kdistler77

Flying into Cusco in morning and plan to relax and see the sights the rest of the day,stay overnight, and go to MP the next day. Taking train from Ollanta to MP and will stay in Ollanta on way back for a few days before returning to Cusco for another day and flight out. How long does taxi ride take to Ollanta? Trying to decide which train time to book on day we go back and forth to MP. Will have to check into hotel and then go to train. Is it practical to do it this way or should we just go to Ollanta straight from Cusco and hit Cusco on way back???

mlgb

I would go straight to Ollanta and take the train from there. It's lower in elevation than Cusco. I did 3 nights in Ollanta, the first day was mostly rest, the next day to see Ollanta, the third day round trip to Cusco, and the 4th back to Cusco with stops in Chinchero, Salineras, Moray. Then 3 nights in Cusco. One day I went round trip to Pisac from Cusco (it was Sunday). The other day for Cusco itself. I still felt the altitude at Cusco but it was not very bad, since by the end of the week I was somewhat acclimated.

mlgb

Oops typo, third day was roundtrip to Machu Picchu!

tatersalad

I agree with mlgb; go straight to Ollantaytambo and spend at least one night there and then take an early train to MP. This is what we did, I think we spent a total of three nights in Ollantaytambo, took the 5:30AM backpacker train to Aguas Calientes, checked into our hotel, purchased our bus and MP tickets and were at MP by about 9:00 or 9:30 and stayed until about 4:00 PM. We then took a train back to Ollantaytambo at about 8:30 the next morning where we hired a driver at the train station to take us to Cusco by way of Salineras, Moray and Chinchero.

I think you need to make sure you have train reservations in advance. We stopped at the rail office in Cusco to pay and collect our previously reserved rail tickets before we proceeded to Ollantaytambo. We used the backpacker train going and the vista dome for the return; in my opinion, the backpacker is a much better value and is quite comfortable.

I think that a taxi ride from Cusco to Ollanytatambo would be,at most, about 2 hours without stops.

crellston

You are getting some excellent advice! We spent a month in Olly in Sept and loved it there is so much to see in and around the Sacred Valley and it is a great base. The taxi ride takes 1.5 (sometimes less depending upon how much of a lunatic the driver is!) If he tries to stop and pick up passengers along the way DO NOT LET HIM - this is a major scam in Peru and you could end up in danger

qwovadis

www.elalbergue.com or KB Hostel nice

Usually go straight from Cusco cab

$10-15 pp...

Lots of fun plenty to do...

Explore Cusco on the way back

www.ninoshotel.com or El Balcon nice

Have fun,

qwovadis

If you want to climb HP see sunrise

go into AC/MP the night before

El Sanctuario Hostal decent...