Planning a trip in early July to Machu Picchu and Cuzco, but wondering if it makes sense to stay a night in Ollantaytambo too?

Most likely 2xCuzco, 1xOllantaytambo, 1xAguas Calientes (Sanctuary), 1xCuzco and then depart the next day for overnight flight from Lima.

Any travel tips to make the best itinerary would be most welcome! And any tips on transportation while in Peru would be most helpful as well.

Thank you.

I am in need of advice also. I have Mrs. Outoftown and my flight booked on AA 7/1 to arrive Lima 7/2 at 4:17am. I was just planning to fly direct to Cuzco (after some coffee and doughnuts) the arrival morning. I too would appreciate info since I have to book hotels and trains. Rockdoc, I appreciate your help earlier with the timing of our trip. Hotel96, if you happen to be around there the same time, I would appreciate a PM if you can share travel advice.

Outoftown

If you are not going to have several days to acclimatize and you have never spent much time at high altitude before, you might want to consider a prescription to fight altitude sickness (which nearly ruined my trip to Cuzco). On subsequent trips to La Paz and Quito I took Diamox and had no problems.
My impression is that altitude sickness affects some people much more than others, but there is no way to accurately predict who will suffer from it and who won't. Good luck!

I just got back from here last week and these are my highly biased opinions - I would stay two nights in Macchu Picchu rather than one. It's an overwhelming place and the more time you have to know it at leisure, the better. I was with a group of 4 and 2 stayed at the Sanctuary while I and my partner stayed at the Macchu Picchu Pueblo hotel at the bottom of the mountain. Comparing the two I preferred the Macchu Picchu Pueblo for its overall environment.

Even though you have the ride to the ruins, which the Sanctuary does not, the Pueblo hotel is a destination in itself. They offer nature walks, beautiful lodge accomodations and all sorts of services. Additionally, I found the funky town of Aguas Calientes to be fun and interesting. The friends who stayed at the Sanctuary liked it very well - and it is a nice hotel - but would rather have stayed at the Pueblo in retrospect.

One advantage to not staying at the ruins was that we hiked down to the town, a difficult hike but a lot easier than hiking up.

In Cuzco, we had dinner one night at the Monasterio which was very nice and very formal. Expensive and worth it if you looking for that formality. I wasn't. If you are looking for place to have a coffee, then go there in the afternoon. The building and grounds are beautiful and it was a very good place to stay.

On the other hand, having dinner at the Cafe MAP in the Pre Colombian musuem was entirely noteworthy. I loved it - again expensive but I found the food more adventerous and it's an odd looking restaurant, essentially a glass cube in the courtyard. At least check it out.

Ollantaytambo is very cool. One night is enough.

I don't get altitude sickness but one member of our party does and she was pretty happy with the over the counter anti soroche pills and their effect.

Psst... if anyone is PM'ing secret ideas, hints, tips, or tricks can you include me too?

I'm going to be in Cuzco in the middle of July! ^

Thank you KMiami for the advice. The Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel sounds great but is it worth the $400/night? See http://www.peru-travel.info/eng/machupicchuhotels.asp#a
Any bargains? Would it be better to deal with the hotel directly?

It's rated a 3* while a 5* in Cuzco is $66??? So, how many nights in Cuzco? Should staying a night or more in Cuzco be like staying in a "base camp" to get acclimated? I saw advice on the train a few months back. Does the ticket still have to bought for the following day?

I have reserved LanPeru July 2 to LIM to CUZ and with 8 days total to allocate, with tentative return July 10 CUZ to LIM, how would you recommend we spend our time? Based on your post, KMiami, it sounds like we would likely be doing similar activities. Sorry for all the questions, I need to fill in the gaps and book everything this week if possible while seats and hotels are available.

Thanks in advance for info. PM is OK, too.

-outoftown

In all of my travels to Peru, I have not done the MP thing. I have always been there for work and have never spent the time on the back end of a trip to do MP. However, I have been in and out of Cuzco numerous times on my way to other places. I would sugest that anyone making the trip from North America-LIM-CUZ spend the day of arrivial resting and adjusting to altitiude in Cuzco. You are going to be drained from the trip as it is. Spend your first day laying around and resting.

Regarding altitude sickness, anyone can get it even if you have never had it before. I have known people to get it who have worked at altitude for years - even Peruvians. The only real cure for it is to get to a lower altitude FAST. If you have a true case of altitude sickness, it won't pass with time and will probably only get worse if you stay at altitude. Altitude sickness can be fatal. Treat it with the seriousness it deserves.

You are all very lucky to be going to such a beautiful place...I was there in 2001 and left a piece of my heart there! Each time I think of the first time I saw Macchu Picchu, my heart skips a beat!

Tours are easy to find...even when you get there - so you may want to wait to book at least some of your local tours.

In my opinion, one night in Aguas Calientes is perfect. It is a small town (about 1/2 mile tops from end-to-end) and easy to see in one evening.

Wow! Prices have increased! The Pubelo Hotel was $88 / night when I visited in 2001. My travel agent booked a decent hotel, but the tour company swapped hotels on me at the last minute and put me in a dump. There wasn't much I could do at the time, so I complained when I got home and received a refund. I had dinner and drinks at the Pubelo Hotel and walked through the Orchid Garden - if you don't stay there, at least treat yourself to a Pisco Sour and a walk through the garden.

Perhaps the times have changed, but from what I remember...

If you take the 6 am train, you arrive to the ruins in the mid-afternoon, have dinner in Aguas Calientes, return to the ruins the next day and take the 4 pm train back to Cuzco.

In addition to the ruins at Ollantaytambo, visit the ruins at Sacsayhuaman.

Do not miss the Markets at Pisac and Chinchero - if you can go on a Sunday (the big market-day) - even better! I took the "Sacred Valley Tour" to hit these sights, and it was delightful...

http://www.perutreks.com/cusco_day_trip_options.html


If you like to bike, hike, or white-water raft - incorporate them into your trip. Rafting on the Urubamba. If you are unsteady (like me), pack a walking stick.

If you like handicrafts or want to purchase unique Christmas gifts, you won't be disappointed. Beautiful alpaca sweaters, jewlery, ceramics, paintings, carvings, etc. Pack an extra bag to bring things home...

While the people will bargain, please remember the people are very, very poor. A few dollars might not break our wallet, but may make a huge difference in their budget. On a few of my tours, I saw people bargain down to the last $0.10 USD - it was discouraging.

I found that often they asked very little money for beautiful handmade items. A few times, when I overpaid by a little for an item, it brought a priceless smile to their faces - definately worth the extra few $$! I still treasure a beautiful, handmade backpack I bought there...even at the full asking price of $15.00 US, it was still a bargain!

Crisp, new US $1.00 are accepted everywhere...so start gathering the best ones you get as change as you are shopping over the next few months and bring them...

I did not have problems with altitude sickness, but did have problems with the water (stick to bottled water and do not drink soda-type fountain drinks either - one of my big mistakes). Bring immodium, hand sanitizer, and tissues everywhere you go...

Have a wonderful time and please feel free to pm me with any other questions you may have.

I don't really know what the stars actually mean. As re the Pueblo, I would put it in a 4 star category - elegant rooms, beautiful grounds and full service restaurants and spa. I know it is expensive and I did pay the $400. The problem is that the other hotels in Aguas Calientes were more like hostals, for which I am too old and spoiled.

In Cuzco, there is more competition for hotels so the prices should be better although I didn't see any decent one under a $100. We wound up at the Monasterio, which was like $300 a night (see "old and spoiled" above) but the Libertador was quite nice and the Novotel looked good.

I still think two nights is better than one at MP - there's just a lot to absorb.

You can buy your train tickets the day before at the station. Most hotel concierge can do it for you as well. I like the Vista Dome for the views. I heard the Hiram Bingham is great but I couldn't see spending the $400. The backpacker train was good for views as well, I was informed by a group of youngsters who used it, and notably cheaper. It's a bring your own food and since the food on the Vistadome was just snacks, it is not a good motivation.

If you have a total of 8 nights, why not consider taking the train to PUNO and seeing Lake Titicaca? It is a long trip - about 8 hours on the train - the lake is incredible and there is an advantage that you could use that train trip as your rest day at high altitude since it pretty well stays at 12k feet.

You would need to organize two nights in Puno to look around the lake.

the sound you might hear is me cheering. It makes me crazy to watch people bargaining for a $2 discount (or less) with a dirt poor vendor. I particularly go nuts when they say, "Well, they won't respect you if you don't bargain." Yeah, right.

Last week, I bought a bunch of finger puppets for my sister-in-law's nursery school. I paid $10. A stranger had the nerve to tell me after, "oh, you could have gotten those for $5" I was speechless. I hope the dirty look was enough. He did walk away.

The backpacker train is not what it it sounds like. Regular 2nd class type cars, clean, big windows, and it does have a snack shop. Drinks(inclding beer, wine), snacks and sandwiches are available for purchase.

Back to the OP's original question, we stayed at the Sol Y luna in the sacred Valley. Very nice. The Machu Picchu Pueblo was also nice - EXCEPT OUR ROOM. I beleive if you get a room WITHOUT the musty smell, you will have a better experience. Other than that, the grounds were fun and the food was great. Check out the bear/s.

With respect to altitude sickness, I definitely got hit on our first day. We didn't take the advice of resting on our first day. After an early morning arrival, we headed straight to Pisac and climbed around the ruins. That afternoon I had an incredible headache. Local Saroche pills and coca tea were the eventual cure. By the next day we were all over Machu Picchu with no problem. On the third morning I hiked to the top of Huana Picchu (a must do) with no altitude sickness problems.

If you haven't made final plans, definitely consider Bolivia including Lake Titicaca and Tiwanaku. You can fly from Cusco to La Paz and be brought straight to a fascinating hotel on the shores of Lake Titicaca. A bonus is the flight goes over the entire length of Lake Titicaca! The tour operator that we went through owns that hotel, another one on Sun Island and the hydrofoil boats. They run a first class operation.
here's the link: http://www.titicaca.com/flash/ingles/bolivia-in.htm

I wrote in greater detail on other threads about Machu Picchu and Lake Titcaca, if you do a search.

Just as an update of sorts regarding altitude sickness. A headache that can be relieved by medication is a mild form of altitude sickness. However, should your headache not be reduced with medication (mate de cocoa is of dubious value IMO), you become sick to your stomach, become disoriented or confused, or breathing is extremely difficult, then you need to head to a lower altitude fast to acclimate to the altitude. Do not head to higher ground until the sypmtoms have subsided. I have known of a couple of very fit people who have had severe cases - one almost died and needed helicopter evacuation. Again treat AMS with the respect it deserves.

As far as taking altitude sickness seriously, I don't disagree with the Doc. I feel fortunate my symptoms weren't worse. For me in retrospect, I should have chilled out on the first day. Easier said than done for at least some of us. As far as the tea goes, it didn't taste great, but it did no harm (no buzz either). I don't know if they helped, but the soups everywhere were awesome.

With our tight schedule we skipped the Pisac market on the Sunday we were in the Sacred Valley. What we did was hit Pisac on Saturday and had a quiet walk (don't do it on your first day!) up to the ruins. On Sunday, we grabbed the train and headed straight to Machu Picchu. Guess what? It wasn't crowded because everybody was at the Pisac market! I love being a contrarian. We realized how crowded Machu Picchu can be becasue we went back up on Monday and were overwhelmed by the tour groups.