Thunderroad

With all the great advice and information you're providing here, I'll beg to differ with this a bit...at least depending on people's individual preferences. We spent the better part of two days at MP and enjoyed it a lot. I'm by no means an anthropologist and in fact (and I don't say this proudly) can be something of an ignoramus when it comes to appreciating ancient and historical sites. But still, MP blew me away as a place to simply spend some time hanging out as well as wandering around. It helped that we lucked into a very good guide outside the gates there, where all the licensed guides can be found and sometimes approach people for tours. (I mention his name and contact information upthread in my own review of TdI.) He added some value to appreciating the rest of our time there. But even putting that aside, we also took a nice dawn walk/hike (maybe 30 minutes each way) up to the Sun Temple, where we hung out for a while and a great three-hour hike around Wayna Picchu (the mountain featured in many MP photos). And there were other things we could have done if we'd been so inclined.

Having said all this, I can certainly see folks having a great experience just visiting for a day. But for those up for some hiking and/or simply relaxing and taking it all in and/or avoiding some (though certainly not all) of the crowds by being there at the start and end of the day, this magical place in such a dramatic location is worth the extra time.

iahphx

Different strokes for different folks. I would suspect that 99% of visitors only go to MP one day. Both because of the huge (overpriced) expense (around $65 for bus from town and entrance ticket, no multi-day discount), and because there isn't more than a day's worth of activity for most visitors. Indeed, if you don't want to hike the peripheral trails (which I also recommend, although way less than 20% of visitors do them), 3 hours would be plenty for a leisurely exploration of the site.

Duke777

Thanks for the advice. We already got our tickets well in advance online. Somehow, we managed to figure it out even though it's by far the most confusing and non-functional website anyone could've ever designed.

slocouple

Maybe 30 minutes, if that.
For us, it was very frustrating sitting at the siding waiting to go back to Urubamba when we could have been on our way had we taken a cab.
This time, though, for going to MP, the train fare is the same leaving from Urubamba as Ollanta, so we decided it was fine to just stagger out to the train from TDI. For the way home, though, we booked only to Ollanta.

SometimesFlyer

I've been to MP and TDI a couple times and have done it both ways. My opinion of the plus/minus below.

Train to/from TDI directly
+ Door to door convenience
+ Not having to deal with the taxi to/from Ollanta train station, in particular the way back in the evening, in the dark, the negotiation, waiting, etc
- Limited schedule, if I recall only 1 there and 1 back
- More expensive I think as train has limited classes
- Having to leave MP earlier than I would like to

Train to/from Ollanta
+ Greater flexibility, multiple trains, open schedule
+ Get to see a different town if you want to. There are nice restaurants there you can have a late dinner before heading back to TDI
- Hassle. On on trip, we had a hard time finding a reasonable taxi driver
- Drive back in the night can be unnerving for some
- Early morning taxi ride to train station can be cutting it close on timing of train

If left to me and I had to do it again, I would take the outbound train from TDI, spend a long full day at MP, then take the train back to Ollanta.

Cheers,
SF

SuperDudley

Thank you. I'm so glad to hear that. Compared to all the other services we are using in Peru, DUP has been a little slow. I was pretty concerned that I was going to have to find an alternate car/tour service for SV. I'll relax a little now knowing they will take care of us when we get there.

Just for reference, and for anyone who wants to know what we are being charged by DUP:
Transportation from CUZ to TDI - $55
SV tour for 7 hours for two people - $130
Transportation from Ollanta train station to Cusco - $70

Seems a little high but at this point, I'm just happy to have our tour and transportation set up.

iahphx

Tell Karina that you think her quote is a little high and ask if she can do better. I think she can, especially for the SV tour. If you're booking all this, you deserve a discount!

Johnny Rocket

A really fine luxury collection property... The hotel staff are exceptionally friendly and should you get upgraded to a suite they will assign you a personal butler to look after all of your needs... He will do everything from booking trips, taking luggage to your room, to even serving part of your meal in the very modestly priced restaurant! Really nice to just have to deal with one person during a stay instead if having to constantly tip a multitude of staff members!

The property is beautifully designed and rooms are stunning.

Something interesting to note: spg members get 10% off in the restaurant where service and tip is already included.

SuperDudley

That's good to know. I tried hooking up my SPG account with my reservation made through AmEx, and they were unable to do so. The CSR told me to present my card at the hotel.

Johnny Rocket

I have to say the only thing that alerted me to this was the fact there are a bunch of spg dining brochures at the host stand.

I then asked the host about the offer and she knew nothing about it and so she had to go upstairs to check with the front desk who then promptly confirmed the 10% discount.

This makes the hotels restaurant extremely good value for money as the prices already include a ten percent tip and taxes.

cwgators22

Perhaps the best SPG property. As SPG Platinum I had a wonderful suite. I could go on forever about the hotel but I'll focus on some travel tips.

Train station attached is great to get to Machu Picchu. The travel agency there seems to buy all the train tickets so you have to pay a market up of $60 USD a person round trip.

We stayed at Tambo 1 night, checked out (they held our bags) and took the train to Aquas Calientes, stayed there 1 night, then returned back to Tambo for a few more nights. You can do the Machu Picchu trip in 1 day, but you won't arrive until 11am or so.

We also did a horseback riding excursion through their travel company and it was bad. The driver didn't know how to get there, which shows they don't use this location often. A slow 2 hours on the horse and no snacks.

I recommend walking to a restaurant named El Huacatuey a few blocks away - the best meal of my Peru trip.

180 Soles to get to and from Cusco.

An interesting thing to note is that you have to pay in Soles, where some of the other hotels allow you to pay in USD. I booked a cash and points option and was quoted a USD rate. They translate this to soles using their rate. After paying with a credit card you effectively get hit with the FX spread twice.

Overall- AMAZING hotel, just not so fond of their travel agency (Tikairy)

Johnny Rocket

The hotel concierge I found to be a little "up themselves" shall we say?

They are certainly professional and friendly in their outlook, but their insistence in constantly pushing the hotels tour company etc is quite irritating... and in fact, they left little details out of our own trip!

We showed the concierge are rail bookings - and nothing was mentioned at all to us about the fact that once you get to MP you have to take a bus!! Why isn't this mentioned anywhere?

Anyway, if you want a driver in the area from Cuzco, Sacred Valley and around, please PM me and I will be happy to share details.

Frr example, we had him pick us up at 7am from Cuzco until 5pm - total cost $75.

zeikka

From which station I should buy the tickets at Perurail.com if I want to take the 601 train to Macchu Picchu and 304 back? Does it matter if I choose Urubamba or Ollanta.

Perurail has lot of availability for our date in November, but we'd rather not pay the hotel extra as there is 7 of us.

-zeikka-

zagy

Just book through PeruRail... And book from where you want to leave If you want to leave/arrive from/at the hotel, choose Urubamba.

Baboo

I stayed at the property last December and had a wonderful time.

If you have time, for local travel transportation options (not tours), you can walk walk outside of the front gate, turn right, walk 2-3 blocks to the gas station where you should be able to find local taxi drivers waiting for passengers.

I don't speak Spanish but find it easy to negotiate half day/full day car rides to all points in the valley and to Cuzco. Just have papers handy, write down where you want to go, what time you want to return, and find out how much. Definitely no need to pay $75-$100 for car rides for local travel.

For a day trip to Olanta, if you are don't mind local shuttle, walk to the bus station (turn left at hotel gate and walk a KM or so down the main road), it costs only 5-10 sols to get on a mini van with locals for the 45 minutes ride to Olanta. You can get back on the same shuttle/mini van from Olanta.