Is the earliest train from Machu Picchu back to Cusco really at 3:00 p.m.? I was looking at Perurail.com and that is the earliest daily departure that I can see.

On another note, I'm trying to decide if staying just one night at Hotel Sumaq will be sufficient for me in November. I read on here that you can catch an early bus at 5:30 a.m. to see the ruins during sunrise, which I would very much like to do, probably on my day of departure after a previous afternoon spent visiting the site.


Thanks for any tips about the train, or Machu Picchu, in general.

Yes that sounds abut right.

And I like your plan to visit Machu Picchu the day before and then stay overnight and take the very early ride up to the ruins to see the sun rise over the ruins.

Then at leisure you can see all the places that you wanted to get a second at ,that you saw yesterday.

Percy

Thanks for confirming that, Percy. Are you the Percy who I read about here as a personal guide in the area?

Ah, after reading a few more threads I see that there are two Percys. Sorry for the mistake! Thanks for your advice!

There are two Percys here?

The Sumaq is about two blocks from the bus stop, so you're really close. All the hotels have very early checkout times (usually around 9 a.m.), but will store your luggage if you're not leaving until mid-afternoon. Just be aware that you probably will not be able to come back from MP to your hotel around 1 p.m. and pack and check out. You will likely have to have done that when you leave in the morning. (Ask when you make the reservation.) That's the one disadvantage to doing things the way you're thinking here.

Okay, I found some earlier trains from Machu Picchu (Aguas Calientes) back to Ollantaytambo instead of Cusco. Earliest at 10:32 a.m. on Vistadome Regular Class.

No I am not the tour guide in the Cusco Sacred valley region.

Wish I was.

Percy

Perurail has updated it’s website and I don’t know how to link to this schedule from there anymore but if you look here:

http://www.orient-express.com/binari...tcm4-94917.pdf

you should see that the earliest scheduled train departure from Machupicchu to Ollantaytambo is at 8:30 AM.