Cusco to Machu Picchu By Car – Machu Picchu Hike

Your two-day Cusco to Machu Picchu by car experience begins with a pick-up from your hotel in Cusco at 0700 AM. We will be traveling through the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

During the journey, you will be rewarded with spectacular sights of the Cusco region. You will witness a change in landscapes as we will drive from the Andes to the Amazon. Along the way, we will be having several stops so you can stretch your legs. 

As we reach Hidro Eletrica, our crew will be serving you a traditional meal for lunch.

After having lunch, we will hike to Aguas Calientes. This is the same route that Hiram Bingham III took while he explored Machu Picchu for the first time. The hike from Hidro Eletrica to Aguas Calientes is roughly 2 and a half hours.

Aguas Calientes town:

At Aguas Calientes town we will accommodate you in a hotel in an ensuite room with a hot water shower to spend the night. Later that evening our guide would meet you and brief you on the following day’s itinerary and will escort you to the restaurant for dinner.

Aguas Calientes is a nice little town that mainly survives on tourism. You can walk around the narrow cobblestoned streets that are lined with shops selling handicrafts.

Alternatively, you may also visit the natural hot springs to rejuvenate after a full day’s travel. The town is named after it, it costs 5 Soles to enter the hot springs here.

After having breakfast, we will start our one and a half hours hike through a part of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu citadel. You will have an option of taking a bus up to the citadel, this would cost USD 12 per person each way and takes about 25 minutes.

Once at the main entrance of the citadel, our guide would assist you to enter Machu Picchu, the esteemed Inca citadel. Your passport will be verified by local authorities against your ticket to Machu Picchu. 

Machu Picchu Tour:

As you would enter you would be rewarded with a sight of the clouds clearing by as the first rays of the golden sun would shimmer on the Incan citadel.

All our tour guides are natives of the region hence they have extensive knowledge about Machu Picchu. You will be in good hands as you would be getting a complete two hours guided tour.

After the guided tour of the Inca sites, you will have some free time to walk around the citadel. If you have booked your entrance ticket to climb Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu mountain to get a bird’s eye view of the citadel, our guide would assist you in entering the respective mountains.

Both these are high-altitude experiences so make sure that you are acclimatized to these.

You can also visit the Sun Gate or Inti Punku which has limitless access and is free of cost. It offers a panoramic view of Machu Picchu citadel. This is where those on Inca Trail and Short Inca trail enter the citadel from. It also offers stunning views of Wiñay Wayna.

We will then start our descent back to Aguas Calientes town and hike further down to Hidro Eletrica town where our driver will be waiting for you and will transfer you back to Cusco. You will be reaching Cusco at around 09:30 PM.