Short trip to Cuzco/MP
 

Howdy,

A friend and I are heading to Peru in late August and would like to do MP.

We arrive 6:20am into CUZ on a Saturday morning and leave Tuesday morning at 5:45am from CUZ.

Would you recommend going straight to MP and staying Saturday night in Aguas Calientes and seeing MP on Sunday before heading back to Cuzco Sunday afternoon and spending Monday in Cuzco? Or will switching that and staying in Cuzco on Saturday then doing MP Sun/Mon give us more time and/or fewer crowds?

I know we're not there for long, just trying to maximize our time there.

Personally, I found Aguas Calientes to be pretty boring/bleak. If you are planning to go to Machu Picchu on Sunday, you can still get a leg up on it by transporting to the Sacred Valley on Saturday. IIRC, the trains that go through the Valley all go through Ollantaytambo, so you can consider staying there. If you're not going up to MP on Saturday, I wouldn't plan on staying in Aguas Calientes. Or at least, not unless you take the last train up and spend the night for an early bus up. There's more to explore in the Sacred Valley and you're kind of trapped in Aguas Calientes

My boyfriend and I are doing a quick weekend trip to MP - this is our plan, FWIW -
Arrive in Cusco Saturday a.m. - take a 1/2 day tour to the salt mines and 1 other place, trying to decide. Take a late train from Olly - around 6/7 p.m. up to AG, spend the night. Get up early probably catch the first couple of buses up to MP spend most of the morning/early afternoon up there (been told the earlier the better to avoid the crowds), we've already booked our tickets to get in and do the hike to Huaynapicchu.
We're taking an afternoon train back to Cusco, will have some time to tour around, grab a bite and get a good nights sleep before flying out the next morning.
A super quick trip, but with minimal vacation time - you do what you gotta do :)

You should book your tickets to MP as soon as you know when you are going, they only allow so many visitors in per day so you don't want to get all the way there and not be able to get in.