Machu Picchu

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Machu Pic­chu

Overview:

Where:

Best time to Vis­it:

Get­ting there:

Explore:

Cost:

Fun Fact:

Best pho­to spot:

It’s re-dis­cov­ery has also led to a boom in tourism, with Machu Pic­chu now Peru’s most vis­it­ed site and the 4 day Inca trail trek, often hailed on the world’s best, to reach its sum­mit see­ing over­whelm­ing demand — forc­ing the Peru­vian gov­ern­ment to intro­duce quo­tas and expen­sive pass­es on both the trail and for the Machu Pic­chu site itself (2500 peo­ple a day) in order to help pre­serve and ensure the ongo­ing restora­tion of this tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar won­der of the world.

Where:

Machu Pic­chu sits amongst the Andes moun­tains in Peru, above the val­ley of the Urubam­ba Riv­er where the rivalling peak Huay­na Pic­chu which offers scenic views of Machu Pic­chu also sits. In terms of acces­si­bil­i­ty the near­est town is some 50 miles away called Cus­co, which now serves as both a pri­ma­ry tourist hub for Machu Pic­chu access and as a accli­ma­ti­sa­tion spot for weary trav­ellers either begin­ning or return­ing from the won­der.

Best time to Visit:

The peak rain sea­son is Novem­ber to March – so be sure to avoid vis­it­ing then as you’ll strug­gle for tour guides and will need to come pre­pared with a bun­dle of cagoules. You can expect peak tourist sea­son to hit in July and August in line with the sum­mer hol­i­days, so the months of late April – May will offer the best expe­ri­ence, with the rainy sea­son hav­ing past and there being less crowds – although for an even more authen­tic Inca sea­son con­sid­er tim­ing your vis­it with the IIn­ti Ray­mi fes­ti­val in mid-June.

Getting there:

Vis­it­ing Machu Pic­chu can be as chal­leng­ing as you’d expect for a lost city from the 14th cen­tu­ry – with no direct route or road avail­able.

How­ev­er luck­i­ly you do have options – and not all of them rely on ancient meth­ods, the first and eas­i­est is using a com­bi­na­tion of trans­port, with train tick­ets from Cus­co sta­tions Poroy, Urubam­ba or Ollan­tay­tam­bo (approx. $60) leav­ing reg­u­lar­ly to the city of Aguas Calientes or Machu Pic­chu sta­tion — with tick­ets avail­able at either http://www.perurail.com or http://www.incarail.com – but be warned they book up months in advance.

From the city of Aguas Calientes you’re then faced with a bumpy 2 hour bus ride up the 2000 feet high slop to the gates of Machu Pic­chu, where you can stretch your legs amongst the ruins and climb the peaks of Huay­na Pic­chu.

For those who fan­cy immers­ing them­selves in the Inca Trail and explor­ing the Andes ruins on their way to the won­der, there are a series of treks avail­able the most pop­u­lar and arguably the worlds great­est hike is the 4 day Inca trail hike for which there are 500 spaces a day, with their also being a 7 day, 3 day and 2 day Inca trail hike all of which guide you through the Andes with spec­tac­u­lar views and the need for accli­ma­ti­sa­tion – and for which you can only attempt with local guides and which will set you back a cou­ple of hun­dred dol­lars as a min­i­mum – but the trek there is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed !

Explore:

Along­side the stun­ning views on the Inca trail of the Andes val­ley that accom­pa­ny you on a Trek to Machu Pic­chu, the site itself is full of won­ders (and lla­mas), with the ruins them­selves offer­ing a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into Inca life.

High­lights for explor­ing includ­ing the four main tem­ples, the Tem­ple of the Sun – show­cas­ing unique stone work from the 14th cen­tu­ry, the tem­ple of three win­dows – fea­tur­ing three win­dows, the tem­ple of Con­dor – a tor­ture tem­ple and the main tem­ple, which is believed to be where main events took place.

There’s also the Inti­hu­atana to check out – a 14th cen­tu­ry sun dial, and most impor­tant­ly the view point of Sun Gate (Inti Punku), Mon­taña and our per­son­al favourite of Huay­na Pic­chu – although be warned only 400 peo­ple are allowed up Huay­na Pic­chu dai­ly so it’s advised to book in advance.

Cost:

Once you’ve sort­ed out get­ting there, there is also an entrance fee to enter Machu Pic­chu of $40usd – and there are quo­tas allowed for entrants each day so again be sure to advance.

If trav­el­ling by train and bus expect to bud­get $150 usd one way to get to Machu Pic­chu – although this price often increas­es allow­ing for a hotel room and an overnight stop to break get­ting to the won­der up into mul­ti­ple days.

For those tak­ing on the trek, expect to pay around $1200 usd – allow­ing for a tour cost of around $800, per­mits, camp­ing gear, rations and trans­port.

Either way it’s not going to be a cheap won­der to vis­it – but it’s def­i­nite­ly worth it.

Fun Fact:

There’s actu­al­ly no signs or details on the site explain­ing the ruins and where each tem­ple is, so you have the option of grab­bing a guide to explain the his­to­ry and sites of Machu Pic­chu to you – or you can dis­cov­er an off the beat hid­den muse­um called Museo de Sitio Manuel Chávez Bal­lón which lays every­thing out for tourists to uncov­er the mys­ter­ies of Machu Pic­chu.

Along­side this – expect lla­mas every­where, includ­ing on the pho­to spots.

Best photo spot:

Unques­tion­ably the peak of Huay­na Pic­chu – it may take an hour to sum­mit it, but the views are def­i­nite­ly worth it – expect to be pho­to­bombed by the occa­sion­al lla­ma as well.

More Infor­ma­tion: For more infor­ma­tion and to book your tick­ets vis­it the offi­cial Peru­vian Machu Pic­chu gov­ern­ment web­site at https://www.machupicchu.gob.pe/

For those going by rail it’s advised to get your tick­et book­ings in ear­ly at either http://www.perurail.com or http://www.incarail.com