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Travel Tips to Cusco and Machu Picchu

First of all, we must be clear about some aspects that make the practical way to carry out these visits in the most complete and comfortable way. In principle we must know that to get to Machu Picchu there are two main roads and it is not convenient to get from Cusco to the citadel in the day.

While day trips are offered round trip, it is not worth the chance to be there in a hurry. The distances are not great, but the geography and the means of transport lead to take it easy (as well as the fact that time is perceived differently there).

In general terms and simplifying say that to reach the citadel of the Incas you have to pass, in one form or another, through the following stages from Cusco:

Normal route

  • Cusco to the Sacred Valley
  • Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo Station
  • Train from there to the Aguas Calientes station
  • Ascent from Aguas Calientes to the archaeological site

Inca Trail

  • Cusco to the Sacred Valley
  • In the Sacred Valley begins the Inca Trail (4 or 5 days of hiking and camping in the mountains)
  • Arrival to Machu Picchu by the Puerta del Sol

Cusco

The ancient capital of Tahuantinsuyo welcomes you with its marvelous little streets, its bright colors in fabrics and smiles, its wonderful Plaza de Armas, its humble neighborhoods and its height

Cusco is located at more than 3,400 meters high. For Spaniards traveling to this place: almost 1,000 meters higher than the slopes of Sierra Nevada. I leave here my advice to alleviate the effects of altitude sickness, which attacked me strongly.

Just say that Cusco deserves its time. If you have to organize your route, let it be in it before and after the rest of the way to Machu Picchu. You will enjoy it.

Tours in Cusco:

Sacred Valley

Leaving Cusco, the road descends towards the valley. About 33 kilometers below you will reach Pisac and from there the road follows the route of the Urubamba River. The valley is encased between mountains and opens on narrow plains for about 60 kilometers until you reach Ollantaytambo.

During this tour (From Cusco to Ollantaytambo, the direct journey lasts just over an hour and a half) we will have many places to stop and meet. So my advice is that we take the time to do it. The place allows you to breathe the air of small towns or villages like Calca, Yucay or Urubamba, and in some of them there is good to very good (not all) hotels.

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