HOW TO GET TO MACHU PICCHU | The Ultimate Travel Guide - Everything You Need to Know Before Visiting

We're at Machu Picchu and today we're  going to tell you everything you need   to know to get here and how  to maximize your time here Machu Picchu is the lost city of the Incan Empire  and it's no surprise how it gained its title as a   wonder of the world but it can be challenging to  piece together all of the info that's needed to   reach this magical place and have a successful  Machu Picchu trip so in this travel guide we're   going to walk you through everything you need to  know about planning a trip to Machu Picchu okay   in order to get to Machu Picchu you'll first  need to catch a flight to Cusco Peru the Cusco   airport is small and you'll probably have a  layover in Lima to get here there are plenty   of flights from Lima to Cusco and the flight  time is about an hour and a half each way we   actually love the city of Cusco and there's so  much to do while here we have a video it's a   complete guide of the top things you need to see  while in Cusco as well as a video covering the   top Peruvian foods and restaurants you need to  try in Cusco as well so be sure to check those   out right the poison the poison for cusca the  poison chosen specially to kill Cusco cusco's   poison when you land in Cusco there are taxis  available at the airport or you can take an   Uber Ubers are plentiful and affordable in Cusco  and that's always a great option so you know your   price before you get in the cap given cusco's  elevation is a little over 11 000 feet or over   double the elevation of Denver you want to give  your body a day or two to become acclimated to   the elevation before heading to Machu Picchu  to avoid altitude sickness you should drink   lots of water or do as the locals do and purchase  cocoa Leaf to chew on to alleviate the symptoms now that you're in Cusco in order to reach Machu  Picchu you're going to have to take a train from   Cusco to the town of August Calientes or as it's  been renamed the town of Machu Picchu you'll have   a few different options to get here for starters  there are two different train companies to take   you there Peru Rail and Inca rail both of these  companies offer near identical rides and operate   on the exact same train tracks so just do your  homework to see which one is most affordable for   your travel dates you're going to want to buy  these train tickets in advance as we have heard   that they can sell out even quicker than Machu  Picchu tickets both train companies have different   tiers of train cars ranging from extremely high  end to more Budget Travel we opted for Peru girls   cheapest car and the amenities were plenty nice  we paid 130 each for our round trip tickets from   Cusco to Machu Picchu on Peru rail but these  prices vary from year to year and also with the   seasons you'll also need to choose your departure  location you can either depart from the San Pedro   station located right by the San Pedro Market in  the historic Center of kusio Peru where you can   depart from the Peru station which is a 30 minute  taxi ride from Cusco we opted to depart from the   San Pedro station as it was right near the hostel  we stayed at which we'll link below plus it makes   sure you get to see way more Peruvian puppies  along the way the other thing that's been so   enjoyable about this train ride so far is all the  dogs you see along the way I swear every dog in   Cusco has come out to take a look or park at the  train so I think we've probably seen close to a   hundred dogs just in probably the 30 minutes  we've been on the train so far another option and from there catch a train ride to Machu Picchu  from Cusco you can take one of these buses called   a Colectivo from Cusco directly to oleante  tombow and there are a couple of different   spots to catch these collectivos around Cusco  opting to take a Colectivo May save you a little   bit of time and money but we decided to take the  train directly from Cusco to Aguas galantes to   simplify our journey the train ride to August  Calientes is extremely enjoyable with stunning   views and overhead speakers playing authentic  Peruvian music and announcing historical and   environmental landmarks and facts along the way  when you arrive in August Calientes you might   be dropped off in the train station or right in  the heart of downtown on the train tracks it's   important to note that you're going to have to  catch your train back at the train station even   if you're dropped off in the downtown area so  be sure to pay attention to the later section   of this video where we talk about returning to  Cusco after Machu Picchu so you don't miss your   train ride home of course you can also hike to  Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail which is a four   day three-night hike from right outside of oleante  tombow but this definitely takes a bit more prep   work we'll have some resources listed below  if this is something that interests you but   if you're like most Travelers and take the train  all the way to Aguas Calientes this is the town   where you'll stay before visiting Machu Picchu  there's actually tons to do in this cute little   River Town it's got a great adventure Vibe and  whether you're looking to rejuvenate from hiking   in the world's most scenic hot springs or get  your passport stamp to prove you made it to   Machu Picchu we'll have a video coming out shortly  walking through the top things you need to do in   Aguas Calientes we'll cover all the details and  Insider tricks to Aguas Calientes there so be   sure to check that out to maximize your time in  Aguas Calientes we'd recommend staying at least   one night in this town instead of trying to do the  round trip train ride in one day we really enjoyed   our time in this magical little town we opted to  stay the night here head to Machu Picchu the next   morning and then catch a train ride back to Cusco  in the afternoon and this worked out really well   for us we were also expecting this town to be very  expensive in touristy but we found it to be pretty   reasonable again keep an eye out for our Aguas  Calientes video if you're interested in where   we stayed and what we ate now that you've made it  to Aguas Calientes it's time to talk about buying   your Machu Picchu tickets Machu Picchu does not  sell any tickets at the entrance so you need to   buy them online before you go this process is  pretty simple you'll need to go to the official   site which we'll link below and select a time  slot there are options here to add on Private   Tours and additional hikes but we didn't feel the  need to add that to our ticket there are a couple   of different tickets that you can buy whenever  you come into the Machu Picchu we opted for just   the general admission ticket and it looks like  that's going to grant us access to all of the   grounds that we're really interested in there are  also a couple tickets where you can add on Hikes   one of them is the Hawaii new Pichu hike I think  I said that correctly and you can see that behind   me it's the little Mound next to the larger Hill  and we can actually see people hiking that right   now we paid about 97 each for our entry tickets  and this included a round-trip bus ticket to get   to the entrance of Machu Picchu which we'll talk  about later in this video to buy these tickets   you'll have to go to the website and select a time  slot and note that they're pretty strict about not   allowing you in before your time we arrived at  the ticket Checker three minutes before a time   slot and he made us wait until exactly 9am to  enter they're pretty strict about not letting   you in after your time slot as well if you buy  your tickets for 6am you're allowed to enter Machu   Picchu between 6am and 7 A.M we've heard that if  you're a bit late they will usually still let you   in but if you're significantly late you'll have  to go back down to Aguas Calientes and buy a new   ticket for a later time slot we opted for a time  slot at 9am and this worked really well for us we   were told by a couple of locals that the prettiest  time to see Machu Picchu was at 10 am due to how   the Sun is striking the mountains during this time  so you might want to keep this in mind try to book   these Machu Picchu entrance tickets hand in hand  with your train journey because both of these sell   out months in advance another thing you need to  consider when planning your Machu Picchu trip   is the weather Machu Picchu is open year round  but you may want to plan your travels around the   wet season which occurs between late November and  early April since tourism isn't as high during the   wet season it may be a great opportunity to score  some deals at Machu Picchu nearly to yourself and   get some cool Moody cloudy pictures but there is a  chance that the cloud coverage during this time is   so significant that it covers the mountains  entirely so that's something to take into   consideration as well the dry season for Machu  Picchu goes from May until October we visited   in May 2022 in a beautiful weather with minimal  crowds we're so thankful we got the blue skies   that we did right now we can see the clouds are  starting to come in still definitely nice here but   it's definitely nicer one there's a little bit of  sun peeking through yeah and we actually wanted to   see it a little bit cloudy just because it gives  it really cool mysterious feel with the clouds   rolling in but we're glad we have the sunshine in  the morning it was expected to be rainy the entire   day of our visit according to our Google searches  the night before but we were surprisingly met with   a gorgeous sunny day we were told by locals it  is typically sunny in the morning and the rain   tends to come in the afternoon which is exactly  what we experienced with our visit so that may   be something to consider when booking your time  slot for Machu Picchu okay when it comes to your   Machu Picchu day you have two main options to get  to the entry of Machu Picchu the first is to hike   up the mountain on the Camino pitonal hiking trail  this is a path with a whole lot of stairs and it's   quite strenuous given the 1279 feet of elevation  gain and this takes about two to three hours to   hike if you have an early morning ticket chances  are you'll be starting this hike very early before   the sun rises so keep that in mind the more  popular option to reach the top is to take a   bus and this is what we did this bus ride offers  you a direct drive right to the entrance of Machu   Picchu you can buy bus tickets in August Calientes  but we recommend buying them online in advance you   can do this on the same site where you bought your  Machu Picchu tickets which really simplifies the   process we recommend printing out paper copies  of these tickets and bringing them the date of   in addition to your digital copies we saw some  people using digital tickets on their phone with   no problem but we have heard of some visitors  having a hard time without a paper ticket so   it's best to play it safe when it comes time to  board your bus be sure to get to the bus stop   on the earlier side good morning guys we are in  there's Calientes right now in line for yeah the   line looks a little long but there seems to be a  lot of buses stacked up so it seems to be moving   pretty quick we got here around 7 15 for our 8  o'clock time slot the line for us seems long but   it moved pretty quickly and we were boarded within  20 minutes the buses run from 5 30 a.m to 6 p.m so   keep this in mind when you're booking your time  slot into Machu Picchu it was about a 20 minute   bus ride or so not bad at all and we're just  fees the whole way up so we're just waiting in   line right now to get our tickets checked and our  passport checked yeah and one thing to note with   the bus line was there were constantly people over  the front of the line throwing up there's like two   or four fingers and they were looking for pairs or  quadruples that had extra seats in the buses so we   were actually able to sneak up a little further in  line because there's just two of us yeah it looks   like most people here in larger groups going  in down here you can see the switchbacks that   we actually took the bus up on it was very windy  but it was really Pleasant ride when you arrive at   the top and hop off the bus there'll actually  be another line you need to stand in to enter   Machu Picchu however before you you jump right  into the line consider if you need to use the   bathroom before entering there are no bathrooms  inside the ruins of Machu Picchu so if you think   that you'll need to go there are bathrooms by the  snack bar outside it costs two soles to use the   bathroom but that peace of mind can be totally  worth it another thing you'll want to consider   before entering Machu Picchu is you'll definitely  need to eat a big meal beforehand we stayed at a   hostel with free breakfast and we honestly tried  to eat as much as possible before we left for   the day also be sure to wear your sunscreen the  elevation is no joke now let's talk about some things you're not allowed to bring into Machu  Picchu like umbrellas selfie sticks strollers   tripods drones and food while we can't recommend  breaking any rules we saw plenty of people with   water bottles and sneaking granola bars so use  that as a guideline on how strictly the food   and drink rolls are in force another thing you  absolutely need to enter Machu Picchu is your   passport this one's pretty simple you just won't  be allowed in without it and you should have this   on you at all times anyway you may have heard that  you can actually get your passport stamped with   the Machu Picchu stamp something we didn't realize  until the day of is that they don't actually stamp   your passport at Machu Picchu the place where this  gets stamped is actually down in August Calientes   this spot was kind of hard to find but we're going  to outline exactly how to get there in our agua   scalances video another thing you might want to  note is that technically you need to hire a tour   guide inside of Machu Picchu to escort you around  during your stay but this rule is not enforced   personally we did not hire a tour guide and we  enjoyed being able to take things at our own   pace but we did see plenty of people with a tour  guide and they seemed informative and helpful some   something that you're going to want to bring in  with you to Machu Picchu is bug spray I brought   some bug spray in with me but I may have applied  it just a little bit too late because I still got   some pretty significant Sandfly bites that took  pretty long to heal we've heard the mosquitoes are   pretty bad on some of the hikes too so take this  precaution if you get bit up like crazy like me   wear your bug spray kids these bites are gnarly  once you actually are inside Machu Picchu this   is where you have some serious decisions to make  the walking tracks of Machu Picchu are one way   meaning that you can't walk backwards and given  that there are many different Trails it leads   you to different parts of the ruins you're going  to want to do some research on which route makes   the most sense to you as you can't walk backwards  to see sights on other paths that you missed it's   almost like a Choose Your Own Adventure game in  a way where once you choose a path you're on it   until another Fork presents itself so definitely  do your research before you go to decide which   path works best for you and that you see all the  sights you want to see and one more thing about   not being able to walk backwards some of the most  picturesque places to take in the mountains and   the City from above are early in your journey and  as you descend into the ruins you won't get those   fantastic viewpoints and backdrops so be sure  to take your time while you're above the city   because you can't go back there later on also  be mindful as you go because the nearest llamas   may be above you in truth be told we actually  broke this don't walk backwards rule once when   we were told that we missed some llamas that  were just behind us when we certainly don't   recommend breaking any rules we don't regret it  technically your Machu Picchu ticket is valid for   four hours from the beginning of your time slot  but I will say that we don't really know how they   enforce this role as we didn't see anybody  checking tickets after you were inside Machu   Picchu we ended up staying from 9am to 1pm and  we thought four hours was the perfect amount of   time and believe me we took our darn time walking  through those ruins when it comes time to leave   Machu Picchu you can either hike down that same  Trail we talked about or take the bus there'll   be a queue formed for the bus at the top so just  wait in line for your spot we visited in May and   waited about 10 minutes to board a bus back down  again it's best to have your tickets in advance   but there is a ticket office at the top for you  to buy bus ticket once you're back in August   Calientes you'll probably want to grab some food  and head to the train station to catch your train   out we'd love the lasagna from this restaurant and  the vegetarian pizza from this one with the pizza   place being pretty close to the train station we  highly recommend filling your bellies beforehand   as the train ride back is slightly longer  than the train ride in as the train needs to   chug uphill and speaking of the train station  you can find it just on the other side of the   artisanal Market in Aguas Calientes this Market is  actually pretty massive so if you're tight on time   you'll need to navigate the sprawl of shops rather  quickly but if you do have time to burn it's a   great spot to shop for some souvenirs or pick up  some last minute snacks we recommend scoping out   the location of the departing train station  before you're in a time crunch so be sure to   plan ahead let us know in the comments below if  you're planning on visiting Machu Picchu or if   you have any other questions that we can help  answer seriously guys we love hearing from you   and those comments mean a lot to us also be  sure to like this video And subscribe to our   channel to see more of our adventures ahead and we  have a very exciting Vlog coming up from our day   in Machu Picchu that has some incredibly exciting  news for us so stay tuned for that as well thanks   everyone we'll see you in the next one adios right  from outside of alital Ali Ali Tay Tambo Dumbo

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Id: _OAwXV25Fls

Length: 14min 23sec (863 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 10 2022