See Machu Picchu in one day from Cusco!

I’m the first to say that the Machu Picchu deserves a full day, that you should arrive early, before the groups, and enjoy the end of the day. But I’m aware that not everyone has that option and that you might only have a single day to spare. And in that case I think it would be a shame to skip Machu Picchu, because yes, in one day you can do the round trip from the wonderful city of Cusco , or from Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, and visit the magnificent citadel.

I’ll walk you through every step below (train times and prices, then the buses, then the return) but if you’d rather not bother and book something fully organised, then head straight to this agency.

Let’s get into it!

How to get to Machu Picchu in one day from Cusco by handling the bookings yourself

Well, it’s going to take a bit of organising, but if you want to arrange the round trip to Machu Picchu yourself in one day, you’ll need to:

1. book your tickets for Machu Picchu –> this is the most important part because there are time slots. You book your tickets and then you look at the train times. If you have a 7 a.m. entry, you won’t be able to arrive the same day.
2. book your train tickets –> if you’re staying several days, the times aren’t that important, but if you’re only there for a single day, then you need to be smart and take an early-morning one and a late-afternoon return, if your Machu Picchu entry time allows it
3. book your bus tickets between Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu. You can either get them on the spot or in advance to save time

You need to do all of this in advance. Trains and entry tickets are limited and it’s the most visited site in the country.

1. Book your entry ticket for Machu Picchu

I’d say that, before the train, this is what you need to book first. Because it’s the most visited site in Peru and ABOVE ALL the spots are limited to avoid too much overcrowding (and I can confirm it stays perfectly pleasant, which is great). The trickiest part: there are time slots that go very fast. So plan ahead! With a ticket that’s too early or too late, you won’t be able to do the round trip in one day!

Worst of all, you also have… different routes at Machu Picchu, and you have to choose one. The most popular routes (2A/B, Machu Picchu Mountain, Huayna Picchu) sell out very, very fast, several months in advance.

So you have to choose the right time AND the right route. Fun, right? 😀

The entry ticket costs 152 soles (or 200 for those with hikes). It’s booked on the official site, and you absolutely must choose an entry time. You’ll need to carefully work out your arrival time based on your train and the bus.

Once inside, though, you can stay as long as you want.

2. Take the train between Cusco / Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes

You have no choice, you must take the train from Cusco or Ollantaytambo if you want to make the trip in a day.

One company runs Cusco – Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes, that’s Peru Rail. Another runs Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes, that’s Inca Rail.

There are far more trains running between Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes. So what you can do, if the return times don’t suit you, is come back to Ollantaytambo on a later train and take the bus to Cusco.

Here are the possible times. But ABOVE ALL pay attention to the departure point. There are also bus connections included in the tickets. As soon as the tickets from central Cusco are available, I’ll add the times for you.

There are 3 departure points in Cusco:

• Wanchaq: bus to Ollantaytambo then train to Aguas Calientes
• San Pedro: same thing
• Poroy: train station located 15 min from the centre. No bus, it’s a direct train

Watch out, Cusco – Aguas Calientes easily takes 4 hours! Whereas from Ollantaytambo it’s much faster. Around 1h30/2h.

To visit Machu Picchu in a day, I’d advise you not to arrive after 10 a.m.

So you need to leave early. Obviously that depends on the visit time on your entry ticket.

If you arrive at 10 a.m., between getting out and taking the bus, let’s say you’re up top at 11:30 / noon. That leaves you until 4 p.m. at the very latest to visit the citadel. There are plenty of trains leaving between 5 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. We’ll look at it below.

OUTBOUND TRIP (to arrive before 10 a.m.)

• FROM CUSCO
  • 3:20 / 7:40 a.m. (Wanchaq)
  • 4:00 / 9:15 a.m. (Wanchaq)
  • 5:10 / 9:15 a.m. (Wanchaq)
  • 5:40 / 9:50 a.m. (Wanchaq)
  • 6:40 / 9:54 a.m. (Poroy, direct)
• OLLANTAYTAMBO – AGUAS CALIENTES
  • 5:05 / 6:37 a.m. / Perurail
  • 6:10 / 7:40 a.m. / Perurail
  • 6:40 / 8:01 a.m. / Incarail
  • 7:05 / 8:27 a.m. / Perurail
  • 7:22 / 8:48 a.m. / Incarail
  • 7:45 / 9:15 a.m. / Perurail
  • 8:29 / 9:54 a.m. / Perurail

So if you want to arrive as early as possible, the best is to leave from Wanchaq around 4/5 a.m. (yes, that hurts), and you arrive on site at 8/9 a.m. The ideal is to get there before the bulk of the crowd.

But if you don’t want to take a bus and want a direct train, then the one leaving at 6:40 a.m. is great, you arrive just before 10 a.m. But you’ll have the crowds.

RETURN TRIP

Here the idea is not to miss your train, otherwise you’ll have to stay in Aguas Calientes. In the same way, you have two options: go back to Cusco directly, or to Ollantaytambo and then take the bus. There are quite a few options between 5 p.m. and 6:15 p.m., so I suggest you take one of those.

• AGUAS CALIENTES – CUSCO
  • 5:23 / 9:52 p.m. (San Pedro)
  • 5:23 / 8:52 p.m. (Poroy)
  • 5:50 / 9:16 p.m. (Poroy)
  • 6:10 / 10:15 p.m. (Wanchaq)
  • 6:20 / 10:30 p.m. (Wanchaq)
• AGUAS CALIENTES – OLLANTAYTAMBO
  • 6:20 / 8:05 p.m. / Perurail
  • 7:00 / 8:41 p.m. / Incarail
  • 8:50 / 10:20 p.m. / Perurail
  • 9:30 / 10:54 p.m. / Incarail
  • 9:50 / 11:35 p.m. / Perurail

As you can see here, there are loads of options to get back to Ollantaytambo. And since there are tons of buses between Ollantaytambo and Cusco, this can be very handy if you want more flexibility.

So, check Incarail and Perurail for whatever suits you.

Recommendations

You can see that we really have a lot of choice with the trains, thanks to Ollantaytambo station. And that can let you stay quite a few hours up there.

Let’s take an example:

• Depart Cusco at 3:20 a.m. (yeah, that hurts)
• Arrive Aguas Calientes 7:40 a.m.
• Bus to Machu Picchu at 8:30 a.m. (probably a bit later with the queue)
• Arrive at Machu Picchu at 9 a.m. (mind the slot you chose when booking!)
• Visit of 3 h minimum
• Bus back down at 12:30 p.m.
• Arrive in Aguas Calientes at 1 p.m.
• Train whenever you like from 2 p.m., either to Cusco or to Ollantaytambo

So with that, you can see there are two things that will vary your trip:

• how long you want to stay at Machu Picchu (2 h, 5 h?)
• are you an early riser?

The earlier you arrive, the more you’ll be able to enjoy the citadel, but thanks to the late trains and the buses, you can arrive a touch later too. I think arriving up to 10 a.m. in Aguas Calientes won’t be a problem. But you’ll be among the big tourist groups.

3. Book your bus ticket between Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu

You’ll need to book this in advance too. Almost everyone gets it the day before at the Aguas Calientes ticket office, except the groups who arrive the same morning. So to avoid having to queue, I’d advise you to buy the round trip here.

If you want to buy it on the spot, I give you all the information in this article. The Consettur ticket office is located on Avenida Hermanos Ayar.

book in advance your bus ticket to Machu Picchu !

4 recommended places to stay in Cusco

Prices and times: practical information

So, to sum up, here’s what you can do:

• take the train from 6:40 a.m. (Ollantaytambo)
• arrive at Machu Picchu from 8:30 a.m.
• stay as long as you want, right up to closing time even (since you have trains until 9:50 p.m.)

That leaves a huge number of options! And that’s cool, I really wasn’t expecting it when I started this article 🙂

For the price, booking all of this yourself will cost you roughly:

• minimum €160 for the round-trip train
• €30 for the bus from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu
• €40 for the entry ticket
• the bus/taxi to get from Cusco to the train station (Poroy) and back, about €5
• the bus/taxi to get from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, probably from €15 (more for the taxi)

Get an all-inclusive package with an agency

If organising all of this is a pain, then you can go through an agency that will take care of absolutely everything:

• bus/shuttle transport between your hotel and the train
• train tickets
• bus to Machu Picchu
• entry tickets
• guided tour! (English available)
• tour of Aguas Calientes
• return to Cusco

It’s a bit more expensive than organising it solo (€270), but on top you get the guided tour, by a certified guide (if you’d like an English-speaking guide, it’s here).

Book your Machu Picchu tour!

Staying in Aguas Calientes or Cusco

And if you’d ultimately rather sleep in Aguas Calientes, then I suggest the Maq’tas B&B, unbeatable value for money at under €40. Or the Sacred Stone, a 3-star barely more expensive and even better!

In Cusco, you can find out more in the dedicated article, but I suggest the Casona la Recoleta, gorgeous, or the lovely Nao Victoria Hotel, (really) a stone’s throw from the square.

Find your stay in Aguas Calientes

Conclusion

And there you go, you now know pretty much everything! Honestly, I had no idea it would be this easily doable. Ok it takes a bit of organising, but I thought you could only stay at Machu Picchu for a short while. Yet, thanks especially to the trains to Ollantaytambo, it’s perfectly feasible! And that’s very cool 🙂

If you’re tight on your schedule, then this setup is made for you. And as suggested just above, if you don’t want to rack your brain with the bookings, then an agency can do it for you. Even simpler 🙂

So now we have absolutely no excuse left not to go and see this wonder!

⭐️ Click here to enlarge the Machu Picchu map! ⭐️

Properly preparing your trip to Peru

Here are some other resources to help you best prepare your stay in Peru

• Everything you need to know about Machu Picchu: info, ticket booking, how to get there
• Which site to buy Machu Picchu tickets from
• Which are the good hotels to sleep in Aguas Calientes
• Find everything there is to see in Cusco
• The most beautiful sites of the Sacred Valley of the Incas with spots like Moray, Maras and quite a few other must-sees
• To help you plan your stay, I’ve created a travel map of Machu Picchu and Cusco!
• For unique landscapes, go see the rainbow mountain of Vinicunca
• Another rainbow mountain at Palcoyo
• In the other cities, I hope you’ll then go discover Arequipa and its region, which is so beautiful, especially the Colca Canyon and seeing the condors fly
• During your stay, also go visit Lake Titicaca and especially the Uros and Taquile Islands.
• The must-sees in Lima, with the Museo Larco and the historic centre.
• South of Lima, you have to discover the Paracas reserve and the Ballestas Islands
• And a bit further south you have the surprising Huacachina Oasis
• If you’re in northern Peru, a magnificent site is Chachapoyas with its unique heritage!
• Finally, in this article I give you the essential information for your trip to Peru.
• To help you plan your trip, here’s the budget for a stay for 2 people in Peru
• And here, find the most beautiful sites in Peru!