this part and it can become quite complicated so we’ll tell you how we did it and provide you with links to other options.

The first step is to pre-book your train tickets from the train company ticket office based in the central square of Cusco (map above). There are two train companies you can use – Inca Rail or Peru Rail. We went with Inca Rail as it’s the cheaper option but both trains have a variety of pricing. For an Economic seat, the prices start from 42 GBP/ 236 SOL/ 55 USD.

Tickets for the trains also sell out fast so as soon as you get your Machu Picchu ticket head straight over to buy your train ticket as you could be at risk of not getting the departure time you want.

The second step is to figure out how you want to get to the train station. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as just jumping on a train in Cusco because there’s no train station there but it wouldn’t be Peru if things were easy! The train station you’ll need is based in Ollantaytambo, a village in the Sacred Valley. We didn’t explore this place much but it has two pretty epic Inca ruin sites which we’ve been told are definitely worth a visit if you have the time.

To get to Ollantaytambo you have the following options:

Cusco – Ollantaytambo by taxi: 2 hours, 27 GBP, 100 SOL, 35 USD per person

Cusco – Ollytaytambo by colectivo: 2+ hours, 2.30 GBP, 10 SOL, 3 USD per person

We obviously went with the second option which worked out perfectly and was super cheap considering it’s a 2 hour journey. Colectivos are a great way to get around in Peru as it’s essentially a shared taxi service, usually a minibus. All the colectivos are based at Avenida Grau, a 15 minute walk or a 5 minute tax ride from Cusco’s main square. One thing to bare in mind is that the colectivos don’t have a specific timetable and just leave whenever they’re full. Each one can sit between 14-16 passengers so make sure you get in one that’s nearly full otherwise you can end up waiting a long time and you could miss your train……like we nearly did!

staying in AGUAS CALIENTES

Now all the logistical stuff is out the way lets have some fun! Word of advice once you get on the train- make sure you sit on the left-hand side of the carriage as you’ll get the best views of the landscape, which are absolutely stunning! The journey from Ollantaytambo takes just under 2 hours before it arrives in Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu pueblo), which is your final stop and while onboard you get a couple of snacks and a drink which are included in your ticket price. We didn’t know this before and if there’s one thing we love it’s surprise snacks haha! If you get a super early start and are very organized and fast, you could maybe do the whole thing in a day trip, but we wouldn’t personally recommend this because it’s such an epic adventure it wouldn’t be worth rushing it.

Aguas Calientes is a town in the Urumba River Valley and is essentially the gateway to Machu Picchu. It’s mainly been developed for tourists wanting to visit the ruins and although it’s pretty touristy it definitely has some charm. As you get off the train you’re immediately met with a cute, colourful market full of Peruvian souvenirs to entice you in. We pre-booked our hostel but won’t be recommending it as it was only half built when we got there and was very strange, to say the least. The town is pretty much made of hostels though so you can definitely find a good one through Booking.com or just turn up and pick one you like. We obviously went for the cheapest option but learnt our lesson that sometimes you need to pay that little bit extra to get something half decent and not made mainly out of cardboard. You don’t need long to explore Aguas Calientes as it’s really small. One end of the town is a little market and at the other end on top of the hill is the hot springs which we spoke about in our Peru post.

Now I would go back to the hot springs purely for the experience. It’s up in the clouds, surrounded by hilltops and greenery in a really unique part of the world. But the hot springs themselves are pretty gross and are exactly how Lonely Planet describes them: ‘SCUNGY’. If you can look past this then you’ll have a great time! It’s also super cheap at only 5 SOL which works out at just over £1 entrance for as long as you want and there’s a bar if you fancy a drink while you spa.

Opening times are from Monday to Sunday from 5 am to 8 pm; Sundays are the busiest days. For more information about this place click here

We went the day before visiting Machu Picchu but we actually recommend going in the evening once you make it back down from the site as you’ll end up doing a lot of walking so it’s a perfect way to rest your legs, unwind and reflect on the awesome day you’ve just had.

Other than that the town is mainly just hostels and plenty of eateries to choose from. There’s one more piece of transport you’ll need to sort out and that’s the last leg from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu. There’s one shuttle bus service which drives up the mountain daily from 5:30am to 3:30pm. You have to buy your ticket in person from the ticket office based near the train station. This is also next to the area where you board the buses. We recommend buying your ticket the day before as the queues can be fairly large in the mornings. You also need to show your passport when purchasing your bus ticket so don’t forget to bring it with you. The price for this service is 14.40 GBP, 62 SOL, 19 USD one way or 21.30 GBP, 92 SOL, 28 USD return. For more information about this service click here.

There’s one other way of getting up to the site and that’s to walk it, but we’ll go into more detail about that escapade further down…

So you’ve arrived in Cusco, purchased your Machu Picchu ticket, sorted out your train ticket, got on a colectivo for 2 hours, jumped on a 2-hour train from Ollantaytambo, arrived in Aguas Calientes, purchased your bus ticket up to the site, stayed the night in a hostel and now you’re finally ready to visit one of the New 7 Wonders of the world!

Visiting Machu Picchu is something I had always wanted to do. I remember looking through books about Peru as a child and was always amazed by this place. I was so excited to visit it that I barely slept the night before. I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to come.

There’s a lot of travelers out there that believe in getting to places super early to beat the crowds but we definitely don’t fit into this bracket. A lot of people get up to the site for sunrise which is meant to be amazing and others filter into the site from 6:30am onwards. What we’ve learnt over the years is that most people are in the mindset to get somewhere early to beat the crowds but in fact, these are when places are most crowded. Plus, the local climate means it’s often cloudy at this time. We arrived at a leisurely 9am and walked straight in without any queuing. I know this isn’t everyone’s style of visiting a place but it’s just the way we like to do things and has always worked for us.

USEFUL INFORMATION BEFORE YOU ENTER MACHU PICCHU

One thing we didn’t realise was how relatively recently it had been discovered - only in 1911 by Hiram Bingham! Machu Picchu ruins themselves were founded in 1450. Here’s a checklist of what you should and should not bring:

What to bring:

Your passport! You cannot enter without it!
Your ticket to Machu Picchu
Some money for a Machu Picchu passport stamp (S/1), the toilet (S/1) and for souvenirs you may want to buy or for dinner/lunch at the restaurant (expensive)
A camera
Comfortable shoes/trainers
Water – at least a couple of litres (there are new rules stating that you can’t bring plastic water bottles)
Food – Lunch and snacks (exploring is hungry work)
Reef-friendly sunscreen (this is only brand of natural sunscreen that Sam doesn’t hate)/small foldable umbrella and a waterproof jacket/poncho (weather can change in the blink of an eye up there so better to be prepared)

What not to bring:

Tripods are not allowed on the site so for all you fellow Instagrammers out there you’ll have to ask someone to take a photo of you and leave your little three-legged buddy at home
Professional cameras are not allowed. Permits for professional cameras are over $300 so avoid bringing a professional looking camera in or hide it well
Only small day backpacks are allowed into the site. If you are just coming for the day then you can pay a hostel to hold your bags while you visit
Only small foldable umbrellas are allowed so avoid bringing a big umbrella with spikes
Important note: Once you’re in the site there is nowhere to get food or water and also nowhere to go to the toilet. So make sure you get all your food and beverages in Aguas Calientes before you leave. There is an expensive restaurant and cafe at the entrance to the site but once you’ve started walking around it’s pretty far to come back to. The only toilets are also at the entrance to the site so make sure you pee before you go in otherwise you’ll be holding it for hours.

We were too excited in the morning so completely forgot about food and water and had nothing on us at all. This resulted in us both getting pretty hangry and Talisa ended up eating a random cracker she found to give herself a bit of energy. We named it the Incan cracker and were really pleased it found it’s way to us haha! In the end, the cracker wasn’t enough though so I rushed down to the entrance to get us some snacks from the cafe. This was a rooky mistake as it took about an hour to get down and back up again from where we were.

Long distance viewpoint of Machu Picchu from the sun gate Incan trail entrance

INSIDE MACHU PICCHU

I mentioned earlier about the different tickets options you can get which give you access to various areas of the site. We purchased the standard ticket which we were a little nervous about as we thought it might be limiting. This couldn’t have been further from the truth as we spent 8 hours walking around the ruins and still didn’t see everything. Mostly you always see the main citadel site in photos but there’s so much more that the Machu Picchu mountain has to offer. I’ve included a map below so you can see everything we did but when you go make sure you pick up a map before entering so you can figure out a route of where you want to go.

We first walked up a bunch of stairs that cut up the hillside and reached the various terraced areas that look over that most famous view. It’s such a special feeling when you reach the top and look out over the real site that you’ve seen so many times in photos. It was a really special moment for us and one we’ll definitely never forget. It makes it even more special that the journey to get to that point is so long and complicated. For a while we just sat in silence, in awe of this magical place and soaked in everything it had to offer.

We then made our way to the Sun Gate which is the furthest point of the site and was at some point the main entrance to the Inca city. It’s located directly south of the citadel and takes about 2 hours (round trip) depending on ability and how long you stop for photos etc. I absolutely loved our time up at the Sun Gate as its much higher than the citadel site so gives incredible panoramic views of the Sacred Valley. It was also less busy as not everyone can be bothered to walk up to it so it had a really quiet, spiritual energy about it. This is also the place where the Incan trail ends. So if you decided to do the 5-day long hike up to Machu Picchu then this is where you’ll finish your adventure and I can’t think of a better place to finish it and first lay your eyes on the beauty of the place. We saw people arriving from the Inca trail and literally break down in tears of pure joy.

After leaving the Sun Gate we made our way back down to the Citadel area. By this time full hangriness had overcome us so this is where I dashed off to get us some food. We didn’t realize quite how long the round trip was to the Sun Gate. The walk itself is absolutely spectacular though so you end up stopping a lot along the way to look at the views and take photos.

After recharging we walked up and down the various terraces until we made it to the entrance path to the Inca Bridge. The trek is about an hour round trip and is located West of the main site. It’s a very empty trail as it seems not as many people know of its existence. It’s also a little out the way from the main site so tourists don’t venture over to it. This made it all the more appealing for us as we had it totally to ourselves! A word of warning though, this is not for the fainthearted or those that suffer from vertigo. The path is extremely narrow and uneven and, to top it off, is carved into the cliff face with a drop of over 2000 metres and no more than few bricks keeping you from a sheer drop.

At the end of this trail is the Inca Bridge which has been fenced off for safety as it consists of ancient wooden planks balanced over a gap on an even scarier looking path. Apparently the bridge was known as the “secret entrance” to the city and if any unwanted visitors tried to enter then they would just remove the planks of wood to stop them in their tracks.

On our journey back to the main Machu Picchu site it started to drizzle and by the time we were off this trail it was hardcore raining so we hastily made our way to shelter which ended up being the Guard House that’s on the upper circuit of the site and has incredible views of the Citadel.

I mentioned earlier to bring both suncream, umbrellas and a waterproof jacket and this is exactly the reason. Being so high up the weather is incredibly variable and the rain-filled clouds come quick! One minute we were getting sunburnt and the next we’re completely soaked through. We were just hugely thankful it didn’t happen while we were on the Inca Bridge trail otherwise we would have been shelterless and stranded.

After about 30 minutes the rain stopped and what was left behind was just totally mind-blowing. First of all, it scared away all the tourists so for the duration of the time it felt like we had the mountain to ourselves. Secondly, the rain had left low lying clouds that weaved through the whole of the ruins giving it a really eerily ancient, awesome feel. Every now and then the sky would clear a little and then out of nowhere you could watch clouds rise up from the valley below again.

So after spending a lot of the day walking around the outskirts of Machu Picchu we were finally ready to walk around the most famous part of the city. We feel so lucky to have had this place to ourselves and to have experienced it without any other tourists around. This is where arriving later really worked in our favour as there was seriously about 10 people left up there.

We spent a couple of hours walking around the main city and weaved up and down the paths, went inside most of the structures and stopped a lot to stare at the many llamas they have on the site…..I bloody love a Llama! By the time we’d finished walking around this area the site was closing, so we made our way back to the entrance and said our goodbyes to this truly enchanting place. What a day we had, but it wasn’t over yet!

We were just happy to walk around the site and soak it all in but if you want more information about what you’re looking at then it might be worth paying for a guided Machu Picchu tour. There’s people at the entrance selling different tours so if this is something you’d be interested then you’ll find lots of useful info here.

After leaving the site we had the option to take the bus back down to Aguas Calientes but decided we’d already spent a small fortune travelling to get there so we made the decision to walk down the mountain back to the town. In our minds it was a great way to finish the day and have one last adventure but on reflection it was not a sensible idea.

WALKING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN

Walking down the mountain was definitely an adventure and now looking back it’s easy to laugh about it but at the time I would be lying if I said I wasn’t sh*tting myself! The total journey from the entrance site of Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes is 1.5 – 2 hours walking and mainly consists of zig-zagging down very uneven cobbled steps on the side of a mountain. What we hadn’t thought about was that the sun sets early so about 20 minutes into our descent the sun was starting to disappear. It was too far to go back and by this time had missed the last bus anyway (last bus from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes is at 6pm) so we had to continue on our quest down. To top it off, the rain came back so we spent the next 2 hours soaked to the skin on the side of a mountain, walking on extremely slippery steps that had now turned into a kind of waterfall. We obviously tried to stay as positive as possible so as not to completely freak out but it was a pretty terrifying couple of hours, especially once we were in complete darkness.

After finally reaching the bottom with nothing more than our phone torches, it’s about a 20 minute (flat) walk back to Aguas Calientes. We found the first place that sold food and had warmth and sat there for about an hour to recollect ourselves after the events that had just occurred.

Like I said though, it’s easy now to laugh about it and to me it makes the whole experience of Machu Picchu that little bit more special but I’m not sure whether Talisa would agree with me on that one. So after 8 hours of walking around Machu Picchu and another 2 hours of walking back to the town, our adventure was over. This is when we would highly recommend the hot springs to give those tired legs of yours a good soak in thermal water. We stayed in Aguas Calientes that night and then made our way back to Cusco for one more night before venturing off to other parts of Peru. If you’re thinking about walking up the mountain instead rather than getting the shuttle bus just bare in mind that you’ll have a solid day walking around the site so you may not want to completely tire yourself out before you even get there.

Below is a total breakdown of the cost per person to help you pre-budget before your journey and also a selection of links we found useful when planning our trip.

OUR TOTAL cost BREAKDOWN

Machu Picchu Ticket – 53 GBP/ 69 USD/ 225 SOL
Colectivo from Cusco to Ollantaytambo – 2.74 GBP/ 3.54 USD/ 12 SOL one way
Return Train Ticket from Ollantaytambo with Inca Rail – Depending on the times you get will depend on the cost but you’re looking at a minimum of 55 GBP/ 71 USD/ 232 SOL one way per person.
Hostel – 10 GBP/ per night. This is bottom of the barrel accommodation so if you want something a bit nicer then you’ll be looking at around 15 – 20 GBP/ 20 – 25 USD/ 65 – 82 SOL per night.
Shuttle Bus from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu – 15 GBP/ 19 USD/ 62 SOL one way or 22 GBP/ 28 USD/ 92 SOL for a return ticket

So that’s that, our complete guide on everything you need to know about Machu Picchu site. This was one of our South America highlights so we hope you’ve enjoyed it and have also found some useful travel tips in here. We’d love to hear what your advice is if you’ve already visited Machu Picchu in the comments section below. If not, good luck on your quest to this Incan wonderland and if you have any other questions prior to your trip we’d be happy to answer them!