INTRODUCTION
We have several alternatives and routes to get Machu Picchu, the most popular are: Machu Picchu 1 day, Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu 2 days, Inca Trail 2 days, inca Trail 4 Days, Salkantay to Machu Picchu 5 days, Lares to Machu Picchu 4 days and Inca Jungle 4 days( maybe this last one combines many adventures such as biking, ziplining, hiking and rafting. But all these have a cost that exceeds the $250 dollars per person.
CHEAPEST WAY:
HOW IS THIS ROUTE ORGANIZED?
Son dos días de visita a la gran maravilla de Machu Picchu:
There are two days to visit the great wonder of Machu Picchu:
DAY 1: This route is made from Cusco, taking a tourist transport car and on the first day there is a trip of approximately 6 hours and then a 3 days flat hiking until the Aguas Calientes town.
Here you can be arriving between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. approximately, depending on how fast you hike, here you can tour the town, visit the hot springs and, rest early to go up to Machu Picchu the next day.
DAY 2: There are options to get to Machu Picchu, if you like to hike, you can save the bus, the costs is US$12 American Dollars per person and you can take the option to walk up, it is a stretch of 9 km and the average climbing time is 1 hour and 30 minutes. But if you don’t like walking uphill, you can take the bus that leaves every 10 minutes from Aguas Calientes, the trip is 30 minutes and the first bus leaves at 5:30 am.
HOW IS THE VISIT TO THE GREAT “LLAQTA” MACHU PICCHU?
Whichever of the options you decide to take to get to Machu Picchu, if you do not go with a guide and want to hire one, there are guides who offer their services at the main gate, this can cost between S/.20 to S/30 soles per person, depending of the group quantity.
Then you can inside to one of the new 7 wonders of the modern world, normally the entrances are marked by circuits, from circuit 1 to circuit 5. It is best to take 1 or 2, of course if you are not going to visit Wayna Picchu Mountain.
¿HOW LONG IS THE VISIT?
The visit circuit will depend a lot on the explanation of the guide you have chosen, normally it is between 2 to 2.5 hours but there are guides who really like history and do it in 4 hours, which by the way can be very uncomfortable for some clients but very comforting to other people who like history.
¿ARE THERE BATHROOMS INSIDE MACHU PICCHU?
No! You will not find bathrooms inside Machu Picchu, so it is recommended to go to the bathroom before going inside and not to consume a lot of water during the visit since you may need to go to the bathroom, and let me tell you, if you decide to go out just to use bathrooms, unfortunately you will not be able to return inside FOR ANY REASON! and you can miss most of the visit, it happens with many people who perhaps suffer from urinary incontinence, therefore, we recommend that these people if they want to enjoy themselves to the fullest, they can use a type of adult diaper.
HOW DO I RETURN TO CUSCO?
Depending on your visiting schedule, you can return to Aguas Calientes by bus (US$12 Dollars) or walk down (50 minutes) be careful, return just until Puente Ruinas so from there you can take the hike back to Hidroeléctrica, 2 hours approximately. Of course there are train schedules during noon, normally the costs are S/.6 Soles for Peruvians and US$33 Dollars for foreigners. Depending on your economic possibilities you can board this train to hydroelectric and arrive in just 30 minutes.
It is advisable to arrive before 2:00 p.m. since all tourist transports will be returning to Cusco between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. from Hidroeléctrica. For no reason be late as you will not be able to find any cheap transport and you will only find private local transport that will charge you a very expensive price and only to the Santa Maria town.
¿A QUE HORA LLEGO A CUSCO?
The arrivals are around 21:00 to 22:00 and all transports arrive to the San Francisco Square, this place is located two blocks from the main square.
¿IS THERE THE POSSIBILITY TO FIND A TOUR?
Definitely yes! There are many agencies in Cusco, of course, INCA PERU TRAVEL, we also offer this service and we include: Transportation, Lodging, bus up to Machu Picchu, food (01 breakfast, 01 lunch and 01 dinner) entrance ticket to Machu Picchu and guided tour in a group.
You can contact us at info@incaperutravel.com to request your quote, keep in mind that we also have alternatives and we can make modifications to the travel packages according to the time and possibilities of the client.
