After our day trips from Cusco, it was time to visit a major site on our Peru itinerary – Machu Picchu. We decided to do this a bit differently to the way most visitors do it. Instead of spending a night in the town of Aguas Calientes and joining the crowds at sunrise, we booked an afternoon entry time to Machu Picchu and did it as a day trip from Ollantaytambo, a small town at the northern end of the Sacred Valley. Most people experience it as a place to catch the train to Machu Picchu after taking a taxi or minivan there from Cusco. However, we decided to stay there for three nights to give us time to do our Machu Picchu day trip and also spend some time exploring the ruins at Ollantaytambo, which are impressive in their own right.

Train to Machu Picchu

We had time for breakfast at our hotel before making our way to the train station. Whether starting from Cusco or Ollantaytambo, the train is the most popular way to get to Macchu Picchu. Diehard budget travelers can take a minivan most of the way and walk along the train tracks into Aguas Calientes to save some money. Even though the train tickets were quite expensive for a fairly short trip, this was the way to go for us.

We had time for a cup of coffee at the station before our train showed up.

As we were traveling in the morning and it’s a very scenic ride, we paid a bit extra for the Vistadome service on PeruRail. The carriages have large side windows and roof window panels for peeks at the mountain peaks. The train follows the Urabamba river for a large part of the journey.

Along the way we passed the starting point for the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We could see trekkers and porters starting their journey.

Aguas Calientes

Aguas Calientes is the small town at the base of the mountain where Machu Picchu is situated. It exists solely to service the more than one million tourists that pass through each year.

We had some time to look around before we had to find some lunch then board our bus to Machu Picchu. As we headed toward the town square we stumbled across musicians and kids in fancy dress getting ready for a parade or ceremony.

It turned out that the town was celebrating the anniversary of Machu Picchu’s declaration as a “Wonder of the World”.

After watching some of the celebrations, it was time for us to find some lunch before heading up the mountain. This proved to be a bit difficult, as all the options were very expensive (a shock after how cheaply we had been eating everywhere else in Peru). We wandered the narrow streets for a while looking for a reasonable lunch option.

In Peru the best deal is generally a restaurant’s “menu del dia” or menu of the day. Most places the restaurants display these proudly to lure in customers. In Aguas Calientes we quickly realized that restaurants have these special menus, but don’t advertise them. In one case, a restaurant host covered up the special menu so we wouldn’t see it. Needless to say we didn’t eat there.

We eventually found a place with decent online reviews who reluctantly admitted to a menu del dia that had some options that sounded OK. As a bonus it had a nice view.

Entering Machu Picchu

After our lunch, we joined the queue for the bus to take us to Machu Picchu for our 1pm entry time. The Peruvian government has recently introduced timed entry tickets to try and spread out the tourists throughout the day. Despite this, the morning time slots are still the most popular. Part of our reason for choosing an afternoon time was to avoid the worst of the crowds.

We had arranged for a guide in advance from the same company that organized our Southern Valley day trip from Cusco. Following a bus ride featuring some extreme hairpin curves and steep drop-offs, we arrived at the entrance to Machu Picchu where we met our guide. After a brief wait for the clock to turn over to 1 pm, we entered the site wondering if it would live up to the hype.

Once inside, we had a bit of a steep climb up some terraces before our first view of this iconic sight.

Soon we were presented with the classic view of Machu Picchu.

Talking to other visitors, we discovered that the whole site had been engulfed in cloud until after noon. There were people still there after 1pm who had been waiting since early morning for the clouds to lift so they could see the ruins. This further reinforced our decision to opt for an afternoon entry time.

After some time contemplating this classic view, we moved on to the next viewpoint to view the site and the surrounding valleys from a different angle.

Wildlife

As we headed down to explore the site in more detail we met some of the non-human inhabitants. “Wildlife” is probably the wrong word for the llamas, as they are domesticated and kept in pens overnight. They do a good job keeping the grass short. Also, they pose nicely for photos.

We also saw some vizcacha. These are a rabbit-like rodent that likes to hang out in rock crevices at various places on the site.

Exploring Machu Picchu

Our tour continued with a closer look at buildings in the different areas of the site.

As we made our way through the site, our guide told us about Machu Picchu’s role as a kind of university for elite young Incas. Interestingly, we later visited the Museo Machu Picchu in Cusco which didn’t mention this, instead describing the site as a retreat for Incan royalty.

Whatever the real story, this is obviously a site that was of great significance to the Incas. There are temples and buildings displaying the fine Inca stone work that was reserved for places of religious or royal significance.

One downside of our afternoon entry time was that there were a couple of temples and sites that we couldn’t enter. There was so much to see here that we didn’t think this was too much of an issue.

We continued past the residential are of the site and saw the Sacred Rock, used for Inca rituals.

From this end of the site we had a great view of Huayna Picchu. Limited tickets are available each day to hike to the top for an alternative view of Machu Picchu (note: we did not do this – it’s really steep).

At this point, our guided tour finished and we were free to wander by ourselves for a while. We spent some more time checking out the architectural details of this amazing site.

We made a new friend, a stray dog who attached himself to us for a while.

Leaving Machu Picchu

We noticed that the weather was starting to close in again. Also, our brains were full after seeing so much of this amazing site and hearing so much information from our guide, so we decided to make our way to the exit. On the way we passed through the terraces we had looked down on when we got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu.

We were very glad to sit in our seats for the bus back down to Aguas Calientes. We found a place to get a drink to kill some time before our 8:50pm return train, and ended up staying there for dinner rather than wandering around in search of more budget options.

Finally it was time to head back to the station. We had booked the cheaper train service back to Ollantaytambo, figuring as it would be night time we didn’t need to pay extra for big windows. We were a bit surprised that the return train turned out to be a rattly single carriage. It did get us back safely to Ollantaytambo where we got a taxi back up the hotel to our hotel. We fell into bed around 10:30, exhausted.

To sum up, Machu Picchu is a must-see in Peru. It’s expensive, inconvenient to get to and you will have to deal with a lot of other tourists. You should go anyway to see it for yourself if you have the opportunity.