Travel tips for Machu Picchu, Peru
Travel advice and tips to help you craft your visit to Machu Picchu in 2019.
Quinoa, over 4000 types of potatoes, Incas, colours, Andean mountains, Machu Picchu – those are the words that come to mind when I think about Peru. Machu Picchu has always been top of my list of places to visit and I’m sure it’s on many people’s bucket list. Some people spend weeks in Peru and hike their way across the many Inca trails to this special place. With only one week to spend in this beautiful country, we planned a day trip there from Urubamba in the Sacred Valley, about an hour away from Cusco.
You have to reserve your space on Machu Picchu in advance as the number of visitors per day is officially limited to 2500. With this in mind, we bought our tickets directly from the official government bureau for Machu Picchu tickets in Cusco a few days ahead of our day trip. There are many travel agents and ticket touts in Cusco who will try and sell you ‘the whole package’: train, bus, ticket and guided tour but you end up paying a lot more of course. Tickets are marked for either the morning or afternoon. Once we had our ticket, we went directly to Peru Rail and booked the relevant train tickets from Urubamba to Aguas Caliente, which is the last stop before a bus takes you up to Machu Picchu. We opted for the afternoon entry as this gave us enough time to leisurely get to Aguas Caliente in the morning.
We left Urubamba at 6.50am on Peru Rail and I was amazed by the beautiful train carriages which feature windows throughout (on the ceiling too) and beautiful handmade Inca style table-mats for the various refreshments we received on our journey. A 2hr 45min journey took us through ever changing landscapes, starting with rocky landscapes to lush, green, tropical mountains.
Aguas Calientes is probably similar to other little towns in the mountains, made for tourists with restaurants, bars and tons of markets full of souvenirs. We bought our tickets and queued for the bus. A number of windy mountain roads and half an hour later, we were at the top and it was before mid-day. We chatted with one of the guides at the entrance who managed to get us into the site ahead of time which was really lucky as the weather was glorious on arrival and turned a few hours later.
I would definitely recommend getting into Machu Picchu in the morning as many people told us that the weather tends to be clearer then. It was 26 degrees and mostly sunny while we were there.
Once we entered the gates, I was immediately struck by the energy of the place. It’s hard to put into words. You climb a few stairs and then suddenly right there, in front of you, is what I have so often seen in pictures, travel guides and what I’ve tried to imagine so many times. But what I actually saw took my breath away.
It is so much more stunning than any photo or image can ever show. You almost worry that it won’t be as beautiful as you’d expect it to be but the reality exceeds any expectations. It’s incredible to think that there was this town high up in the mountains, completely self-sufficiently run in the 1400s. It is also mind-blowing to see how preserved it is. The little houses, terraces and all against a backdrop of majestic mountains. I would love to come back one day and hike up some of these mountains.
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