Travel to Machu Picchu in 12 (easy) steps

We’ll do an actual post on Machu Picchu next.  However, I thought we should give a little background on what it takes to get there. These steps are in the order of the journey, not in the order of when you should buy things.  I’ll do a little timeline/cost summary at the end to help your planning.

Step 1: Remember that Machu Picchu is in Peru. What do I mean by that? Machu Picchu is Peru’s number one tourist attraction and a huge source of revenue for the Peruvian people. The goal with this attraction is to maximize the number of people employed. If you keep this in mind, then a lot of decisions about the experience make sense, and it also explains why there is no preset end-to-end option for the journey.

Step 2: Arrive at Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez in Lima, Peru. I don’t know where you’re coming from or what airline you’re going to take to get there. Those details you can figure out yourself.  If you fly in directly into Lima with the intention of going onward to Cusco, you will have to collect your luggage, go back through security, and check yourself into the connecting flight. There is no other way, so give yourself time. If you’re coming from somewhere within Lima proper, it’s a s/50 cab ride to the airport (average) and you should arrive two hours before your flight.

Step 3: Abandon any notion of hopping a bus and going around the Andes mountains to see the quaint little towns along the Gringo Trail.  Oh, sure you could do it, but why?  Do you hate your back enough to ride a bus for 22+ hours? I didn’t think so. Buy a flight from Lima to Cusco.  It will cost about $130 per person and take only an hour and ten minutes. Flights run all morning starting at 03:45.  On the advice of local contacts, we chose LATAM airlines.

Step 4: (Optional, I guess) Some people will tell you to start hard on cocoa leaf candies and tea, but we went the chemical route. Pop into InkaFarma or MiFarma and ask for Acetazolamide (Diamox, 20 pills for about $15 USD) to offset the effects of altitude sickness.  Split a 250mg pill and take twice a day.

Cusco is at 11,000+ feet, which is only 250 feet less than the summit of Mt. Hood in Oregon. Unlike sea-level air, each breath in Cusco delivers about 40% less oxygen for your body to use, making a flight of stairs an endurance event.  My fingers and toes started tingling as my brain shunted blood flow (oxygen) to other parts of my body.  It’s serious.

Step 5: Airbnb or Expedia for your first night in Cusco.  Plan to use the time to relearn how to breathe.  We chose the former, but did not check to see that the rental was three flights up.  Elevation is not a minor detail so be aware. Our Airbnb rental arranged a pick-up from the airport for us, which was kinda nice though it turns out it’s a side-racket that all these rentals have. It was a lot more than market price.  Again, be aware.

Step 6: Arrange a taxi ride to Poroy Station from your rental.  From the tourist area downtown to the station is about sol/.25 despite what the taxi apps will tell you.  You can negotiate, of course, but do it before you get in the cab.

Step 7: PeruRail.  We fought valiantly to buy our tickets online, but strangely both of our credit cards were rejected repeatedly.  This was not done by our credit card companies, who insisted everything was fine, but by PeruRail.  Why? Employment. If online purchases are hard, then you’ll go to a PeruRail office, sit down, and be served by someone face-to-face.  This is exceedingly frustrating when you’re trying to plan and coordinate all other aspects of your trip. 

In the end, we defeated PeruRail by using Paypal AND we visited their office in Cusco to have them print out our train tickets and park passes. The Vistadome option from PeruRail offers fantastic views of the Andes as you’re going down to Aguas Calientes. BTW, the company takes the opportunity to shake you down for Peruvian orphans on the way in, and tries to sell you over-priced alpaca scarves on the way back.  It’s a total racket at $170 USD/pp.

If you’re more adventurous, locals take the bus to Ollantaytambo and catch the train there to save time/money.  It was too many extra steps for us, but I think it should be a consideration. This town is also where you pick up the Incan Trail for a four-day hike into the park.  Based on what we know of local “safety” measures, I don’t recommend it. However, if this is your choice, vet your tour operator hard, don’t use local people, and give yourself loads of time to acclimate to the height.

Step 8: Arrive Aguas Calientes and find your way to your hotel.  There are no cars here because it’s a small, company town set in the mountains and it only has tiny, narrow streets.  However, our hotel (arranged through Expedia) had someone to meet us at the train to make certain we made it to the hotel. 

I think this was partly for our convenience, but mostly to make sure we didn’t change our minds and pop into a hotel somewhere in a nicer part of town to see if they have room. Note: there is no nicer part of town in which to do this. 

If we had taken to heart what a dump Aguas Calientes was, then we would’ve arranged an in-and-out and headed back to Cusco the same day. I wish I could go back in time and erase the stain of our time spent here. 

Step 9: Buy your park pass, sol/152 (no extras, pricing based on nationality.)  Actually, this should be the first thing you do because daily passes to Machu Picchu are limited, especially in the busy season.  We bought these online with only two credit card attempts, so their efforts to thwart the advance of technology haven’t been completely successful. Note: there is only one official web site to buy your tickets to the park, the rest are scams.

There are two pass options: 06:00-12:00, and 12:00-18:00. Your travel arrangements will vary, but I recommend making an effort to go early.  The sun beating down on the mountains is incredibly hot, there’s little shade, and few places to sit. 

I want to throw in a quick FYI since the Peruvian park service won’t tell you, but there isn’t a handicapped option to see the park. People with mobility issues will have a very, very hard time.  You’ll make it about 100 meters in to see the mountain, and then you’ll have to go up or down, Incan-style, no handrails, no safety measures, no mercy.  It’s also a horrible place to take kids under the age of 10. Young ones won’t appreciate what they’re looking at and are likely to take a header off into the Andes.  Save your money.

Step 10: Buy your bus pass to go to the park.  You can do this in Cusco or in Aguas Calientes. If  you’ve made the mistake of staying in Aguas Calientes, you may as well do it while you’re there because there’s little else in the way of entertainment.  It’s $25 USD for two one-way and they charge 20% more if you pay by credit card.  Why? Because it’s Peru. 

But wait, can’t I hike to the park from town? Yes, pumpkin, you sure can.  And along the way you can share the road with the crazy-ass bus drivers who take hairpin corners at speed with a full load.  Your choice.

Step 11: Get up at the crack of early to go stand in line by 05:15. Why? Because that’s when the lines for the 06:00 bus start forming.  Our hotel gave us a bag lunch and threw our backpacks into a room so we wouldn’t have to deal with them at the park. We actually had those juice boxes and fruit for breakfast, as I was reluctant to give the town any more money. We got ferried up and hit the gates around 05:55 just before the park opened.

Step 12: Fight your way through the waves of guides to stand in line for the gate opening.  They’re super-aggressive, so be prepared to “not understand” English or Spanish as they work their way to fresh meat. Guides are not necessary if you’ve studied the park lay-out in advance and know what you want to see. 

However, if you’re expecting to be informed at Machu Picchu in some other fashion, you will be disappointed.  There are no placards or kiosks or signs (other than those keeping you on the path) that in any way, shape, or form tell you anything about the site.  Why? Because if they did that, then the guides wouldn’t have work.  Duh.

Despite how all this sounds, we enjoyed Machu Picchu a great deal and aren’t sorry we came.  Our only hope is to make the journey easier for someone else.

Easy 12 Steps/Costs in USD

Meds: $15
Airfare: $130 per person
Taxi to Airport: $15
Taxi from Cusco Airport to Airbnb: $7-$9
Airbnb in Cusco: $27
Cab to Poroy: $7-$9
PeruRail Roundtrip: $170 per person
Hotel in Aguas Calientes: $27
Round-trip bus to Machu Picchu: $25 per person
Machu Picchu Pass: $45 per person.  Optional hikes are more & subject to availability

It will cost you about $470-$500 to get to the gates and have a way back to Lima.  Extra costs depend upon how long you stay in Cusco, food, taxis, side-trips, etc.  We were quoted about $800 per person by a travel agent, so we saved half the $1600 bill by booking things ourselves.  If we’d planned a bit better, I’m sure we could’ve tightened up the timeline and saved a bit more.  

Where/How You’re Getting There

Airplane -> Lima, Peru
Airplane then Taxi –> Destination in Cusco, Peru
Taxi –> Poroy Station
Train –> Aguas Calientes, Peru
Walk –> Destination in Aguas Calientes, Peru
Bus –> Machu Picchu

Reverse route home.

Order of Operations

Buy tickets to Machu Picchu and PeruRail. If you’re going during the busy season (May-September), buy as early as possible.
Book airfare.
Book hotels.
Buy bus tickets.

We went during the off-season in December and had a great deal of flexibility since we’re staying in Lima, so we were able to get all of this nailed down in a few days. If you’re flying in specifically to see Machu Picchu, don’t enter the country without squaring your park passes, train and in-country airfare first.  The rest can probably wait until you get here.