Originally Posted by
rsercely
I am probably the only tourist in the world with the following opinion: I believe Machu Pichu is overrated.
Before going there, I went to:
Saqsayhuaman (pronounced more or less sexywoman). 30 minute walk from the city square of Cusco. It has much more fine rock work and the rocks are larger. By comparison, Machu Pichu has almost no rock wall worth looking at.
Pisaq - this is a site VERY similar to Machu Pichu, but, is a $1 to $2 public 1 hour bus ride from Cusco, then a $10-$20 cab ride to get to the site, or a very strenuous walk. I walked down. The "city" of Machu Pichu is larger, but the overall site and terracing as Pisaq is much larger.
At $400 for Machu Pichu - I think the Peru tourism industry is simply gouging the foreign toursists.
You can check out my pics at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ronald.sercely
Just my thoughts.
Good point on MP, although it's not so much that it's over-rated but rather that there are so many other great sites to visit in Peru. Still, MP is an impressive place, not so much for the stone work as for the setting, and you don't have to spend $400 to get there. I'd recommend at least a day trip on the train from Cuzco, it's certainly worth that, and you'd probably have time left over to see other nearby sites.