Destination
Machu Picchu
The Inca citadel at 7,970 feet, reached by train up the river gorge or on foot through the Sun Gate, with entry timed to a fixed circuit and hour.
Destination
The Inca citadel at 7,970 feet, reached by train up the river gorge or on foot through the Sun Gate, with entry timed to a fixed circuit and hour.
The case for Machu Picchu
Five centuries on, the citadel still holds its ridge above the Urubamba: temples, terraces and stairways at 7,970 feet, with Huayna Picchu standing guard behind them and cloud drifting up from the river gorge below.
Arrive by train through the gorge to Machu Picchu Town, or walk in over the pass and watch the ruins open out beneath the Sun Gate at first light. Entry, train and guide come arranged as one piece of every trip.
Timing
Our trips
Two ways, and both are trips we run. The train from Cusco or the Sacred Valley follows the Urubamba to Machu Picchu Town, then a bus climbs the switchbacks to the gate: no trekking, and the citadel itself is an hour or two of walking on stone stairs.
Or you walk in, over the pass and down through the Sun Gate at first light, which is the arrival the site was built for. Entry, train and guide come arranged as one piece of every trip either way.
Yes. Entry is by timed ticket, bought well in advance, naming both your entry hour and the circuit you walk. The site runs on set routes rather than open ground, so the circuit decides what you see, and you cannot switch once you are through the gate.
Morning slots and the best-known circuits sell out first, months ahead for June through August, and further out again for the ones adding Huayna Picchu. We hold your entry, circuit and time as part of the trip.
Four days covers Cusco, the Sacred Valley and the citadel by train, and it works, though it leaves altitude no margin. Seven to nine days is the comfortable version: proper acclimatization, time in Cusco that is not spent recovering, and room to add the Sacred Valley or a trek.
Our Machu Picchu trips run from four to nine days, from about US$800 to US$2,100 per person. Tell us how long you have and we will tell you honestly what fits.
Machu Picchu itself is 7,970 feet, lower than Cusco and low enough that most people feel nothing there. The problem is Cusco at 11,150 feet, which is where you fly in. Roughly half of visitors get a headache and poor sleep the first night, and it passes in a day or two.
Our trips are sequenced to manage it: lower ground first, then the Sacred Valley, then Cusco, then anything higher. Drink more water than feels necessary and take the first day gently.
May and September are the sweet spots: dry ground, clear mornings, and calmer than the July and August peak. June through August is reliably dry but busiest, and entry times and trains go early.
The wet months, January through March, are green, quiet and cheaper, with rain most days and cloud drifting through the gorge. The citadel stays open all year, including February when the Inca Trail closes.
