Peru
For a while now I have wanted to visit Peru. With a couple of days off from work, my boyfriend and I decided to make the trip. Since we didn’t have much time I only planned on visiting the city of Lima. However, about two days before it was time to begin our trip my boyfriend mentioned that we should visit Machu Picchu. At first I thought there was no way we would have enough time. Also, whenever I saw pictures of Machu Picchu I thought of how difficult it must have been for people to hike to such a magnificent place. A few Google searches later however, I discovered that it might not be so difficult after all! I would like to share with you how I managed to visit Lima, Cusco, and Machu Picchu all within 72 hours.
I will start by describing the journey to Machu Picchu and the steps one should take before visiting:
1. First one will need to book a flight from Lima to Cusco. The flight is only about an hour and a half long. There are a couple of carriers that make this domestic flight. I chose a flight on Star Peru. The cost of this flight last minute was about $150 round trip.
2. You will need to take a taxi from Cusco to the Ollantaytambo train station. This is about a 2 hour drive. The cost of this drive is about $30. There is also another train station called Poroy station, which is about 30 minutes away from Cusco, however there didn't seem to be as many trains scheduled at this station.
3. Once one arrives at the train station, there are two trains that travel to the town of Aguas Calientes-the city you must go to in order to reach Machu Picchu. One can either take Peru Rail or Inca Rail. My boyfriend and I took the Inca Rail, and even though we purchased coach tickets we were upgraded to first class! This was a wonderful experience with a full course meal, live music, and drinks. The train ride was about 2 hours.
4. After arriving at Aguas Calientes you will need to purchase bus tickets to the Machu Picchu entrance. This is about $25 round trip. Tip: If purchasing with a credit card, you can only use Mastercard. The bus ride is only about 25 minutes.
5. Lastly, make sure you have purchased tickets to Machu Picchu in advance! They only allow so many visitors per day so it is ideal to make sure there is availability for whichever day you are planning to visit. The cost of the entrance ticket is $70.
6. Congratulations you have made it to Macchu Picchu!!
AGUAS CALIENTES
Some would say that there is no way you could have fun doing all of this is such a short amount of time. But I had a blast! The train ride to Aguas Calientes was along the river and was absolutely gorgeous. When we reached Aguas Calientes we stayed the night in Green Nature Machu Picchu. The accommodations were fine for just a short one-night stay. There is a river that runs through the city and plenty of restaurants and massage parlors everywhere.
CUSCO
I wish I had more time in Cusco. While here we stayed at the Sonesta Hotel Cusco which was beautiful and just a short walk away from the main square. Breakfast was included in our stay and it was excellent. There was a festival celebration going on during our visit and hundreds of people were dancing in the streets. I had a chance to take a picture with a llama and an alpaca while I was here- they were so cute!
LIMA
We were only able to spend about 5 hours exploring Lima before our flight to Cusco. We spent the night in the Miraflores area and visited Amor Park and the Larcomar area.
This was an amazing trip and I’m so glad I can cross Machu Picchu off of my bucketlist!