About the Entrance to Machu Picchu

Tickets to enter Machu Picchu are no longer to be bought at the Machu Picchu entrance gate. Now, you must buy the entrance tickets at the Machu Picchu Cultural Centre in Aguas Calientes which is 11 minutes from the main Plaza and opens at 5:15am.

The entrance fee is about $43. There is a 50% discount for students with a valid ISIC card. They only accept payment in Peruvian Soles and rarely have any loose change so make sure that you take the exact amount of money. If you don't they'll just tell you to come back when you have the correct change which is impossible at 5:15am in the morning. Its better to buy the entrance tickets the day before.

Alternatively you can buy the tickets in Cusco at the Instituto Nacional de Cultura offices which can be found at Calle San Bernado a few blocks from the main Plaza de Armas. The tickets are valid for one entrance but valid 3 days from the day of purchase which means you have time to travel to Aguas Calientes, stay the night and enter Machu Picchu the following morning.

Machu Picchu opens at 6am and stays open until 6pm. You can take small bags into the ruins but anything larger must be left at the luggage store near the entrance for US$1.5 a piece.

Machu Picchu is a lot quieter before 11am and after 3:30pm. Monday is the busiest day, as many people head off to Machu Picchu after visiting Pisac market on Sunday. Sunday is one of the quietest days. June, July, August and September are the busiest months when as many as 2500 people visit the ruins everyday. Even during the low season you can expect between 1500 and 2000 visitors per day.

Machu Picchu Two-Hour Day Guides - There are bilingual guides available at the site. Do expect to pay around $20USD per guide for about a two hour Machu Picchu tour. There are times where you may be able to join large groups for thr cost of roughly $3USD per person, it all varies by the size of the group. It's imperative that you request that the guides speak a language that you understand (English guides tend to be more informative and more in-depth). At the machu Picchu ruins, guides are not mandatory though handy guide books are necessary. What many people do... they trail the guided tours in order to listen-in to references of the ruins.