• Machu Picchu bound!

  • Catching a very early bus to be first to Machu Picchu

  • Machu Pichu catching the first rays of sunlight

  • The residential area of Machu Picchu

  • Terraces at Machu Picchu

  • The central square of Machu Picchu

  • The Guard House

  • The "Temple of the Sun"

  • The tw

  • A rock at Machu Picchu shaped to mirror the mountains beyond

  • Lama

  • Lama

  • The end of the Inca Trail entering Machu Picchu at the Sun Gate

  • The Sun Gate

  • Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu seen from the Sun Gate

  • Machu Picchu

  • Machu Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain seen from near the summit of Huayna Picchu

  • Gran Caverna

  • Super exposed stairs descending to the Templo de la Luna and the Gran Caverna

  • Laetitia descending a ladder on the way to the Gran Caverna

  • Templo de la Luna - Temple of the Moon

  • The Gran Caverna - a little visited area of Machu Picchu being a 3 to 4 hour hike, we had the area to ourselves!

  • Machu Picchu is this way...

  • Machu Picchu buildings, with rounded stones used to hold the roof

  • Laetitia getting ready to board the train back to Cusco

  • Pete entering the tunnel on the path up Huayna Picchu

  • Hayley & Simon on therein back to Cusco

Machu Picchu

We’d saved the best till last…

Three thousand people a day come to visit Machu Picchu, they all converge on this famous ancient site (one of the New Seven Wonders of the World) from all corners of the globe using planes, trains, automobiles, and of course on foot. Yet they all – except the very few who get an Inca Trail permit – come through Aguas Calientes catching the bus from the town climbing up endless switchbacks to the entrance.

Our trail, via the Salkantay pass, made use of the bus for the final approach too. We got up super early to catch the 5.30am bus to try to be amongst the first visitors of the day.

Catching a very early bus to be first to Machu Picchu
Catching a very early bus to be first to Machu Picchu

Unfortunately we were not first, but we were close enough. Initially the clouds were obscuring the sun, but as they parted Machu Picchu was lit beautifully by the morning light…

Machu Pichu catching the first rays of sunlight
Machu Pichu catching the first rays of sunlight
The residential area of Machu Picchu
The residential area of Machu Picchu
Terraces at Machu Picchu
Terraces at Machu Picchu
The central square of Machu Picchu
The central square of Machu Picchu

As we spent more time exploring the site people continued to flow in! Eventually they were everywhere in their droves. However, it didn’t detract from the wonder of the place at all. Machu Picchu is simply amazing! Of course the people do litter the photographs a little. And so do the site’s inhabitants, lama…

Talking of litter, there isn’t any. Machu Picchu is really well managed – no littering, no eating (saves people dropping food wrappers – although it is possible/tolerated to grab a small bite to eat discretely in the less popular areas), and no streaking! Yup, they had a problem with naked tourism!!! 😮 The list of rules is weird, but not as restrictive as you might find in the US. They are clearly just trying to balance the impact of mass tourism with preserving this delicate site. 😉

The Guard House
The Guard House
The "Temple of the Sun"
The “Temple of the Sun”
The "Room of the Three Windows"
The “Room of the Three Windows”
A rock at Machu Picchu shaped to mirror the mountains beyond
A rock at Machu Picchu shaped to mirror the mountains beyond
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu

One of the lama was particularly photogenic…

Lama
Lama
Lama
Lama

Although we had not come to Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail we put in the effort to hike up to the classic entrance to the site, the Sun Gate…

The end of the Inca Trail entering Machu Picchu at the Sun Gate
The end of the Inca Trail entering Machu Picchu at the Sun Gate
The Sun Gate
The Sun Gate
Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu seen from the Sun Gate
Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu seen from the Sun Gate

And on the way back down we posed for the classic photograph (kindly taken for us by another tourist)…

Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu

We were lucky enough to get in to one of the two groups allowed up Huayna Picchu. There are just 400 people a day allowed up this mountain which is set behind the main area of Machu Picchu and forms part of the classic image of the site.

The Hike up to Huayna Picchu summit is considerably more involved. In fact it’s almost a scramble with near vertical stairways, tunnelled paths, and traverses hacked in to the mountain. It would certainly not be allowed by the Health and Safety police in the UK!

Machu Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain seen from near the summit of Huayna Picchu
Machu Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain seen from near the summit of Huayna Picchu

In the picture above you can just make out the railway bridge over the Urumbama River. We had walked over that bridge the day before visiting Machu Picchu as part of the final leg of our four day Salkantay hike. From this section of the hike we had been able to see the outline of some of the Machu Picchu buildings far above us on the skyline. A couple of windows were visible highlighted against the sky like two eyes looking down on us. Machu Picchu’s location is incredible, surrounded on three sides by hundreds of metres of granite cliffs and a raging river. And only accessible via an easily defended trail, the Inca Trail. No wonder the Spaniards never found the place.

Pete entering the tunnel on the path up Huayna Picchu
Pete entering the tunnel on the path up Huayna Picchu

The route up Huayna Picchu takes around one and a half hours up and down. (Although it only took us 35 minutes to climb up and would have been less than 20 down.) There is a three to four hour (it took us two and a half hours to complete) continuation route that goes over the summit, down to the Gran Caverna, Temple of the Moon, down some more, back up, down again, and then eventually back to Machu Picchu. There are LOTS of very steep steps to descend and ascend. The Quechuan people must have been world champion stair climbers! The reward for our efforts were a chance to visit parts of the Machu Picchu site that are effectively deserted…

Gran Caverna
Gran Caverna
Super exposed stairs descending to the Templo de la Luna and the Gran Caverna
Super exposed stairs descending to the Templo de la Luna and the Gran Caverna
Laetitia descending a ladder on the way to the Gran Caverna
Laetitia descending a ladder on the way to the Gran Caverna
Templo de la Luna - Temple of the Moon
Templo de la Luna – Temple of the Moon
The Gran Caverna - a little visited area of Machu Picchu being a 3 to 4 hour hike, we had the area to ourselves!
The Gran Caverna – a little visited area of Machu Picchu being a 3 to 4 hour hike, we had the area to ourselves!
Machu Picchu is this way...
Machu Picchu is this way…
Machu Picchu buildings, with rounded stones used to hold the roof
Machu Picchu buildings, with rounded stones used to hold the roof

We spent over seven hours exploring Machu Picchu, the Sun Gate, Huayna Picchu, and the Gran Caverna. I reckon we covered more ground than most! We managed to take over a thousand photographs too. I hope the sample of images here does the place justice. It’s amazing!

After that it was time to catch the bus back down to Aguas Calientes and then the train back to Cusco…

Laetitia getting ready to board the train back to Cusco
Laetitia getting ready to board the train back to Cusco
Hayley & Simon on the train back to Cusco
Hayley & Simon on the train back to Cusco

Series - Cusco

  1. The Sacred Valley
  2. Mountain Biking – Moray and Maras
  3. Salkantay to Aguas Calientes – Solpayki
  4. Machu Picchu

2 thoughts on “Machu Picchu”

  1. What a fantastic trip. Those pix really give an proper impression of the grandeur of the location. Thanks for posting them. PS were the floorboard on the train real?!

    1. No, unfortunately the train was quite modern and comfortable; no rickety wooden floorboards. There’s another train for Peruvian nationals only that is a fraction of the price (non-locals aren’t allowed on it). This one may have the authentic just-about-to-fall-apart vibe you are after… 😉 Certainly the local bus we caught to get to the start of our mountain biking day was falling apart! 😮

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