The Day Trip to Machu Picchu is ideal for those who have little time to visit Machu Picchu.

PLEASE NOTE: From January 2019 it is no longer possible to stay in Machu Picchu all day, namely a maximum of 4 hours and in addition there are per hour (06:00 / 07:00 / 08:00 / 09:00 / 10:00 / 11:00 / 12:00 / 13:00 and 14:00) but a limited number of tickets where the entrance tickets for the morning are sold out the fastest. If you wish to visit Machu Picchu in the morning, an early booking is therefore definitely necessary.

To respond to these new regulations, we offer the following options:

The  first option is the standard tour where you will be picked up at the hotel in Cusco between 03:30 and 04:00 in the morning. Then you go by bus to Ollantaytambo. It's a drive of about an hour and a half. In Ollantaytambo you then take the train from 06:10 or 06:40 (depending on availability) to Aguas Calientes which is located at the foot of Machu Picchu. Around 08:00 – 08:30 you arrive here. You will be met at the train station by one of our staff who will take you to the center of Aguas Calientes and hand you the return tickets for the bus to Machu Picchu. You will receive a short Briefing and after this you will be free. You can then explore Aguas Calientes on your own or have breakfast somewhere, etc. before you go by bus (ride of 25 minutes) zigzagging up the mountain to the entrance gates of Machu Picchu. If desired, you can also walk up on foot on your own on an old Inca Path. In a good condition it is no more than a 45 to 60 minute walk and up to, for the less sporty tourists, an hour and a half. After this you will go through the access control with the guide at 12:00 and you will have a guided tour in group of about two hours in Machu Picchu. During the tour we will pass through all sectors of this Inca City. After this you are free and you have the opportunity to walk around yourself. With the tickets of the bus that you have received in the morning you go down again on your own or, if desired, it is also possible to walk downstairs. In Aguas Calientes you usually have enough time to eat something before you go back to Ollantaytambo by train (from 18:20 or 19:00 – depending on availability) to Ollantaytambo in about two hours and from Ollantaytambo by bus in about two hours back to Cusco One is usually back in Cusco around 23:30. You will be dropped off in a central square in the center of Cusco. From here you will go back to your hotel on foot or by taxi on your own.

 

The second option is similar to the first option, where you also leave Cusco at 03:30 – 04:00 and from Ollantaytambo take the train from 06:10 or 06:40 to Machu Picchu but instead of waiting until noon, you go directly up after arrival in Aguas Calientes and immediately do the tour in Machu Picchu with a private guide. The advantage is that you do not have to wait until the afternoon before you can enter Machu Picchu, but it also means that you really only have enough time for the tour and you can hardly wander around Machu Picchu yourself, since you can only enter around 09:30 and have to go outside again at 12:00. If you prefer this option, we have to do the tour with a private guide and therefore this option is slightly more expensive. Then in that case you go back by train from 14:30, 14:55 or 15:20 (depending on availability) and you are usually back in Cusco at 19:30. You will be dropped off in a central square in the center of Cusco. From here you will go back to your hotel on foot or by taxi on your own.

The  third option is to do this day trip completely privately so that one can leave Cusco a little later in private transport and then take a slightly later train in Ollantaytambo (08:53 or 09:15) which then arrives in Aguas Calientes around 10:40 – 11:00. These trains are slightly more expensive than the trains as described in the above two alternatives as these are Vistadome trains with windows in the roofs of the wagon. In Aguas Calientes you immediately go up and do the tour from 12:00 to 14:00 with a private guide. After this you are free to walk around or descend yourself by bus (or on foot) to Aguas Calientes. By default you take the train from 18:20 back to Cusco or if you do not want to wait very long then trains at earlier times are also possible at an additional cost (please inquire about the possibilities). From Ollantaytambo you will then return to Cusco with private transport and you will be dropped off at the hotel.

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