How to get to Machu Picchu: on foot, train or bus and the Inca jungle trail.

Machu Picchu, the finest example of Inca civilization, is the most visited site in Peru and is named one of the seven modern wonders of the world. Its not hard to see why. The ancient city was built by the Incas on a mountain top surrounded by temples, terraces and water channels.

There are several ways to get to Machu Picchu. I will mention a few of them and cover the option I took, the Inca jungle trail, in detail.

When to visit Machu Picchu

The dry season between May- Oct is the best time to visit. Jun-Aug is peak season and number of visitors rise during this time meaning booking the train and Inca Trail in advance is a must. I went in June, during the busiest month and we still managed to get onto the Inca jungle trail, a train ticket coming back and entrance in at 7 am and we only booked the day before when we arrived in Cusco.

The wet season is Nov- Mar where you can expect anything from light drizzle to heavy downpours daily. The heaviest rain is in February, which is also when the Inca Trail path is closed for maintenance.

Tips for visiting Machu Picchu

• Go in dry season for the best hiking conditions.
• Unless you are doing the Inca Trail, you do not need to book your trek to MP in advance.
• Wait until you arrive in Cusco to book (unless you plan to do the Inca Trail) and shop around for prices.
• Bring your passport.
• Bring a spare change of clothes or at least a t shirt for when you arrive to the gates of MP. If it doesn’t rain on your way up, you’ll be drenched in sweat if you opt to hike up.
• Buy a 7 am entrance ticket for the best views and less crowds.
• From Aguas Calinetes (the town before MP) you can take a bus to the gates of MP. It costs $12 one way or $24 return. The other option is hike up taking between 45 mins-1 hour. Its quite steep but doable for most people of average fitness.
• Machu Picchu offer discounts to students holding a physical card (not a photo) from a school or educational institutions. They won’t accept travel cards. Bring your student card when booking your tour.

By foot: The three most common ways to get to Machu Picchu by foot entail some sort of a hike and take between 3 and 5 days to reach this enhancing ancient city.

1. The Inca Trail. Cost: $700-1900. Length: 2, 4 and 5 day option. The ‘classic Inca trail’ is 4 days and 3 nights.

This is by far the most popular option and for good reason. The route covers the original path the Incas took to get to Machu Picchu and visits the Inca archaeological sites of Runcuracay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca, Winaywayna and Machu Picchu. The trail is 43 km in total and the highest altitude reached during the trail is 4200 m. It is also the most expensive of the walking options and due to new restrictions put in place by the government to reduce the number of tourists on the trail everyday, tickets are required meaning it books out MONTHS in advance (see Inca Trail permit availability). Think nearly a year in advance during high season. If you have your heart set on the original Inca Trail, book at least 6 months in advance. The Inca Trail is also closed for the month of February. The price of the trek varies so much depending on the quality of food and accommodation. Included in the price will usually be all your transport, food, accommodation and camping equipment, a team of porters and chefs and the entrance fee into Machu Picchu.

2. The Salkantay Trek. Cost: $175 -250. Length: 4 or 5 days. This is a popular budget option. It combines comfortable camping and budget hotels. Along the Salkantay route we did see some pods with bathrooms and proper beds. They looked expensive but it is doable without camping in a tent. There are porters and donkeys provided to carry the camping gear, food and some of your personal things placed into a duffel bag. This trek passes through beautiful scenery including Lake Humantay, Salkantay Lake and the Salkantay pass. The first two nights are the coldest and after that it gets much milder and a lot more comfortable in the hotels. Having joined on this for two days I can safely say the food is incredible on it, the guides are great and it is tough, but manage distances each day for anyone who is relatively fit.

3. The Inca Jungle trail. Cost: $150. Length: 4 days. This is a great option for those who like hiking but not 16+ km for 5 days and who don’t fancy camping, it’s hostels all the way. The Inca jungle is not the same as the Inca trail. It caters for those who are a bit more adventurous and want to break up the hiking with some other activities. I went with this option and really enjoyed it. I went with Marvelous Peru and paid $150 for 4 days, 3 nights.

What’s included?

• Hostel pick up and return to Cusco.
• All meals except breakfast on day 1 and lunch on the last day.
• A guide for the trek and for Machu Picchu.
• All activities and equipment. Down hill mountain biking (day 1), white water rafting (day 1) and zip lining (day 2).
• 3 nights accommodation in budget hotels/ hostels.
• Entrance to Machu Picchu.

Not included:

• Breakfast day 1 and lunch on the last day.
• Optionals such as entrance to the hot springs ( 10 PEN), upgrade to the bigger zip line ($15), snacks and drinks, bus from Aguas Calientes to MP gates and train return.
• Cable car across the river (10 PEN).

What to bring

• Sun cream
• Hat
• Sunglasses
• Mosquito repellent. They are everywhere on the route as it is much lower down than Cusco.
• Hiking shoes or trainers
• Swim suits for hot springs
• Flip flops
• Towel
• Hiking clothing- shorts, legging, tshirts.
• Jumper for evening
• Water
• Snacks
• Money ($50 at least) for extras and snacks/drinks
• Camera

The Inca Jungle due to the nature of the activities tends to attract a slightly younger crowd. There were 12 in our group all aged between 18-27, except for the father of one of the young guys.

DAY 1:

We were picked up from our hostels in Cusco at 7 am. We had a few hour drive ahead of us until our first activity, downhill biking. After an hour or so we stopped in a restaurant for breakfast. Here you could buy last minute snacks, hats and gloves, sun screen and mosquito repellent.

Our first activity was downhill biking. I won’t call it mountain biking as it was just on the road. It was a road that winded all the way down to the town where we had lunch. The views from the bikes are incredible. It took about 1.5 hours to bike our way down. The bikes are in good nick and we were given protective equipment. The van followed us down the mountain in case of any trouble. If biking isn’t your thing, you can just follow behind in the van.

After cycling 60 km down we reached a shop were we had a break for water, toilet and snacks. From here it was only a short ride in the van to the restaurant we had lunch in. The food was very good. For lunch most days we had soup to start and a main dish. After lunch it was straight to white water rafting. We were picked up by the guys who looked after the rafting. This was great fun. The rapids are tame enough, grade 3 I think but that said I was there in the dry season so they are a lot rougher in the wet season. The guides were great at getting everyone involved and making sure we all had a great time.

After the rafting we got dropped to our hotel/ hostel only a 5 minute drive away. The hotel was lovely. I did the tour with a friend, my brother and sister so the four of us had an en suite room to ourselves. The hotel had hot water and WiFi. I was really impressed with the standard of accommodation.

Dinner that night and breakfast the next morning was in a restaurant a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Again, we had soup to start and a main course. There isn’t too much to do here in the evening and our mornings all started before 7 am so some people stayed up playing cards or sipping a beer but the first night was quiet enough.

DAY 2:

Day 2 is a day of exclusively trekking and we cover a part of the Inca trail. The hike isn’t particularly difficult and we stop alot of breaks but it is a narrow path with mismatched size steps up and a steep incline. The climb is worth it for the rewarding views below.

After an hour or so of hiking we stop at ‘The Monkey House’ to sample a local liquor, learn about the coco leaf and say hi to the residence of The Monkey House.

We continue hiking for another two hours to the lunch stop. We had a bit of a wait for lunch as we were apparently a fast group. The hike after lunch was quite easy and not too long. We got to a draw bridge which told us the cable car and hot spring were near by. The cost of the cable car isn’t included but there is no way around it. You have to climb into it, two at a time to cross the river to reach the hot springs.

After the cable car, we reached the hot springs. They were 10 PEN to enter and so worth it. It looks more like a spa than any hot springs I had seen before in South America. There are restaurants, showers and three different pools of varying degrees of heat. The hot springs were well welcomed after a day of hiking. The town we stayed in on the second night is either a 30 minute walk uphill from the hot springs or a 10 PEN taxi. This wasn’t included either so we opted to walk.

Santa Teresa is the town we stayed in on the second night. It’s a medium sized town with a main square, a few bars and restaurants and plenty of mini markets. We had been told there was a night club in Santa Teresa. Night club was a serious stretch, to put it mildly. The restaurant we had dinner was doing happy hour, 3 cocktails for the price of 1 during dinner. That was an offer we couldn’t turn down so most of us took the restaurant up on this deal. After sculling a few more beers on the street from the mini mart we decided to venture into this nightclub to see what the story was. We met a few other Inca jungle groups and eventually they joined us and turned the attendance of the nightclub from 10 to 20. The barmaid poured 10 shots of pisco. No no, I didn’t order them I said, shaking my hands and head.

Gratis (free)

she shouts over the music.

The night ended how all nights end with pisco, very late, little sleep and with a horrific hangover the next day.

DAY 3:

We started day 3 a little worse for wear and a lot slower than the previous two mornings. After breakfast in the same place we had dinner, we were collected to go zip lining. Some of the group had paid to upgrade to the bigger zip lining for $15. I think it was well worth upgrading. The zip lining finished with a superman.

We were reunited with the rest of our group and had a short walk to lunch. After lunch we followed the train tracks for about two hours to Aguas Calientes, or Machu Picchu Pueblo as it’s also known.

Our guide explained to us that the following day we would walk down to the bridge early to begin the hour hike up to MP and after visiting MP we would retrace our steps along the train tracks to where the bus would be picking us up and leaving for Cusco at 3 pm. The bus usually arrives back to Cusco between 9-10 pm.

Aguas Calientes:

This is a charming town that is the gateway to MP. It is full of restaurants, souvenir shops and hotels. It is extremely touristy as you would imagine but I quite liked the town.

Here we had an en suite hotel room for the four of us. At dinner our guide gave us our tickets for MP with the entrance time on it. You must bring your passport also. If the name on the passport does not match the ticket you will not be allowed enter. We had an early start the next morning (4.30 am alarm) so we went to bed after dinner. As we had the earliest tickets to MP (7 am entrance) we trekked down to the bridge to begin the ascent to MP at 5 am. The hostel in the town is about a 20 minute walk to the bridge before the climb to MP. It was lashing rain when we took off on the hike. Equipped with our ponchos, raincoats and spare clothes in our bags, we braved the torrents of rain in the pitch black.

The trek up to MP is steep and is made of uneven rocks as steps. It takes between 45 min-1 hour and is doable by most able bodied people who are some what fit. You can take as many breaks as you like along the way. This part of the tour is unguided but very clear. Drenched in a mixture of rain and sweat, the clouds started to disappear and miraculously the rain stopped just as we reached the entrance to MP. We arrived just before 7 am with enough time to get our passports stamped with the optional MP stamp and change out of our wet clothes.

With a 7 am entrance ticket we were one of the first in. It was magical to have the place to ourselves in the morning even just for a few moments before the hoards of tourists flocked in. Is it definitely worth getting the 7 am entrance to enjoy MP in all its glory in peace for a few minutes.

We went straight up to the highest viewing point first. MP is a one way system so you cant go back on yourself.

We met our guide for MP outside the entrance but we ditched poor Juan not long into it. He was moving quite quick and we wanted to spend a while taking photos and just marveling at the incredible city below and how it changes as the clouds blow in and out.

3 hours is all the time that is needed to explore and enjoy MP and the ruins and visit the alpacas.

Climbing Huyana Picchu is another option but tickets have to be purchases in advance.

We left MP at about 10.30 am and headed for Aguas Calientes to get lunch ahead of our train. We decided to be spenny and splash out on getting the train down rather than walk along the tracks and face a 6 hour bus back to Cusco.

The train, worth it or not?

• It is expensive. We paid an extra $70 for the train at 13.15 back to Ollantaytambo. The train takes 1.5 hours.
• The views are great from the train and it was a luxury treat for us backpackers.
• It gets you back to Cusco before 6 pm which is great if you’re short on time and want to celebrate after the hiking and sample Cusco’s nightlife.
• The train tickets are much cheaper early the next morning if you want to spend another night in Aguas Calientes after MP.
• Train tickets are also much cheaper late in the evening but it will be dark then and the whole purpose of the train is to enjoy the views.
• In short, if you’re tight on time and not on a particularly tight budget, the train is worth it. Ensure to book your tickets a few days in advance as they book out.
• If you’re on a backpackers budget and have time on your side, I don’t think the train is worth an extra $70.

By train

As I said above, the train is a great option for those on a time time frame or who don’t fancy hiking for a few days to reach MP. The train departs from Ollantaytambo ( 2 hour drive from Cusco) to Aguas Calientes and takes 1.5 hours. MP can be seen in 2 days or even as short as one day. You can skip a night in Aguas Calientes if you get the train in the morning, take the bus from Aguas Calientes to MP entrance and get the train back to Ollantaytambo that evening. This is the option people take when you seen them wearing gleaming, non hiking clothes, carrying a hand bag and wearing make up with their hair perfectly straightened. They didn’t hike here. The scenery along the train ride is beautiful and the train has a glass roof to maximise viewing potential.

By bus

This is an alternative to the train for those who don’t have the time or inclination to take one of the treks. It takes along but is cheaper than the train. There are a few steps involved in getting to MP by bus from Cusco.

• Bus from Cusco to Santa Teresa (6 hours, 30 PEN/€9)
• Collectivo taxi from Santa Teresa to Hidroelectrica (30 mins, 5 PEN/ €1.50).
• Either 1) train from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes (45 mins, US $30) or 2) by foot (2.5 hours, free)
• Bus from Aguas Calientes (20 mins, $12 one way) to Machu Picchu or on foot which takes 45 mins- 1 hour.

I hope that is helpful for anyone planning a trip to this mesmerising world wonder. Comment below if you’ve any questions or feedback! Sari