The Best Way to Travel to Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is something that is on most traveler’s bucket lists. And for good reason. There’s truly nothing quite like it. The shroud of mystery surrounding it is intriguing. What exactly was this site used for? Why was it abandoned so suddenly? No trip to Peru is complete without a visit to the Incan ruins. Save yourself the headache and follow this guide for exactly how to visit and travel to Machu Picchu.

If you’re looking to save time and energy planning your visit to Machu Picchu then the best route is to go with a tour company. I calculated the cost for planning everything on my own versus going with a tour company and the small cost difference is worth having everything taken care of for you.

Recommended Machu Picchu Tour

The tour company that we went with is Tierra Vivas. We had a seamless trip with them. While there are a ton of tour companies out there, I highly recommend Tierra Vivas for three main reasons:

They are much more affordable than other tour companies out there
They offer trips for a wide-range of different styles – from laid back to adventures
They believe in responsible travel and supporting the Peruvian Andean communities near Cusco

The tour package we went with was the two day one night trip to Machu Picchu.

Day 1: Transfer to Aguas Calientes and Free Time to Explore the Town

The tour goes from Cusco to Machu Picchu and starts with a hotel pickup. Be sure to understand the luggage restrictions for your train to Aguas Calientes. We weren’t aware of the strict policy and were left scrambling at the last minute to consolidate to a smaller bag.

The journey to the train station takes about an hour and a half but the scenery is absolutely gorgeous so sit back and enjoy the ride.

Because of the aforementioned scrambling, we were running a bit behind and were nervous that we weren’t going to make our train. Luckily, the train station in Ollantaytambo is relatively small so we had no issue even though we arrived mere minutes prior to our train’s departure.

Prepare yourself for some more beautiful scenery on the train ride from Ollantaytambo to Augas Calientes. On the train you’ll be offered a hot or cold beverage and depending on the time of day, a light meal. We were pleasantly surprised with how comfortable the train was.

Once we got off the train, there was someone waiting for us to walk us to the hotel we’d be staying at, all previously organized by Tierra Vivas.

We thoroughly enjoyed having the afternoon and evening to explore the quaint town of Aguas Calientes. Just like the rest of Peru, the food here is absolutely delicious. For lunch we ate at Tree House and for dinner we ate at Mapacho. I highly recommend both of these spots!

Day 2: The Main Event – Machu Picchu

Our guide met us in the lobby of hotel and walked us to the bus. The bus takes you right to the entrance of Machu Picchu and is about half an hour from Aguas Calientes. We saw people walking but we weren’t about that life.

Quick note: Be sure to have some small change on you because it is 2 soles to use the bathroom at the entrance.

We went in and it’s true what they say, there’s no way you can hype up this place. No matter how many pictures I’d seen before or how many stories I’d heard, it still took my breath away. Our guide was very patient with us as we took a zillion photos. He even helped us find the best spots to take photos at.

It was a cloudy day but for me that just added more to it. The clouds gave the illusion that there was nothing else surrounding Machu Picchu. It was equal parts eerie and thrilling.

I can’t imagine going to Machu Picchu without a tour guide. Ours was so knowledgable and interesting that I was hanging on to every word he said. I concluded that the Incas were beyond intelligent but also kind of weird.

Some interesting (and creepy) facts we learned:

They poisoned beer that they used to kill the children they were offering up as sacrifices to the god
Machu Picchu was only rediscovered in 1911
It withstood three major earthquakes all exactly 3 years apart
The Incas eventually abandoned Machu Picchu but historians are still not sure exactly why

Pretty damn neat, huh? Minus the poisoned beer. That’s just wrong.

Because we went in the off season (end of November) and we were at Machu Picchu really early in the morning, the crowds were minimal. I highly recommend visiting at a similar time. I think large crowds would have really deterred from my visit.

After our guide completed his tour, we were left to explore a bit on our own.

Once we had our full of the ruins, we headed out and found a little stand where you could get your passport stamped! Definitely don’t miss this. What a fun (and free) souvenir.

With the itinerary Tierra Vivas planned out there was plenty of free time to either stay at Machu Picchu or grab one of the buses to head back down to Aguas Calientes. We decided to head back to grab some lunch.

We went to Full House and oh dear god, am I glad we did. This was one of the best meals I had in Peru. YOU HAVE TO GO HERE.

Afterwards, we gathered our stuff that we stored at the hotel and headed to the train station. I’m not sure if the train people were feeling extra nice that day or if we somehow got upgraded but they handed out a glass of champagne to everyone on board. We’ll never say no to bubbly.