There are many ways to visit Machu Picchu from multi-day hikes to one-day trips all with different budgets. Since it’s quite remote and I likely won’t be going back any time soon, I chose to plan a 2 day trip with a stay in Aguas Calientes. Unlike the other activities in South America which you can pretty much turn up in town and look for tours, Machu Picchu is one that should be planned. Tickets to the mountain sell out well in advance as do the train tickets to Aguas Calientes.
Planning A 2-Day Trip
Although I would have loved to do a multi-day hike along the Inca trail, it wasn’t an option for me since I had another itinerary to stick to for the rest of South America. Out of the other options, the cheaper one is a bus to the hydroelectric power station and then a hike to Aguas Calientes. This journey, however, seemed to take quite long and it would be better to spend that time at Machu Picchu. So that left me with the train to Aguas Calientes. We were staying in Cusco, but all the train tickets were sold out from that station. The next closest departure was from Poroy which cost 55 USD1 leaving at 7.35 AM and reaching Aguas Calientes at around 11 AM. This arrival time meant we could get a Machu Picchu afternoon entry ticket from 12 PM to 5.30 PM for 64 PEN2 plus tax (total 66.58 PEN). Then for the following day, I planned to get a Machu Picchu + Mountain morning ticket for 112 PEN plus tax (total 116.52 PEN). The return train from Aguas Calientes to Poroy departed at 3.20 PM and arrived at around 7 PM which cost 65 PEN. All these tickets can be bought online.
Day 1 - Cusco To Machu Picchu
With my train departing from Poroy at 7.35 AM, the ticket specified being at the station at 7.05 AM. With that in mind, I didn’t want to risk an Uber3 not being available so I got my hostel to schedule a taxi for me. It cost 26 PEN and took about 40 minutes to get there. The train station is small but well kept with lots of seating areas. There are some stalls to buy food and also street vendors outside the station if you want to grab some breakfast. When it’s time to board the train, the staff at the doors put up signs with coach letters. You can find which coach you are in on your tickets and queue up accordingly to board the train. The train seats are quite comfortable and you get a table between 4 people. Throughout the 3 hour journey, there were recorded announcements of any sites we went by providing information on them. There were great landscape views and lunch was also provided towards the end of the journey. We reached Aguas Calientes at around 11 AM. The Train Station is practically in the middle of the town next to the arts and crafts market. The town is very small so you can easily walk everywhere. We headed to the hotel to drop off our bags before heading up to Machu Picchu.
We chose to hike up on this day. The route is well signposted so it’s pretty straightforward to follow and it took us about an hour. Despite getting some shade from the trees, it was still very hot and a tiring hike. Make sure you take sunblock and a hat to protect yourself from the potent sun. The tropical climate and environment also meant there were lots of insects and mosquitos around, so you’ll need to put on repellent to keep them away. Once at the top, there was a long queue for the entry, and several guides offering their services. I’d recommend getting a guide since there’s so much history in this place. They tend to have fixed prices so it’s cheaper if you’re in larger groups. We queued up for about 15 minutes which wasn’t too bad. Once inside, we first went up to the main viewpoints on the Machu Picchu mountainside. You get great views from here of the whole site and Huayna Picchu Mountain.
Next, we followed signs for the Inca Bridge. It takes about 30 minutes to get there, and you have to sign in at a control point. Access is free and the control point just ensures all visitors sign in and out once they return. The trail becomes quite narrow in some parts and can be vertigo-inducing. They’ve put a gate up so that people don’t attempt to cross the bridge as it’s very narrow and dangerous. We then headed back along the trail and back to the viewpoint area. We found a spot there to have some snacks and wait for the sunset. Although the ticket states the time slot is until 5.30 PM, the site officials start asking people to leave at around 5 PM. I managed to stick around until 5.25 PM to capture a time-lapse of the sun setting behind one of the mountains. After this, we headed to the exit. Make sure to look for the Machu Picchu stamp at the exit to put on your passport. The easiest way to locate it is to look for a group of people clustered in a small area. Once we got our stamp, we walked back down to Aguas Calientes.
Having walked all day, our legs we extremely sore so we rested for a bit before heading out for dinner. We stayed on the north side of the river and there are several restaurant options there. Since we were hungry and it was close by, we went to one of these tourist restaurants. The food was OK and quite pricey. After dinner, we stopped by the bus ticket stall to get a ticket for the next day. The bus ticket prices are extortionately expensive. They only accept cash or Visa cards for an extra fee. We only got a one-way ticket to the mountain for 40 PEN each. We then went for a quick walk south of the river to explore. This is when we found that restaurants were cheaper south of the river with several street food stalls there too. We then headed back and clocked out early to for our morning start the next day.
Day 2 - Machu Picchu Mountain
The first buses up to Machu Picchu depart at 5.30 AM. So we got up at 5 AM to start queuing up. The local market was opening in those early hours so we could pick up some snacks on the way. There are some street vendors selling sandwiches on the way as well but the market is cheaper. There was already quite a long queue by the time we arrived but there is also a queue of buses waiting to board people. It’s a little chilly in the early hours of the morning before the sun comes up, so take a sweater to keep warm while waiting in the queue. We got on the second or third bus and then it was about a 30-minute ride up to Machu Picchu. There was less of a queue this time so we got in a little quicker than the day before. We had entry tickets for the time-slot 7-8 AM for the Machu Picchu Mountain. However, I confused the mountains and we were waiting at Huayna Picchu until 7 AM. So when the site official told us, we had to rush to Machu Picchu which is about a 25-minute walk at the other end. By the time we got there, a queue had formed so we had to wait about 15 minutes to sign in at the control point. Now that the sun was up, it was starting to get hot. It took us about an hour to complete the hike which was quite exhausting. You get some great views along the way and from the final viewpoint, you’ll get to see Machu Picchu in the distance among a landscape of green mountains. We spent about 30 minutes at the top before heading back down.
We then proceeded to complete a circuit of all the ruins at the site. We found that most of the site seems to be rubble that has been assembled back together. However, there are a couple of places where you’ll see the perfectly cut stones joined together like a jigsaw puzzle. It’s truly amazing how the Inca were able to construct such an immense complex in such a remote place. We completed the circuit around noon and headed to the exit. It took us about 45 minutes to walk back down to Aguas Calientes. We then spent some time walking around the arts and crafts market and getting some lunch. After that, we picked up our bags from the hotel and headed to the train station which was scheduled to depart at 3.20 PM. The cheaper train back to Poroy was quite similar to the one we took to Aguas Calientes. The only difference was that there wasn’t any food/snacks included with the ticket. We reached Poroy at around 7 PM and although there are no Ubers in Poroy, we had the phone number of the taxi who dropped us off. However, we found that several taxis are waiting outside the station. We enquired with one and he quoted us a 30 PEN fixed rate to Cusco, so we went with him. We reached Cusco at around 8 PM. By this point, we were exhausted so we just grabbed some quick food from one of the street vendors and went straight back to the hotel.
Final Thoughts
A 2-day trip is required if you plan to hike up Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain. Otherwise, if you just plan to walk around the site, you can make do with a day trip. Machu Picchu Mountain is probably not worth the additional day, but Huayna Picchu seems to be more interesting and more challenging. Tickets for Huayna Picchu sell out well in advance though, so make sure you look early. Everything in the town is more expensive than any other tourist destination I’ve been to in South America. So many people visit the site which means they can pretty much charge whatever they want. It’s still worth a once in a lifetime visit where you get to experience history, culture, and unique magical views. But if you ask me whether I’d go back, I’d probably say no; but simply because it’s unjustifiably expensive.
