In shortWork in order. Give Cusco at 3,399 m a quiet first day, then set your date against the 2026 caps of 5,600 visitors in high season and 4,500 on other dates, book route 2-A at an early printed hour, and settle the train from Ollantaytambo and a bed in Aguas Calientes. Most visitors take a package, which arranges entry, train, shuttle and guide together.
S/152standard circuit, foreign adult
S/11sanctuary conservation amount
US$24shuttle bus round trip
from $419full-day tour by train
Planning a trip to Machu Picchu: the order of decisions
Three days is the sensible minimum for the Machu Picchu part of a Peru itinerary: one to land in Cusco and do very little, one for the valley and the train, one for the citadel. Altitude is the reason, and it works the opposite way round from what most people expect. Cusco is the high city at 3,399 m, the citadel sits at 2,340 m, and the highest point on the road and rail route between them is 2,792 m. The day that asks most of your body is your first one in Cusco.
On the standard routing, Lima to Cusco is about 1 hour 15 minutes by air, Cusco to Ollantaytambo about 1 hour 30 minutes by road, and Ollantaytambo to Machupicchu about 2 hours by train. That is a travel day, so build the itinerary around it rather than against it. If Lima is your entry point and you would rather make one booking for the whole trip, the 7-Day New Dawn in Machu Picchu covering Lima, Cusco and the Sacred Valley runs from $1070, rated 4.9 ★ (321 reviews): six nights, daily breakfast, ground transfers, airport pickups, entrance fees on the scheduled tours, a bilingual guide and the round-trip Voyager train. The Lima to Cusco flights are not part of it.
Each step below carries one constraint that does the damage if you get it wrong. The dedicated pages here cover them in full.
- Length: three days minimum from Cusco, more if you want the Sacred Valley properly or a trek.
- Arrival and acclimatisation: fly into Cusco, keep the first day flat, then drop to the valley.
- Date: high season or not changes the daily cap, the crowds and which routes are on sale at all.
- Circuit and hour: route 2-A if you can get it, with the earliest entry hour you can get.
- Transport: road to Ollantaytambo, then the train; the entrance is never inside a plain train fare.
- Bed: Aguas Calientes the night before beats a 15-hour day out of Cusco.
- Bag: no more than 5 kg plus a small backpack, soft soles, nothing from the banned list.
Set the date before you set anything else
Go in the shoulder weeks: late April to early June, or late September to mid-October. Check your dates against the high-season list before you buy a flight, because 1 January, 2 to 5 April, 19 June to 2 November and 30 to 31 December 2026 all carry the 5,600-visitor ceiling. Every other date is capped at 4,500, and the cap returns to 4,500 from 3 November 2026. Of the daily allocation, 3,500 places go online in regular season and 4,600 in high season, with another 1,000 kept back for a counter in town, so the online figure you see is never the whole day's quota.
Fewer people come in low season, and fewer routes are on sale. If your date falls between 16 October and 29 December, cross 1-B, 1-D, 3-A and 3-C off your shortlist; nobody climbs Huayna Picchu in November. Three more, 1-C, 3-C and 3-D, appear on the calendar in high season and nowhere else, and June 2026 is thinner still: a 2025 resolution took 3-A out for the whole month and shut 3-C and 3-D from 19 to 30 June.
Walkers run on a separate calendar. Strike February off if a trek is in the plan, because the Inca Trail network closes that month for rain-season maintenance and no reservations exist for it at all; permits for 2026 went on sale month by month between 27 October and 4 November 2025, at 9:00 a.m. local time. For Ollantaytambo and the Sacred Valley the advised window is the dry season from April to October; for Salkantay the official recommendation is April to November, with temperatures between -5 °C and 26 °C.
Circuit, entry hour and whose name is on the ticket
Book route 2-A, and take 2-B if 2-A has gone. Operators point to 2-A as the fullest of the classic walks: up to 2 hours 30 minutes inside, the urban zone and the postcard viewpoint on one ticket. Circuit 1 does not reach the urban zone, which is what people discover at the gate when the ticket can no longer be changed. When you budget time for the day, count about 3 hours of walking on Circuit 1, 2 hours 30 minutes on Circuit 2 and 2 hours on Circuit 3, with Circuit 2's reference duration given as two and a half to three hours from entry to exit.
Add a mountain route only if climbing is the point. Work out whether the hours fit your train: 1-A, Machu Picchu Mountain, is about 4 hours round trip with up to an hour in the site; 3-A, Huayna Picchu, is up to three hours of climbing plus about an hour in the site; 3-C, Gran Caverna, up to four hours plus about an hour. The smallest of the three peaks, Huchuy Picchu on 3-D, tops out at 2,497 m and costs you about an hour. Routes 1-A, 1-D, 3-C and 3-D admit over-18s only.
Pick your band when you buy: morning covers 06:00 to 12:00, afternoon 12:00 to 18:00, full day 06:00 to 18:00. Within the band, the hour printed on the ticket is the hour you go through the turnstile. Plan your morning so you are there on time, because the grace period runs to 30 minutes in low season and 45 in high, and past that the gate turns you away. The visit regulation admits visitors between 06:00 and 16:00, closes the register at 17:30, caps the stay at four hours and allows no re-entry except in documented force majeure.
The paperwork is now personal. Every ticket carries the visitor's full name and ID document number, names cannot be changed afterwards, dates cannot be moved, and an unused ticket loses its value with no refund. Since Ministerial Resolutions 333 and 334-2026-MC, signed 11 September 2026, selecting a slot does not hold it: payment has to clear within 15 minutes or the place returns to sale, and a 30-day trial that began 22 September 2026 lets the Ministry lengthen or shorten that window. Sales are lawful only directly to the visitor through the Ministry's Tu Boleto portal or an authorised counter, or through an agency registered with the Ministry of Culture's Cusco office. Bring the passport, carné de extranjería or DNI the ticket was issued against; students need a valid higher-education card, and children aged 3 to 17 must have an adult with them.
Two days, with the night in Aguas Calientes
This is the format for anyone who wants an early entry hour instead of a 15-hour day: Circuit 2 priority subject to Ministry availability, a private room in Aguas Calientes, all the transport from Cusco hotel pickup to the shuttle buses, and an English-speaking local guide for the Sacred Valley and the citadel, from $449, rated 4.8 ★ (1294 reviews).
★ 4.8/5 · 1,294 reviews
Trains, the shuttle road and where to sleep the night before
Take the train from Ollantaytambo rather than a bimodal service out of Cusco. Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes is about 1 hour 45 minutes of actual rail, which PeruRail brackets at 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours, while Poroy to Aguas Calientes is about 3 hours 30 minutes. Since 1 September 2025 the bimodal services leave San Pedro or Poroy and transfer from bus to train at Pachar on selected schedules. Boarding closes 30 minutes before departure, Inca Rail asks you to be at the station at least half an hour early, and published train times are indicative, so check yours on the day.
Baggage on the train is tight. PeruRail allows one backpack up to 8 kg and 100 cm total dimensions or one carry-on up to 12 kg and 115 cm, with excess charged at $15 for a carry-on and $25 for a checked bag on the Machu Picchu route; Inca Rail allows one hand item up to 8 kg, and larger bags go into custody. Storage costs nothing at Ollantaytambo station from 04:15 to 21:00 and at Aguas Calientes station from 05:00 to 22:00.
Sleep in Aguas Calientes the night before and take the earliest entry hour you can get. The shuttle road is 8 km with roughly 13 hairpin bends, takes 20 to 25 minutes and starts at 5:30 a.m., which is how you reach the gate for a 06:00 or 07:00 printed hour instead of arriving in the middle of the day. Buy the round-trip bus ticket the afternoon before at the Consettur booth on Avenida Hermanos Ayar, or online; the morning queue is not a sales point, and leaving it to the day puts your printed hour and your grace period at risk. The Hiram Bingham footpath, about 1,700 steps and 400 m of climbing in 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 45, works well as a way down and badly as a gamble against a timed ticket.
Book the single day out of Cusco only if you have one spare day and no flexibility. On an operator's published timetable that means a 05:20 pickup, about two hours by van to Ollantaytambo, the 08:29 train arriving 09:54, an entry hour between 11:00 and 14:00, and a hotel return around 20:40: roughly 15 hours door to door.
Machu Picchu trip cost, layer by layer
The money arrives in separate layers, and a package collapses most of them into one number. The Ministry of Culture tariff is set in soles, and the route you pick decides which tariff applies. On top of it sits the SERNANP conservation amount for the sanctuary, in force since 1 May 2026 and valid through 31 December 2026, which Inca Trail arrivals do not pay. Then the shuttle. Then the Cusco Tourist Ticket, if your itinerary includes Sacred Valley sites.
Discounts sit on the Ministry tariff and not on tour prices. People aged 60 or over, voluntary military personnel, teachers and people with disabilities pay 50% off the general rate. Peruvians, foreign residents and Andean Community citizens pay promotional 2026 rates of S/64 general and S/32 for students and minors on circuits 1, 2 and 3, rising to S/112 and S/80 on routes 1-A, 3-A and 3-C.
For most visitors a packaged trip is the simplest route, because the entry ticket, the train, the shuttle and a guide are arranged together instead of in four separate transactions with four separate deadlines. Match it to the length you settled in step one. One full day from Cusco is the Machu Picchu Tour Full Day by Train, 16 hours from $419, rated 5.0 ★ (321 reviews), with the expedition train both ways, the bus up and down, expert guides, pickup and drop-off and the entry ticket with circuit subject to availability; booking five months ahead is advised. If step one gave you two days, the 2-Day Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Tour from Cusco by Train puts the night in Aguas Calientes, from $449, rated 4.8 ★ (1294 reviews). A full week starting in Lima is the 7-day Lima, Cusco and Sacred Valley trip, from $1070.
| Cost item | Amount | Bundled in a package? |
|---|
| Entry on the standard circuits and route 3-D, foreign visitor | ~$44 (S/152) general, ~$22 (S/77) student, ~$20 (S/70) minors | Yes, in tours that list the entry ticket, with the circuit subject to availability |
|---|
| Entry on mountain routes 3-A and 3-C, foreign visitor | ~$58 (S/200) general, ~$36 (S/125) student, ~$34 (S/118) minors | No; on the 2-day tour Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain is an option at US$70 cash paid in Cusco |
|---|
| SERNANP sanctuary conservation amount, since 1 May 2026 | ~$3 (S/11) foreign adult over 18, ~$1 (S/5) foreign child aged 3 to 17 | Charged on top of the Ministry ticket; not applied to arrivals on foot via the Inca Trail network |
|---|
| Consettur shuttle, Aguas Calientes to the gate and back | About US$24 round trip, a regulated fare on a single-operator route | Yes, in tours that list the bus up and down to the citadel |
|---|
| Cusco Tourist Ticket, if your dates add valley ruins | ~$38 (S/130) foreign visitor, valid 10 days; partial circuits ~$20 (S/70) each | No; on the 2-day tour it is paid in soles cash at the ruins |
|---|
| Packaged one-day tour from Cusco with private transfers, train, bus, Circuit 2 entry and guide | US$325 to 429 per person in a group of 2 to 8; US$375 to 479 private, depending on train class | Entry, train, shuttle and guide in one price |
|---|
| Private day tour priced by group size, one Cusco operator | US$494 for one traveller, US$394 each for two, US$308 each for ten | Same bundle, priced per group |
|---|
What to pack, and what to do if your date looks sold out
One bag has to satisfy both the train and the entrance, so pack to the smaller number: the day-trip operators suggest 5 kg plus a small backpack, comfortably under the 8 kg the train allows. Bags over 40 x 35 x 20 cm cannot go into the citadel. Wear soft or rubber soles; high heels and hard soles are turned away.
The banned list is longer than people expect and it is enforced at the entrance, so leave these behind or in storage: food and tableware, umbrellas and parasols, walking poles or canes with metal or hard tips, prams and strollers (a baby carrier without a metal frame is fine), animals, aerosols, portable seats, banners and posters, alcohol and drugs, musical instruments, megaphones and speakers, sharp objects and weapons, and clothing carrying advertising. Smoking and vaping, graffiti of any kind and lighting any sort of fire are prohibited, and a visitor who breaches the regulation is removed at once and forfeits the ticket price.
A sold-out screen is less final than it looks. Scrapping the old hold system freed a great deal of inventory: the Ministry released more than 90,000 entries for the last quarter of 2026, over 60,000 of them for December, about 29,000 for November and over 1,000 for October, after an audit found eight firms sitting on more than 200,000 unpaid holds. Re-check the official portal at different hours rather than paying a reseller premium. About 1,000 tickets a day are also sold in person at the Centro Cultural de la Municipalidad Distrital de Machu Picchu Pueblo in Aguas Calientes, a counter reported open 15:00 to 22:00. If you are stuck, DDC Cusco answers on (084) 582030 and +51 1 321 5555 from abroad, or by email at [email protected].
Questions people ask
How far ahead should I book?
For the full-day tour by train the operator advises booking about five months ahead, because the entry ticket and circuit are allocated subject to availability. Mountain routes go first, and several are off sale for months at a time. If the Inca Trail is the plan, treat it as a year-out commitment: the 2026 permits came out month by month between 27 October and 4 November 2025 at 9:00 a.m. local time, and they are booked and paid only through authorised agencies.
Do I need a guide inside the citadel?
The Ministry of Culture recommends a tourist guide, and you can enter without one. If you go with a guide, the regulation caps the group at sixteen visitors, the guide has to stay with the group throughout and display a valid guide card, and must carry a flag or banner once there are five visitors or more. The group you registered with at the entrance is the group you finish with: no swapping between guides, no adding people later.
Can a friend or an agency buy my entrance ticket for me?
Only the visitor directly, or an agency registered with the Ministry of Culture's Cusco office, may buy it, and only through the Tu Boleto portal or an authorised counter. Any other channel is prohibited. The ticket carries your full name and ID document number and the name cannot be changed later, so a voucher issued in someone else's name becomes a problem at the gate.
What happens if my train is late and I miss my entry hour?
The hour on your ticket is the hour the gate expects you, and the tolerance is 30 minutes in low season, 45 minutes in high season. After that the gate refuses you. An unused ticket loses validity with no refund and no rescheduling except in documented force majeure, which is the main argument for sleeping in Aguas Calientes and buying the bus ticket the afternoon before.
Do Inca Trail walkers pay the sanctuary conservation amount?
No. Visitors who reach the citadel on foot via the Inca Trail network are outside the SERNANP conservation charge. From 2026 they all enter the citadel on Route 3-B under a reserved daily quota, booked and paid only through an authorised agency, with validity of up to five business days. The network's daily ceiling, counted in users and so including porters, cooks and guides, is 500 on routes 01 to 04, 250 on route 05 at km 104 and 100 on the new route 06, which still has no announced opening date.
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