Machu Picchu was definitely a bucket list destination. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world and number 6 for us. Plus it is Alyssa’s birthday. This trip was going to take some extra planning. We chose to come in early April because it is shoulder season, meaning less crowds. The risk of a little rain outweighed the thought of hiking an overcrowded trail.
Once you pick your season you will need to decide how you’re getting there. Once you get to Cusco there are 2 main options and each will leave you with 2 more choices.
The first option is to take a train and the second is to hike in on the Inca Trail. Taking the train is obviously the quickest and easiest option for those who don’t have much time or aren’t fit enough to hike uphill at high altitude. The train only takes around 2 hours and you have two options. There is a regular train that has giant windows and skylights allowing you take in the spectacular views or you can take a luxury train. The luxury train has the same views but you get food, champagne, an interactive show with live music and 5 star service.
Your second option for getting to Machu Picchu is to hike in. Again you have choices. The first is a 4 day hike staying in tents with porters helping carry the camping equipment. The second is a 2 day experience where you get off the train at Km104 and do an 8 hour hike that takes you to the iconic view of the ruins from above. From there you go back into town(Aquas Calientes) and spend the night at a hotel then first thing the next morning you hike down into the ruins. (Both options require a guide).
We love hiking and had planned to do the 4 day hike but during shoulder season we probably would have been rained on everyday. Plus being Alyssa’s birthday I really wanted to give her the 5 star luxury train experience. So I found a tour group that would let us customize our own private trip.
We began our trip at 6am. We took the regular train to Km 104 where we hoped off and geared up. The views on the train were breathtaking and only served to make us even more psyched to get on the trail. Our guide was awesome and saw that we wanted to get out ahead of the few other people who got off there, so he skipped the intro speech until we put some space between us and the others. We did so good with the altitude that we were able to skip some of the breaks. Most people stop halfway for lunch but our guide gave us another choice. He said we could skip the lunch stop and wait until we got to the iconic view at the Sun Gate and have our lunch while taking in the breathtaking view of Machu Picchu. Hell yeah! During the hike we wandered through ruins and took in view after view of the valley. The last stretch, “the Gringo Killer” got a bit steep and it began raining but just as we turned the corner to the viewing point the clouds parted, the rain stopped and we looked down upon Machu Picchu, speechless. Neither one of us said a word for several minutes. Our eyes teared up and we got more emotional than we ever had before on a hike. Once we gathered ourselves and posed for all the pics we just sat perched above the sacred grounds and ate our lunch. Eventually our guide said we had to leave so we gathered our backpacks and headed to town.
We showered, ate and fell asleep knowing in the morning we would be hiking back into the ruins. When we arrived in the morning Machu Picchu was covered in morning fog so our guide found us a view point where we sat and got a history lesson. He spoke for about 30 minutes and while he told us about the site we watched the fog lift and the ruins emerge from the mist. It was something neither of us will ever forget. After wandering through the grounds it’s usually time to return to Cusco but I had the tour company add on an extra night in Aguas Calientes so we could do another hike and have a birthday dinner while stretching the experience a little longer. I’ll write about Aquas Calientes in the next blog. To end our trip and her birthday celebration I booked us a return trip on the luxury train. The views were basically the same as the train we took in but this train was so much more fun. We had food and champagne then got moved to an entertainment car with live music and traditional dancing. Before we knew it we were singing and dancing with Incan descendants having the time of our life. It was the perfect adventure.
The biggest tip I can give you about this trip is just to do it. We spoke to officials and found out that in 3 years they are going to close Machu Picchu down. Then you will only be allowed to hike The Inca Trail and view the ruins from above but no longer enter the site. It’s being closed for at least 5 years for ecological restoration. Even now if you want to go you need to make reservations months in advance. They allow 4000 people in the ruins per day and only 200 a day on the entire trail. If hope this blog inspires someone to go experience what we did.
