Planning Your Visit to Machu Picchu
Day-Tripping vs. Overnight
You can visit Machu Picchu on a day-trip, but it's best to stay overnight at a hotel in Aguas Calientes. A day-trip allows you about six hours at Machu Picchu, coinciding with the most crowded times (and the times when the guards tend to be more rigid about moving you through the site quickly). If you plan to stay overnight, you have more time to wander the ruins after most tourists have gone or can plan to visit twice (with two tickets) to really allow time to soak in the site. If you can, opt to spend two nights, one before visiting Machu Picchu, so you can be on the first bus up to the ruins in the morning, and one after your visit to allow you time to recuperate especially if you hike Huayna Picchu.
Buying a Ticket
Purchase Machu Picchu tickets at the very least a month in advance. If you have your heart set on hiking Huayna Picchu, purchase tickets at least two to three months in advance. If you are planning to visit on a day-trip, it's a good idea to get your trains squared away first as popular train times sell out fast. Also, you'll want to know your time of arrival in order to plan your entrance time. If you arrive without an admission ticket, you must purchase one in Aguas Calientes at the Centro Cultural Machu Picchu (Av. Pachacutec 103 084/211–196 ). Purchase must be made in cash (S/152, no credit cards) with your passport and in person. There is no ticket booth at the ruins’ entrance. If you are with a tour, the tickets are most likely taken care of for you. The ticket is valid only for the date it is purchased. If you want to go in both the morning and the afternoon of the same day, something that allows you to exit, have lunch, use the bathroom, and go back into the site, you will need two separate timed tickets. The ruins are open from 6 am to 5:30 pm (but last entry is at 3).
Practicalities
It gets warm, and the ruins have little shade, so sunscreen, a hat, and water are musts. Officially, no food or drinks are permitted, but you can get away with a non-single-use bottle of water and snacks. There's a snack bar a few feet from where the buses deposit you at the gate, and the Belmond Sanctuary Lodge Machu Picchu has a US$40 lunch buffet open to the public if you want to eat before or after your visit. Large packs must be left at the entrance. You have to show your passport to enter—if you want it stamped with an image of the ruins, stop by the stand just past the exit.
Bathrooms cost S/1, and toilet paper is provided. There are no bathrooms inside the ruins, and you may not exit and reenter to use them.
The Inca Trail, Abridged
Most Cusco tour operators market a two-day, one-night Inca Trail excursion. An Inca Trail permit is required, and you must go with a licensed operator; book well in advance. The excursion begins at Km 104, a stop on the Cusco/Sacred Valley–Machu Picchu trains. All of the hiking happens on the first day, and you get to enter Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate and spend the night at a hotel in Aguas Calientes. The second day is a visit to the ruins.
