In visiting Machu Picchu, is it best to stay the night in Aguas Calientes or return to Cusco the same day?
May.25, 2011 in
Aguas Calientes
Question by Maria Elena: In visiting Machu Picchu, is it best to stay the night in Aguas Calientes or return to Cusco the same day?
Best answer:
Answer by micah p
Its best to stay in Aguas Calientes the night before, and after your visit to Macchu Picchu. Its good to be there the night before so that you can get to the park very early in the morning to see the fog lift from the ruins.
Its also nice to spend a night there afterwards to either dip in the hot springs or go out for dinner with people you met on your tour
What do you think? Answer below!
May 25th, 2011 at 1:55 am
Great question! i’ll be visiting Peru in august and i’ll take the hints people give here too.
May 25th, 2011 at 1:57 am
Well I did it all in one day but that’s not saying it’s best. It depends on how much time you want to spend at the ruins. It was very impressive but the hordes of tourists kind of was a downer.
May 25th, 2011 at 2:39 am
get ur rest, u’ll need it – it’s a hike…
May 25th, 2011 at 2:57 am
This would depend on what sort of traveller you are. If you like things easy and money is no object or you are on a tight schedule then you can get the train from Cusco along with all the other tourists to Aguas Calientes and once there get a coach to Machu Picchu. All possible in a day.
If like me you want to take your time about things and have a more unique, rewarding and personal experience then I would really advise you to stay in Aguas Calientes for one night, leave really early (no later than 4am) the next morning for the hike to the top, which although is straightforward, is no walk in the park. This would hopefully get you to the Machu Picchu entrance for the 6am opening time. Although you will no doubt be amongst a few tour groups and other travellers waiting to get in at this time you certainly won’t be greeted by the hoards of coaches that start to arrive a few hours later. Also at this time of the morning it has a magical mist on the ruins, that is breathtaking, by the time the coaches arrive the mist has long gone. After the ruins you can either walk down, (phew!) or reward yourself with a coach down to Aguas Calientes, go on you deserve it!