Machu Picchu circuits and entry tickets: which route to book

How the Machu Picchu circuits are built

Visits are organised into three circuits, each subdivided into named routes, ten in all. Circuit 1 is Panorámico, running 1-A to 1-D. Circuit 2 is Clásico, with 2-A and 2-B. Circuit 3 is Realeza, with 3-A to 3-D. The route code printed on your ticket is the one you walk, and the walk runs one way.

Budget your hours by circuit before you pick a code: the reference walk set by the visit regulation is around 3 hours on Circuit 1, 2 hours 30 minutes on Circuit 2 and 2 hours on Circuit 3. Routes 2-A and 2-B carry a hard limit of 2 hours 30 minutes inside the site. Of those two, 2-A is the most complete of the classic walks, taking in the urban sector along with the viewpoint everyone photographs. Circuit 1 stays above the urban sector and never enters it, so if you want to walk between the buildings, book Circuit 2.

Four routes run long because they include a climb outside the citadel proper. Machu Picchu Mountain on 1-A takes about 4 hours round trip plus up to 1 hour in the site. Waynapicchu on 3-A, the lookout peak at 2,720 m behind the classic viewpoint, allows about 1 hour in the site plus up to 3 hours of climbing. Gran Caverna on 3-C allows about 1 hour plus up to 4 hours. Huchuy Picchu, the small third summit at 2,497 m reached on 3-D, takes roughly an hour.

Age matters on four of the ten. Routes 1-A, 1-D, 3-C and 3-D admit only visitors over 18, which leaves a family booking with the classic walks and the routes that carry no restriction. Add a mountain route only if the climb is the reason you are travelling: it costs more, eats three to four hours and is the first thing to disappear from the sales calendar.

• 1-A Machu Picchu Mountain: the long ascent, over-18s only
• 1-B Upper Terrace: panoramic route, closed for part of the year
• 1-C Intipunku gate: panoramic route sold in high season only
• 1-D Inca Bridge: panoramic route, over-18s only
• 2-A Clásica: the fullest classic walk, up to 2 hours 30 minutes inside
• 2-B: the second classic option, same 2 hours 30 minutes ceiling
• 3-A Waynapicchu: about 1 hour in the site plus up to 3 hours climbing
• 3-B Realeza Diseñada: the route used by everyone arriving on the Inca Trail network
• 3-C Gran Caverna: about 1 hour plus up to 4 hours, over-18s only
• 3-D Huchuy Picchu: roughly an hour's climb to 2,497 m, over-18s only

Official tariffs by route group

The figures below are the Ministry of Culture's official entrance tariffs for foreign visitors, published in the state gazette. They are entrance tariffs only, with no train, no shuttle road and no guide inside them.

A 50% discount off the general rate applies to people aged 60 or over, voluntary military personnel, teachers and people with disabilities. If you hold a Peruvian DNI, foreign residency or Andean Community nationality, the 2026 promotional column applies instead: S/64 general and S/32 for students and minors across circuits 1, 2 and 3, and S/112 and S/80 on routes 1-A, 3-A and 3-C. Residents of the Cusco region are admitted without charge on Sundays on presentation of their DNI, a rule that applies to them alone.

On top of the Culture Ministry ticket, SERNANP has collected a separate sanctuary conservation amount since 1 May 2026. The 2026 figures are valid from 1 January to 31 December: S/11 for a foreign adult over 18, S/5 for a foreign child aged 3 to 17, S/5 for a national adult and S/3 for a national minor. It is not charged to visitors who reach the citadel on foot along the Inca Trail network.

Entry hours, daily caps and seasonal closures

Each route goes on sale inside one of three bands, and you choose the band when you pay: 06:00 to 12:00 in the morning, 12:00 to 18:00 in the afternoon, or 06:00 to 18:00 for a full day. Within the band you are given one hour, and that printed hour is when you go through the gate. Lateness is tolerated for 30 minutes in low season and 45 minutes in high season, after which staff refuse entry; they also check that the ID number and the hour on the ticket match your document and your arrival. Under the visit regulation the gate takes visitors from 06:00 until 16:00, the register shuts at 17:30, no route lets you stay longer than four hours, and once you walk out there is no second entry unless documented force majeure applies.

Operator pages disagree about where exactly the last hourly slot sits, so treat the printed hour on your own ticket as the only figure that counts and confirm the grid on the day you buy. Breaching the regulation inside the site means immediate removal and the loss of the ticket price, with no refund.

Numbers are fixed in advance. The 2026 cap is 5,600 visitors a day in high season and 4,500 on every other date, reverting to 4,500 from 3 November 2026. The high-season dates are 1 January, 2 to 5 April, the long block from 19 June to 2 November, plus 30 and 31 December. Most of that daily allocation goes online, 3,500 places in regular season and 4,600 in high season, and the remaining 1,000 a day are sold over the counter at the Centro Cultural de la Municipalidad Distrital de Machu Picchu Pueblo in Aguas Calientes, reported to work from 15:00 to 22:00.

Check the closures for your month before you settle on a route. Between 16 October and 29 December four codes drop off the menu: 1-B, 1-D, 3-A and 3-C. The state news agency lists 1-C, 1-D, 3-C and 3-D as going on sale in high season only, so look at availability for your exact dates rather than assuming. A further suspension under RM N° 000317-2025-MC took 3-A out for the whole of June 2026, and 3-C and 3-D from 19 to 30 June 2026, while conservation and maintenance work went ahead.

Buying rules since September 2026

Ministerial Resolutions 333 and 334-2026-MC, signed on 11 September 2026, removed prior reservations from the system. Picking a route and an hour reserves nothing: finish the payment inside 15 minutes or that place returns to the pool. A 30-day trial period began on 22 September 2026 and runs to about 22 October 2026, during which the Ministry may lengthen or shorten that window, so have the card details in front of you and check the current rule before you start.

Every ticket is nominal. It carries your full name and ID document number, names cannot be changed afterwards, and date changes are not permitted either; an unused ticket simply loses validity, with no refund or rescheduling outside documented force majeure. Type the passport details exactly as printed. Gate staff ask for a valid DNI, carné de extranjería or passport; a student rate has to be backed by a valid higher-education card; children aged 3 to 17 need an adult with them, and under-3s go through without a ticket.

One lawful route to a ticket remains: the visitor buying directly, or a travel agency registered with the Ministry of Culture's Cusco office, in both cases through the Ministry's Tu Boleto portal or an authorised counter. Sales through any other channel are prohibited. The rule change followed an audit that found eight tour firms sitting on more than 200,000 unpaid holds, and scrapping those holds freed real inventory: over 90,000 entries were released for the last quarter of 2026, more than 60,000 of them for December, about 29,000 for November and over 1,000 for October.

A screen that says sold out is worth re-checking at a different hour before you give up, and the in-person allocation in Aguas Calientes exists precisely for late deciders. The Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura de Cusco, at Calle Maruri 340, answers ticket and Inca Trail problems on (084) 582030 and (084) 321 5555, or +51 1 321 5555 from abroad.

Which Machu Picchu circuit is best for your visit

For a first visit, book 2-A and take 2-B if 2-A has gone. Both give the full 2 hours 30 minutes inside, both sit on the S/152 tariff tier for foreign visitors, and neither carries an age restriction. Everything else in the table below is a reason to deviate from that default.

Trips on this site arrange the matching entry route as part of the itinerary, so you are not lining it up yourself. The 2-Day Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Tour from Cusco by Train lists priority allocation for Circuit 2 subject to Ministry availability, the Machu Picchu Private Full-Day Tour from Cusco with All-Inclusive lists Circuit 2 entry subject to availability with a private two-hour guided visit inside, and the Machu Picchu Tour Full Day by Train includes the entry ticket with the circuit according to availability, with booking five months ahead advised.

Ways to arrange the route and the ticket

The three trips below are the ones on this site that cover the circuit entry together with the travel. The final row sets out the Ministry's own sales channel, for readers organising the entry themselves.

Questions people ask

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