Visiting Machu Picchu without Breaking the Bank

Hello Steemians!

A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend who is planning to visit Peru in a few months and wanted to know what I thought about the tour packages he was looking at regarding a visit to the famed Machu Picchu. I visited Peru for a month in early 2017 and made the journey out to Machu Picchu, but when I did it I aimed to do it for as cheap as humanly possible and avoid all the tourist pitfalls so I figured I should do a write up for anyone who wants to do it as well. Seeing Macchu Picchu is a once in a lifetime opportunity but it is very easy to get sucked into some of the very pricey package tours that can be a strain on the budget and can feel like a rip off. That being said, even though some of the tours are quite expensive, I am sure they are worth while, for example the Inca Trail and others. We were there in low season so hiking was less appealing.

An out of breath picture right when we go to the top before the crowds hit

Where to go

To get to Machu Picchu (the cheap way), you first have to start from Cusco and then take a bus to a place called Hidroelectrica, which is a hydro electric plant and the last stop on the train before heading in to Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu. So, when my friends and I arrived in Cusco on a bus from Lima, we immediately began asking around where to get the best rates for the bus to Hidroelectrica and most people said to head down to Avenida del Sol which is right off the corner of the Plaza de Armas.

There are loads of tour operators on this street

Playing the Game

At the time of my travels, my friend and I were on pretty tight budgets and we had to get a tour booked for as cheap as possible and with the only requirements being buses and tickets into the park. So we headed down to Avenida del Sol and checked out all the prices, they were ranging from $90-120USD for the bus there, one night stay in a hostel and 2 meals, the entry ticket, and the bus back. This was a little out of our price range so we started talking to the operators and basically got them to write everything down and give us the best price for 3 people, then we would take the paper to the next operator and try to leverage the deal into a better price. After about 3 hours of this we finally had an operator that agreed to $60USD per person provided that my friend and I also book a tour to Rainbow Mountain when we come back (which we happily did, he was a great guy). Normally, I am not big on haggling prices with locals to deeply in places I travel to but some of the prices in tourist spots are downright robbery so I was glad we were able to make it work.

Plaza de Armas in Cusco, the day we were booking our tour was also Carnival! It was a massive water fight!

Getting There

From Cusco to Hidroelectrica takes a bit longer than this due to road conditions

The next day we hopped into the van that was going to take us to Hidroelectrica at about 7am and made the long slog up through the mountains and valleys toward to the famed landmark. We arrived at the last train station at about 1:30 in the afternoon and had a quick meal before setting off on the walk that takes you down the train tracks to Aguas Calientes. The walk was very peaceful and followed the river most of the way, it took us about 3 hours to get there but we were moving at a pretty leisurely pace. When we arrived in Aguas Calientes we found the hostel set up for us by the tour and checked in, they told us we were to meet the guide at 7pm in a restaurant around the corner for dinner and to get our tickets. We rested and got cleaned up and headed out for dinner and met the guide, who was very nice, and he gave us our tickets and told us we could either walk up to the park or pay $12USD to take the bus one way. He wasn't actually a guide though because that was the end of the interaction, so we were ready to get up and get to the park in the morning.

A couple of shots of the river along the hike to Aguas Calientes

The Big Day

The next morning we got up at 4am to get our gear together to make the hike up, we were out the door by 4:30 and heading to the gate to the park in the darkness. We saw a few people walking along with flash lights so we thought it might be pretty relaxed, but we were wrong. When we got to the gate there were already about 150 people waiting in line to get in when the gates opened at 5:00am, it was insane, we thought we would be waiting for a while. However, when they opened the gates people flowed in at a good pace and we were heading for the stairs about 10 minutes later. Both my friend and I are in reasonably good shape so we were moving pretty quick and passing people on the way up and avoided any major traffic jams on the trail and made it up to the entrance to the ruins at 5:45am and ready for them to open the gates. Once they opened we rushed up to get as many shots of the sunrise as we could before the crowds flooded in, there are something like 6 buses that show up in the first 30 minutes of the park opening.

Beautiful

The sun cresting the mountains, it was a gorgeous day

Another shot of the ruins

A perfect sunrise

After the initial rush of making it up all the stairs started to pass, we relaxed and waited for our other friend on the bus to arrive and joined up with one of the tours through the ruins. The history of the ruins is quite interesting and the tour guide gave us a good run through for about an hour before cutting us loose to explore on our own. We spent all morning walking around exploring the ruins in depth and just enjoying the beautiful weather, it was a wonderful day.

A selfie with my friend Marco!

Notice the way the stones go together, they can only fit one way and still create smooth lines, amazing engineering

Lllamas everywhere!

More shots of the ruins

A couple of panoramas of the morning

Getting Back

Unfortunately, both of my friends decided to stay one extra night in Aguas Calientes but I had a flight to catch so I had to head out on my own and make my way back to Hidroelectrica. I stayed as long as I could in Machu Picchu before running back down all the stairs to the train station and made the distance in a light jog. All said and done I was back in Hidroelectrica in about an hour and a half and managed to get on the bus right away and after the long ride I was in Cusco that night.

Traveling to Machu Picchu is an amazing experience and I highly recommend everyone to do it, whether you pay for an Inca Trail tour, take the train, or take a budget trip like me, it should not be missed. Have fun out there and thanks for reading!!