One of our bucket list items has been travel to world wonders. We made it to one and can’t wait to see more! My husband and I recently had the opportunity to travel to Machu Picchu, Peru for our anniversary.
Because we travel on a tight budget, we try to save money and want to pass on what we learned in Peru to you!
I spent time researching for the trip, but there are some things you can’t prepare for without experiencing it. For non-Spanish speakers traveling to South America for the first time, our eyes were opened in a few ways. Here are a few ways you can be more prepared to travel to Machu picchu than we were.
1. Speaking Spanish
Most everyone said that it would be fine to not speak Spanish when we travel to Machu Picchu. They said all the people working in the tourist town would be able to help us in English… not so! Both of our hostel workers spoke NO English. Even the word ‘map’ was unrecognizable to him (its ‘map-a’ in Spanish).
We had a difficult time finding maps or guidebooks in English at the Cuzco ruins, or even menus in English at the Lima Airport. We just had to point to something and hope it was good. Bring a dictionary or a translator. Luckily, my husband remembered just enough from his college course to get us through.
2. Keep your immigration form handy
When you go through immigration they stamp a form and then hand it back. Whether they told us in Spanish and we didn’t understand or not, we didn’t keep the forms and upon going back through immigration you have to show these forms or pay $10 per person to get new ones on your way back.
3. Wifi access is limited
As of 2015, Lima airport doesn’t have free wifi, you can pay $10 for 24 hr access. We had to ask our hostel owner to restart the Wifi multiple times and still it was slow and spotty at best.
4. Trains are costly!
For tourists to go to Machu Picchu, the trains are VERY expensive. We paid around $300 for both our round trip (1 ½ hour ride each way). You can save some money by buying a round-trip upfront. We weren’t sure when we would be ready to go home, so we paid a little more for 2 one-way trips.
This gave us more flexibility, but you run the risk of it being sold out. There were only a few seats left when we bought our return trip so we weren’t able to sit together (Until someone traded seats with us.)
The Vistadome on Peru rail is more expensive than the Expedition. Vistadome serves a snack and drink and the windows wrap around the top of the train to give a fantastic view. However, the Expedition also serves a (smaller) snack and drink and has windows on the top. I didn’t notice a huge difference and as a money-saving tourist, would not have paid more for the Vistadome, except that it was the only option we had in the afternoon. Inca rail was smaller and more affordable when I looked online, but in person was $75 each way, with fewer time options.
It did look like there was another train option that all the Peruvians were taking. I’m assuming a smaller train, cheaper and more stops, but I didn’t look into it since we couldn’t understand enough Spanish to figure it out.
5. Other Expenses
After you’ve already bought your flight to Lima and then to Cuzco, the cost of transportation to Machu Picchu is still very high. Most people book a tour which means the tour company takes care of all the details of getting you around, you just have to meet with them.
After pricing everything out, I found it is still much cheaper to travel on our own. I like this option better because we have flexibility. I can go or leave when I want and don’t have to wait for others or hurry up for others.
However, this means I have to make plans and hope they work and it can be a bit stressful. It obviously up to you and what is most important. But we chose the option of fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants and traveling on our own.
Cost breakdown for 2 people
- Taxi to Ollaytantambo $55
- Train to MP $120
- Bus up the mountain $24
- Macchu Picchu tickets with mountain hike $87
- Tour guide $60
- Bus down $24 (we hiked down for free)
- Train back to Ollantaytambo $150
- Minibus back to Cusco $30
- Taxi to airport $10
Total: $530 (not including airfare)
At Machu Picchu
6. Print your Tickets
Make sure you have a PRINTED ticket to Machu Picchu. They require the printed tickets at the top of the mountain (and they do not sell tickets there) and your passport. How to buy tickets here. I bought tickets at home right before we left for the airport. I don’t know how accessible printers are in Peru and didn’t want to wait and find out. There are several places to buy tickets to Machu Picchu in Cuzco, but I didn’t want to pay a taxi driver to take us there so I bought at home. I did read that they sell out in high season, but there were plenty of tickets available for us on the day we went in late November.
7. Inside the gates at Machu Picchu, there are no toilets, water or food. The hotel right outside the park sells some snacks, water, ice cream and food (buffet for $40/person and outrageous prices for everything else, too) but once inside the park there is no option for food or water. The booth to check in for our hike did sell small water bottles for 5 soles. The bathrooms outside the park cost 1 sole to go in.
8. Hike one of the trails around Macchu Picchu
Mountain Macchu Picchu is a 4 hour round trip hike. (Wayna Picchu is 2 hours round trip).
We pride ourselves on being fast and fluid hikers, so we did it in 3 and 1/2 hour, but it was really, really hard. Over 3000 steps and a huge elevation climb. We were huffing and puffing and taking frequent breaks. Only a few steps after our breaks and we would be right back to breathing hard. We were so sore at the top and then hiked all the way down to Auguas Caliente.
The sore muscles lasted for several days. I am not in the best shape of my life, but I am also working out several times a week. The lack of oxygen and the many steps made this hike very difficult. All that being said, the view from the top is fantastic and indescribable. Photos never do it justice. The reward of our hard labors was worth it. I just wish I would’ve done the stair master at the gym a few times to prep for this.
9. Get a Guide!
Do Not go into Macchu Picchu without a guide! Normally, I am all about saving money, but in this case it is a minimal amount, you are supporting the local economy AND you will get so much more out of your trip.
We first entered without a guide, looked around and then turned around and went back out to get a guide to tell us what we were seeing and answer all our questions. There are plenty of English speaking guides at the gate hoping to get a tourist for the day. The tour is about 2 hours and you will not regret knowing more about the ruins and getting to ask all the questions you want.
As cool as the site was, I didn’t really know WHAT it was, so having a tour was critical making our trip worth it. Patrick (our tour guide) told us he would wait at the ruins FOREVER, so you could always ask for him. (We paid $60 for a 2-hour tour including a small tip).
10. Free Breakfast is not really Free Breakfast
When a hotel advertises wifi and breakfast, it may not be what we expect in the states. Both our ‘hostels’ served a roll with butter and Tampico orange juice for breakfast. With the price we paid ($36 1st night, $24 the second night), we weren’t going to complain, but I was glad that I packed oatmeal packets to add to hot water to make a complete meal. The wifi was only in the lobby at one hotel and was very spotty in another hotel. I had to ask 3 times for it to be restarted. They were friendly and kind about it, but it was annoying to have to go ask them.
11. Bring your own Toiletries
Maybe you will stay in a nice hotel that provides these amenities, but we choose to stay in cheap places so we can afford to travel more frequently. Both our hostels had no shampoo, conditioner, or lotions, or hair dryers, etc. Our hotels did have toilet paper, but many of the public bathrooms did not so pack your own!
None of the public bathrooms had soap so if you want to stay germ-free, bring hand soap and/or hand sanitizer.
Bug spray was pretty costly ($7 for a small bottle) so if you can bring your own this would save money. Sunscreen was also costly and since I thought it would be raining we didn’t bring any or buy any. Our skin peeled for 3 weeks after our hike up Macchu Picchu mountain!
12. Everything you need to know about Toilet Paper
You cannot throw the toilet paper in the toilet, which is pretty gross to any American. Any bathroom outside of the airport didn’t have any toilet paper in the vicinity (so bring your own) and the toilet didn’t have a seat on it (just the bowl part). so practice your squat holds!
13. What are Soles?
When we traveled, Soles were about 3 times dollars (so 1 dollar=3 soles) this math wasn’t easy to do in my head when they would say “40 soles” and I was trying to figure out if I was willing to spend that much money on an item. In some cases, we spent more than we wanted and in others, it was much cheaper.
Our first meal in the country we paid about $8 per meal which we thought was reasonable until we walked down the street of Ollaytantambo and found hamburgers for 10 soles (or $3.50). I thought Machu Picchu tickets for 2 were $300. AFTER I purchased them and it appeared on my credit card bill as $87 (300 soles) I was so happy! try to become familiar with the exchange rate before you travel to Machu Picchu.
14. Don’t believe the weather report
We had 90% chance of rain all day, every day and it only rained from 3 am to 5 am. The misty mountain cleared off completely by 10 am. This place is so high in elevation!
Make sure to wear sunscreen! Bring sunglasses! We burned so quickly and deeply. Our skin peeled for 3 weeks after our trip. Our ponchos were a waste of money, but we were worried about rain breaking out, so we bought them before we headed up the mountain, we should’ve bought sunscreen.
Other things to see when you travel to Machu Picchu
15. Spend time in Aguas Caliente
When you travel to Machu Picchu be sure to wander through the base city. Aguas Caliente is the town at the base of the mountain up to Macchu Picchu. It has no cars in it, just a walking town. It is quaint and cute and quiet. I loved that we spent our first night there and were ready to go up the mountain first thing in the morning. I would definitely recommend this travel itinerary (taking the afternoon train into Aguas Caliente and spending the night), but it is a tourist trap. Souvenirs here are nearly double what you will pay elsewhere. There is more selection there than in Cuzco or in Ollaytantambo, but it is costly. The food was reasonably priced.
16. Visit other Ruins
The ruins in Cusco are amazing too, but the price is high as well. We paid $40 to see Sacqueshuaman. The hand-carved giant boulders made into a perfectly smooth wall were spectacular! We paid a taxi driver $30 to drive us around to the other 3 smaller sites (on the same ticket) as well as take us to the airport.
17. Visiting Ollaytantambo Ruins
If you are traveling on your own, you may not be able to take advantage of seeing the ruins in Ollaytantambo without paying a high price. You can only get tickets to see the ruins there by buying a combo packet that includes 3 or 4 other places. It was $40 for the combo pass and we knew weren’t going to make it to any of the other sites, so we didn’t do it. If you had the time and taxi, these places may have been interesting but paled in comparison to travel to Machu Picchu, so you may want to do them first.
We don’t travel like many who save up, book nice hotels and a tour to make it all easy, relaxing and enjoyable. We choose the budget-friendly route so I can continue to be a stay-at-home mom to our kids and we can keep going on more and more trips.
Our philosophy is, “The less we pay on this trip, the sooner we can go on another one!”
Also, we like exploring on our own terms and conditions coming and going when we feel ready and not when our itinerary tells us to.
I’m so glad I got to see this amazing wonder of the world! Put it on your list!
If you want to ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ it is definitely doable. Hopefully, these tips help!
Want to see more ancient history? Try Italy for 5 days! Or Barcelona and the surrounding area
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