luv2globetrot

It's written by Ruth Wright & Dr. Alfredo Zegarra.

It came highly recommended to me and I just skimmed thru it. It seems like a great tool to help you understand what your are seeing and gives step-by-step directions on how to navigate thru the ruins.

My question is, if we use this book AND do the hike up Huayna Picchu, will we have time to fit all that in in less than 8 hours?
The train schedule I'm looking at has us arriving at AC at 8:20am and departing at 4:45pm (not including the shuttle bus to/from town)
I'm beginning to wonder if we should spend the night in AC, that way we'll have til dusk with no pressure to catch a train.
If we spent the night in AC, we'd try to take the early train (there appears to be only one) that leaves AC at 8:35am and gets to Ollantaytambo at 10:05am.

We're just trying to figure out how much time we'd actually need AT the ruins. I know they say most tourists only spend about 3 hours, but it seems like it would take at least that long just to get a good look at the site, without the hike to Huayna Picchu.

We don't want to be rushed, but we don't want to be done and then feel "stuck" in AC for the night. It seems like the moderate hotels aren't much to rave about. But I guess there are lots of bars/restaurants to hang out in if we do have extra time?

Can any comment on how much time you think we should allow at the ruins including that hike up Huayna Picchu?

Also, are there places to have lunch besides the Sanctuary Lodge? Maybe someplace with cheap but filling eats?
Trying to plan for the day and wondering if we should bring food. What about cheap bottled water or should we pack lots ourselves??

Thanks

hills27

If I remember correctly, there's no food allowed in MP, but water bottles seem to be given a pass. No one searched our bags.

Both times, I ate at the sit down restaurant at Sanctuary Lodge, but I think there's a cafeteria-style restaurant also. I didn't find the sit down restaurant to be expensive. By American standards, I didn't find any of the food in Cusco/MP to be expensive.

By the time you get up to MP and the time you have to leave to get down to the train, you won't have nearly 8 hours. And they limit the number of people who can climb Huayna Picchu each day, so you have to start your climb in the morning. I haven't done it myself, but I recall hearing the roundtrip takes 2-3 hours.

Both times I've been, I've spent more than 3 hours within the ruins. We went on the tour and then walked around by ourselves again - sitting down occasionally just to stare out and enjoy the atmosphere.

If I planned on climbing, I would probably spend the night. Otherwise, I think you'll be rushed.

gypsyluce

just quickly, you have to do huayna picchu in am, they close it at 1pm so no one else can go up then, only come back down. Id prob spend the night, then you can also go up again next day if had fog or bad weather on first. Have fun.

hills27

To clarify, they close it the earlier of (a) when they reach the limit on people, or (b) 1:00 pm. So don't show up at 12:45 and assume you'll get to climb it.

luv2globetrot

Thanks for the info. That great guidebook does say that there is a limit that can climb and that you can't go up after 1pm.
So, we are leaning towards spending the night in AC.

The only thing is that in AC, when I check tripadvisor.com, there are no places to stay that get consistently good reviews...doesn't sound like there are many good choices, so we were trying to avoid staying there.

Anyone have any good recommendations?
I've checked out Gringo Bill's and Presidente among others, but there are lots of complaints about lack of cleanliness,lack of hot water, bugs, etc. Also, we're trying to keep it under $100 a night.
Thoughts?

hills27

The only place that gets consistent reviews seems to be the Inkaterra. But it's a lot more than $100 per night.

Elizabeth_S

We used that book in MP and it was invaluable! I'm not sure you could do the whole book tour and Huayna Picchu in 8 hours but we didn't follow the entire book either. We found it very easy to "sample" the various parts of MP with the book.

Hard for me to comment about spending the night in AC - we spent two nights so we could visit MP several times.....I can't quite imagine why people go all that way and only spend 3 hours there but to each his own!

Re the restaurant - the buffet at the Sanctuary Lodge was delicious and quite reasonable (I think it's around $20 - we stayed at the hotel so it was included) - there's also a snack bar with sandwiches/wraps etc.