HOW TO PLAN YOUR TRIP TO MACHU PICCHU WITHOUT A TOUR
I traveled to Cusco, Peru in mid-March 2024 during their off season pricing. There were only a handful of people in each area, and a drizzle of rain towards the very end of the experience. According to my tour guide, just a week later would have been Holy week, welcoming thousands of visitors each day. The high season is from June-October 15 and December 30-31 with up to 5,600 visitors per day. As you can see, I was quite ecstatic being able to visit a World Wonder site with a limited number of tourists. I was even more ecstatic at successfully visiting the site in one day, saving up to $100-200 from tour costs, and the ease of traveling despite my huge anxiety before the trip. Hopefully this guide can ease your anxiety and save you some money!
WHAT MACHU PICCHU TOURS OFFER + HOW TO SAVE
During my trip planning process, I compared pricing and offerings from various tour experiences on GetYourGuide, Airbnb Experiences, and Viator. Originally, I was shocked at the tour costs starting at $400 USD, leading me to dive into the breakdown of the total price and finding major saving opportunities.
GetYourGuide experiences are highly reputable and easy to book, cancel or reschedule. Machu Picchu tours in particular are nonrefundable across all booking platforms due to the complex offerings within each tour. Booking a tour will remove any potential stress from booking your trip yourself with direct private transportation to the train station. Yet, the tours will not include any guides during the train ride or final bus ride to Machu Picchu. If any ticket times are missed, you will have to re-purchase.
Traveling to Machu Picchu requires use of several required modes of transportation and various tickets to complete your trip. It is very important to consider the amount of time in between each mode of transportation so you do not forfeit any purchased tickets or miss your train back to Cusco. I cannot emphasize enough how easy the arrival to Aguas Calientes was overall due to the organization and sophistication of Peru Rail. It truly made my experience stress free.
This Full Day Machu Picchu Tour starts at $329 with standard train tickets and up to $400 for vistadome train tickets. The full tour includes the following:
- Roundtrip private transportation pickup from Centro Historico in Cusco
- Roundtrip standard or vistadome train tickets to Aguas Calientes
- Roundtrip bus ticket from Aguas Calientes to the entrance of Machu Picchu
- Entry ticket to Machu Picchu circuit 1 + 2
After further research I realized I could book all transportation and entry tickets separately and save up to $100-200USD. My grand total was only $210.72 USD saving me $200 for the vistadome experience! Here’s the breakdown of my costs in USD below:
- Uber to Wanchaq bus station from Cusco hotel $2
- Round trip bi-modal bus + vistadome/standard train tickets to Aguas Calientes with Peru Rail $142.2
- Roundtrip bus ticket from Aguas Calientes to the entrance of Machu Picchu $24
- Entry ticket to Machu Picchu $42.52
HOW TO GET TO MACHU PICCHU FROM CUSCO
I visited Machu Picchu in one day which required me to take a taxi to the Wanchaq bus station in Cusco, bus to Ollantaytambo, take a train to Aguas Calientes, then a final bus to the entry of Machu Picchu.
WHERE TO BOOK MACHU PICCHU TICKETS IN ADVANCE
The government historical website of Peru will no longer sell tickets directly as of January 14, 2024. All official ticket sales will be through JoinUs tuboleto.cultura.pe. Purchasing tickets is user friendly and will require you to register and confirm your email address. If your date and time is not available on the site, it is sold out. You can consider booking a reputable tour or arriving earlier to Aguas Calientes and purchase in person at the cultural center. Only 1,000 in person tickets are sold daily at the Machu Picchu cultural center. It is highly recommended to book your ticket online months in advance, but if your desired date is sold out, you must arrive as early as possible to the cultural center to purchase at Maruri Street #340 in the city of Aguas Calientes and/or Garcilaso S/N in the city of Cusco. I purchased my tickets in January 2024 and there was still availability for March 2024. If I would have waited longer, I am certain it would have been sold out for my dates.
Photo from tuboleto.cultura.pe, the official website for Machu Picchu tickets:
A few things to note:
- PLEASE be weary of other sites promoting ticket sales for Machu Picchu. Always look for the “Peru Ministerio de Cultura” logo on the site to ensure it is the official page. It is highly advised to purchase directly with the JoinUs platform as this is backed by the Peruvian government. Other sites will add service charges or can totally scam travelers. If any sites are requiring you to fill out information forms or request forms, it is not an official site.
- Your originally booked ticket time and date cannot be altered. Ensure the date and time you choose is correct before purchasing.
- Please note that before you finalize your entry tickets to Machu Picchu, you should confirm the dates and times available for all modes of transportation. All tickets are nonrefundable, it was crucial to choose the correct times for my arrival to Aguas Calientes to ensure I would arrive in Machu Picchu in time. If you are staying for the night in Aguas Calientes, this could ease a lot of the hustle and bustle of traveling back and forth from Cusco in one day.
- The personal information used to book your ticket must match your government issued passport. Ensure everything is spelled and entered correctly for everyone in your party
- It is not required to print out the tickets before arrival. Just ensure the ticket PDF is available on your phone and the QR code is visible to scan and or verify against your passport information.
- You have an extra hour included in your ticket time for your entry. For example, if you book the 10am ticket slot, you have from 10am-11am to make it to the entry gate. After that time period you will forfeit your ticket and must arrange for another ticket to be purchased or come on another day.
WHERE TO BOOK TRAIN TICKETS TO AGUAS CALIENTES
Both Perurail and Inca Rail offer train tickets to Aguas Calientes. I booked a round trip bi-modal train ticket through Perurail Vistadome and Expedition. Majority of your trip consists of several modes of transportation to arrive at Machu Picchu. This bi-modal ticket combines traveling by bus and train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes stress free. A private bus will first take you from Wanchaq bus station in Cusco to Ollantaytambo train station (2 hours). The train will then take you from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes or Machu Picchu Pueblo station (2 hours).
A positive thing to note about Perurail is that their staff will travel with you round trip on the private bus as well as on the train directly to the final destination. In my opinion, this was even better as I knew if I had any worries, doubts, or questions I could find one of the staff and ask directly about my bus and train departure. I ended up not having to ask any questions as the entire traveling experience was straightforward and it was easy to locate the bus and train as they guided us to each area.
Photo from Perurail explaining the outbound route to Machu Picchu:
During your private bus ride there will be one stop for using the bathroom and purchasing any coffee, tea or snacks. After arrival, you will walk as a group to the train station for 5 minutes. You’ll pass plenty of market vendors selling Peruvian souvenirs. I didn’t stop because I was worried I would miss the group, but the walk to the train station is at the very end of the street. There are layovers built into your ticket in between boarding the bus and train. During your layover at the Ollantaytambo train station, there are various cafes to sit and relax before your train departure.
Which train experience should you purchase? As someone who booked both experiences to specifically compare the two experiences, I HIGHLY recommend booking roundtrip tickets with Perurail Vistadome. The vistadome is a panoramic view to awaken your senses of the magnificent Andean landscape. The vistadome and vistadome observatory include historical and cultural audio, a live dance show, and a snack during the journey. The price is higher than the standard Expedition train tickets, but during my booking prices it was only a $10-15 difference. Leading me to once again - HIGHLY recommend the vistadome.
Now the expedition train…*ahem* was…how can I say it...basic. It was a completely different experience and looked a little more rough around the edges. The setup was completely different which would have me to believe it was a drastic difference in price compared to the vistadome - but not by much at all. There were more families and kids on the expedition and seemed to be a much rowdier crowd in general. After a long day of travel and hiking Machu Picchu - this may not be ideal for you.
WHERE TO BOOK BUS TICKETS TO MACHU PICCHU
Upon arrival to Aguas Calientes, you will weave your way out of the train station and through various market stands to cross the bridge. Bus tickets to the entry of Machu Picchu can be purchased online at Consettur and are available one week before the selected month. Round trip tickets are $24 but if you prefer to hike up or down from the entrance, it is only $12 one way. Your ticket will function for any bus available. Tickets can also be purchased the day of on Hermanos Ayar avenue which is a few minutes from the train station and in the general area of the parked buses. Since this is a separate company from the official tickets for Machu Picchu, there should always be tickets available to travel to the top of the mountain.
The ride from Aguas Calientes to the front gate of Machu Picchu takes 30 minutes. There are usually plenty of buses departing and arriving every 30 minutes. Keep this in mind when purchasing your Machu Picchu entry ticket. I was one of the first in line and the bus driver let me sit in the front with him to the top of the mountain!
The bus will drop you off directly in front of the entrance. There will be plenty of people in the main entry area using the bathroom, grabbing a snack, or prepping for entry. Once you are ready to enter, you will go up a small incline to the left of the drop off area for your ticket to be scanned for entry.
HOW TO FIND A GUIDE AT MACHU PICCHU
There are guides at the exit of the train station that you can directly book with. There are also groups waiting at the entrance of Machu Picchu that you could ask to join as well. The prices for guides will range depending on the number of people in your group. A couple could be up to $70-80 USD/pp. If you join a group of 4+ people, it could be $25-30 USD/pp. I joined an older couple from Boston that had pre-booked a guide. I paid the couple $30 directly and got to take lots of breaks with them as we completed both circuits!
IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO BOOK!
It may seem daunting at first glance due to all of the information available, but I hope my blog’s breakdown can provide some clarity when booking your trip to Machu Picchu. It was a wonderful experience exploring a historical site nestled in the lush Andean mountains. The people are helpful, and Perurail was a great experience knocking out half the planning required due to the bio-modal train tickets.