I want to summarize it into two: 
             1. The Hard Way - if you love the mountains, to trek, walk and climb the outdoors, this is the way for you - its called the Inca Trail. You can do different kinds of trekking that takes 4 days (Classic Inca Trail) or the "easier" trek for 1 or 2 days (Short Inca Trail) or if you want to take your time and do it longer, you can do it for 5 days. It usually starts from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes. For more information, visit this website. People say that you see more archaeological sites this way. When we visited Cuzco, there are a lot of tour operators that advertises Inca Trail, so you can pick and choose which type do you want - online or when you get there.
             2. The Easy Way - if you don't have enough time, and wants to see Machu Picchu at a leisurely pace, you are welcome to do this. We chose this easy route. So how did we do it? First, we booked Vistadome train tickets thru Peru Rail online from our starting point which was Urubamba. Make sure to book in advance because trains gets full during high season. There are three types of trains: Vistadome, Expedition, or Belmond Hiram Bingham train if you are feeling luxurious. There are trains from Cuzco, Urubamba and Ollantaytambo. The train takes 4 hours from Cuzco, almost 3 hours from Urubamba and almost 2 hours from Ollantaytambo to go to Aguas Calientes (the town that sits at the foot of Machu Picchu). The train's last stop is Aguas Calientes and from there, you can buy your shuttle bus ticket to go up and down Machu Picchu. There is only one road that they use to shuttle people up the top and the journey usually takes around 30 minutes.  Shuttle bus ticketing booth are only available at Cuzco and Aguas Calientes, for more information where the ticketing booth are - click here. From the train station, it just a 5-10 minute walking distance to where you can buy the shuttle bus ticket. The bus will take you to the entrance where you can buy your entrance tickets. The bus departs when they are full and usually the interval is every 15 minutes during the peak hours of the morning. You can also walk/climb up and down and it takes 1 hour to walk up. 

Aguas Calientes has a cool stream running through the center. The town in general feels like a base camp bustling with tourists getting ready for the “big trek.”  It seemed like everyone was outfitted with the latest wick fabric, hiking poles, camelbacks, etc.  The funny thing is, you see will most of these people waiting in line for the bus that drops you right off at the main entrance. We booked a hotel here for an overnight stay, so we can catch the sunrise over Machu Picchu.

As you walk and climb your way up the park, your view of the complex is obstructed until you walk in a winding trail, and there you will see the first structures.  Then it hits you literally in the face, and there it was, it's breathtaking. As we saw the whole of it, our smiles can't leave our faces, we still can't believe we were there and we finally did it, see this sublime sight. Even if we describe to you how the experience was n every single detail, it really doesn't paint the real picture of what we saw, you have to see to believe it. We suggest go early and stay late.  There are plenty of quite areas to catch a nap.  Mid day was a little over crowded with tourists.

On our second day in Urubamba, we decided to take a day trip to Ollantaytambo area to see the ruins, salt and rice fields. We hired a taxi driver to drive us around this areas. We are continually amazed by the dramatic views that we have seen in Peru and been blessed with great weather the whole time we were there. Let the pictures speak for itself.

Our first stop was The Terraces of Pumatalis in Ollantaytambo. This area is often dubbed as the Living City of the Incas. Peru was conquered by Spain, and slowly the Incans retreat up the mountains so they wouldn't find they. This ruins that you see now, they were able to protect Ollantaytambo fortress against the Spaniards. Ollantaytambo is also one of the best preserver sites, with the old walls of houses still standing and the water still running through channels that dates back to 15th century. Till this very day, people still live there. 

The 200 step climb to go to the top.

This Temple of the Sun/Wall of Six Monoliths is one of the great stonemasonry achievements of the Incas - six huge pink granite blocks, amazingly cut, polished, and fitted together; they appear to be part of rooms that was never completed.

For years, we have been talking about going to South America and for our first visit, in our minds the obvious pick was to see - Machu Picchu in Peru.

Finally, after a long flight from Philadelphia, we set foot to our sixth continent, and at last we met Peru. We flew directly to Cuzco and we decided to skip the city of Lima because we only had ten days to see Peru (we wanted to see Machu Picchu for two days), we wanted to explore the Peruvian countryside more with the given amount of days.  Before going to Machu Picchu, it is very important to know that you have to be acclimated first with the altitude before going there. You can acclimate anywhere you want: Cuzco, Urubamba or Ollantaytambo. Cuzco has a much more busier vibe than the Sacred Valley area, since its the biggest city near Machu Picchu. Urubamba and Ollantaytambo are both in the Sacred Valley area, Urubamba is 1 hour and 30 minutes drive from the airport while Ollantaytambo is around 2 hours and 30 minutes drive. Ollantaytambo is much more touristy than Urubamba, so you can decide wherever you want to stay based on your interests. We chose to acclimate in Urubamba, we figured the flight was already long and a taxi ride of 2 hours plus is too much to handle. On our vacations, we usually want our first day to be relaxing. 

From Cuzco airport, we took a taxi to go to Urubamba. Taxi rides around Cuzco is your main means of transport, if you are going for comfort. It wasn't that expensive since they have flat rate from the airport to your hotel or you can hire them to drive you around the sites.  For us, it was a reasonable price. We stayed at a very quaint hotel called Sonesta Posadas del Inca Sacred Valley in Yucay (still the Sacred Valley area). We loved everything about the hotel from the ambiance, location and customer service. The hotel itself is an 18th century colonial-style monastery and is surrounded by beautiful gardens. The view of from the hotel gives you a glimpse of the region, it was phenomenal in every corner. We went during off-peak season in Peru and we got the hotel on a bargain. On my next posts, I will discuss how to get to Machu Picchu from your desired acclimation point.

This is the hotel we stayed at in Urubamba.

On our balcony, we found two hatchlings, quietly sleeping on one of the hanging flower pots.

Then we walked around town, had a delicious Peruvian meal and see what locals do.

Categories: South America, Peru