Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
To Ollantaytambo (two hours), all three companies provide service: Peru Rail,
Inca
Rail
( in Cuzco 23-3030;
www.incarail.com
)
and
Machu Picchu Train
( in Cuzco
22-1199;
www.machupicchutrain.com
)
.
To Santa Teresa (45 minutes), Peru Rail travels at 6:44am, 12:35pm and 1:30pm daily.
Tickets (US$12) can only be bought from Aguas Calientes train station on the day of de-
parture, but trains actually leave from the west end of town, outside the police station. You
can also do this route as a guided multisport tour (
Click here
)
.
Bus
There is no road access to Aguas Calientes. The only buses go up the hill to Machu Pic-
chu (round-trip S50, 25 minutes) from 5:30am to 2:30pm; buses return until 5:45pm.
Machu Picchu
For many visitors to Peru and even South America, a visit to the Inca city of Machu Pic-
chu is the long-anticipated highpoint of their trip. In a spectacular location, it's the best-
known archaeological site on the continent. This awe-inspiring ancient city was never re-
vealed to the conquering Spaniards and was virtually forgotten until the early part of the
20th century. In the high season, from late May until early September, 2500 people arrive
daily. Despite this great tourist influx, the site manages to retain an air of grandeur and
mystery, and is a must for all visitors to Peru.
The site is most heavily visited between 10am and 2pm. June through August are the
busiest months.
History
Machu Picchu is not mentioned in any of the chronicles of the Spanish conquistadors.
Apart from a couple of German adventurers in the 1860s, who apparently looted the site
with the Peruvian government's permission, nobody apart from local Quechua people
knew of Machu Picchu's existence until American historian Hiram Bingham was guided
to it by locals in 1911. You can read Bingham's own account of his 'discovery' in the clas-
sic book
Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of Peru,
first published in 1922 and
now available as a free download from Project Gutenberg (
www.gutenberg.org
)
.
Bingham was searching for the lost city of Vilcabamba, the last stronghold of the Incas,
and he thought he had found it at Machu Picchu. We now know that the remote ruins at
Espíritu Pampa, much deeper in the jungle, are actually the remains of Vilcabamba. The
