Best/quickest way to get to Machu Picchu?
Apr 2, 2010, 4:55 pm
#121
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We were on the April 1 - 550pm (scheduled) return that eventually left Aguas Calientes at 10pm.
Perurail is having "mechanical problems" and have very few trains that can operate as they are only able to use the inventory that was on the Aguas Calientes side of the washout.
I was able to get my ticket for PeruRail from the the agency provided in travel agent link posted by free2draw on 3/26 It cost me more but when the train arrived at Piscocuccho at Midnight our driver was waiting to take us on the 2 hour drive to our hotel in Cuzco. I now feel very thankful that in the end that my arrangements were through a tour agency.
For us it was another travel adventure. I have already heard stories that for some, who were scheduled to be on the 945pm, not arriving back in Cuzco until 8am the next day.
On the train the conductor told each and every passenger, individually, in spanish or english, that PeruRail would refund us our ticket price by going to the station in Cuzco. We went and they did, reluctantly. At the station were some trying to get back money for hotel reservations that they lost. Tehy were unsuccessful.
Until they get the entire line back in order be prepared to roll with the flow. If they have a minor problem, with what they have, it can turn into a major problem quickly.
BTW getting to Machu Picchu was worth it in our opinion, even with the extra expense and the extra problems.
Perurail is having "mechanical problems" and have very few trains that can operate as they are only able to use the inventory that was on the Aguas Calientes side of the washout.
I was able to get my ticket for PeruRail from the the agency provided in travel agent link posted by free2draw on 3/26 It cost me more but when the train arrived at Piscocuccho at Midnight our driver was waiting to take us on the 2 hour drive to our hotel in Cuzco. I now feel very thankful that in the end that my arrangements were through a tour agency.
For us it was another travel adventure. I have already heard stories that for some, who were scheduled to be on the 945pm, not arriving back in Cuzco until 8am the next day.
On the train the conductor told each and every passenger, individually, in spanish or english, that PeruRail would refund us our ticket price by going to the station in Cuzco. We went and they did, reluctantly. At the station were some trying to get back money for hotel reservations that they lost. Tehy were unsuccessful.
Until they get the entire line back in order be prepared to roll with the flow. If they have a minor problem, with what they have, it can turn into a major problem quickly.
BTW getting to Machu Picchu was worth it in our opinion, even with the extra expense and the extra problems.
Apr 6, 2010, 11:27 am
#123
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I have a trip coming up in May - I will be flying into Cuzco early May 27 morning and leaving Cuzco early May 30 morning.
This will be my first time at the Cuzco/Machu Picchu area and I am not too familiar with the area. I plan on using my SPG points to stay at the Tambo del Inka (keeping my fingers crossed that's going to open on May 1 as scheduled). Will I be able to use this hotel as my base for 3 nights if it's open?
Are there any recommendations as far as itineraries go? I want to spend a day at Machu Picchu (and maybe see the sunrise), visit Agua Calientes, Ollantaytambo (if it's worth visiting) and Cuzco. I have a total of 3 nights at Cuzco-Machu Picchu area - will that be too short to explore most of the interesting attractions around there?
I managed to get a travel agent specializing in Peru tours to give me a quote for $698 USD for 4 nights hostel stay (incl. 1 night at Miraflores in Lima), train ride to Machu Picchu, tour of Machu Picchu (and entrace fee), tour to Pisac Market and Ollantaytambo Fortress, Cuzco city and ruin tour and airport transfer - is that a good deal?
Any recommendations or suggestions are welcomed! Thank you!!!
This will be my first time at the Cuzco/Machu Picchu area and I am not too familiar with the area. I plan on using my SPG points to stay at the Tambo del Inka (keeping my fingers crossed that's going to open on May 1 as scheduled). Will I be able to use this hotel as my base for 3 nights if it's open?
Are there any recommendations as far as itineraries go? I want to spend a day at Machu Picchu (and maybe see the sunrise), visit Agua Calientes, Ollantaytambo (if it's worth visiting) and Cuzco. I have a total of 3 nights at Cuzco-Machu Picchu area - will that be too short to explore most of the interesting attractions around there?
I managed to get a travel agent specializing in Peru tours to give me a quote for $698 USD for 4 nights hostel stay (incl. 1 night at Miraflores in Lima), train ride to Machu Picchu, tour of Machu Picchu (and entrace fee), tour to Pisac Market and Ollantaytambo Fortress, Cuzco city and ruin tour and airport transfer - is that a good deal?
Any recommendations or suggestions are welcomed! Thank you!!!
Apr 6, 2010, 11:34 am
#124
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I would recommend that you contact PeruRail and confirm that your tickets will be valid for traveling from Piscacucho... I read here that if you had bought the cheaper Backpacker tickets they would coordinate access but "at the price that corresponds to the time available." I don't know if it will be the same the other way around (if you would be refunded the difference for a more expensive ticket).
PeruRail was going to offer Bimodal travel (bus to Piscacucho and train from there to Aguas Calientes) but it seems that they will no longer be able to do that... It sounds confusing and I haven't been able to find details on this but there will be buses between Ollantaytambo (Phiry?) and Piscacucho. The same Tripavisor post mentions that there are many taxis available...
PeruRail was going to offer Bimodal travel (bus to Piscacucho and train from there to Aguas Calientes) but it seems that they will no longer be able to do that... It sounds confusing and I haven't been able to find details on this but there will be buses between Ollantaytambo (Phiry?) and Piscacucho. The same Tripavisor post mentions that there are many taxis available...
Apr 6, 2010, 4:32 pm
#125
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And I thought I was not lucky during my march 28-30 trip to Cusco and Machu Pichu.
We bought tickets for the first train to depart to MP after the floods. The ticket was Cusco-MachuPichu(AguasCalientes)-OllantayTambo. We were at the Cusco train station at 5:35 AM, just to be escorted to a big Van or MiniVan (there were 3) that took us all the way to Piscacucho Station, a few Kilometers after OllantayTambo, just at the 82nd Kilometer. There, we changed to the train, that included cameras from the media and cell phones from Radio Stations on that morning of march 29. We finally made it to a deserted town like at 10:30 am, where the local Institute of Culture told us Machu Pichu was closed until April the 1st. But well, we were at the small town of Aguascalientes and on time, just after doing a bus-train ride, so now it was time to climb by foot (no buses running to the top). By the way, the train was really slow, because you can see the roughness of the river and how the rails were affected by the floods.
Going up to Machu Pichu was another story I will not get into, but almost everyone on the first train on the 29th also had return tickets the same day with us on the 9:30 PM departure, except for a couple from Argentina, that had bought a 5:40 PM train that never departed (ended up in our train at 9:30 to Ollanta y Tambo, that was sold as a backpacker fare). So we departed from MP Aguascalientes at 9:30 PM and got Piscacucho 1 hour and 30 minutes later, like at 11:00 PM, where a Minivan was waiting to take us to Ollanta y Tambo (No Cusco on the night train). Once at the road to Ollanta y Tambo, the one way road had an old truck with 3 flat tires and two drunk locals that didn´t want PeruRail customers to get to Ollanta y Tambo, as they are against Perurail and the explotation of the zone. We had to wait until mid-night, when the National Police arrived and managed to move the minivan and the drunk drivers, and finally made it to Ollanta y Tambo at 12:30 AM. As there were no buses running to Cusco at that time, we paid the Perurail drivers (12 of us in two minivans) to take us all the way to Cusco and finally made it at 2:30 AM, perfect to get back to the Novotell Cusco, sleep a few hours, take a bath, breakfast and run to the Airport to catch the first and only StarPeru flight to Lima, that was schedule to depart at 10:45 AM, but got changed to 7:40 AM.
Just to let you know, it was a disaster and the radio and TV stations got this, as Perurail started to sell tickets when Machu Pichu City (Ciudadela up in the hills) was closed, and although in perfect conditions, would not aloud visitors until the President and Susan Sarandon would open it on the 1st of April, making the authorities look like they didn´t care about turist willing to go back to this amazing atraction before that time. Now I can understand why the authorities are mad at PeruRail and are doing this things of not letting them get people in their minivans and buses to Piscacucho, but this will only harm turism more and more. But well, it is a third world country after all, and being from one myself, can only tell you that I know perfectly how stupid, corrupt and politically incorrect authorities can be when handling things like this, just to get the best for them, even if it means running on lucrative turism.
Hope everything gets back to normal as soon as possible, as that will help both, the local Peruvians running out of money from two months withoug turusts (who, by the way, voted for these people that call themselves politics) and turists make this great place a very visited one again.
For me, i do not want to go back to MP, at least for the next years, as my exprience wasn´t a good one.
Hope this helps another FTalkers and please, try to get to Piscacucho by taxi (they are not so expensive in that region), because Perurail will not let you board the next train if you miss your schedule one. They are really strict when it is your fault, but stupid when it is their fault (like with my friends the argentinians and their 5:40 PM train that made them loose their bus to Bolivia).
We bought tickets for the first train to depart to MP after the floods. The ticket was Cusco-MachuPichu(AguasCalientes)-OllantayTambo. We were at the Cusco train station at 5:35 AM, just to be escorted to a big Van or MiniVan (there were 3) that took us all the way to Piscacucho Station, a few Kilometers after OllantayTambo, just at the 82nd Kilometer. There, we changed to the train, that included cameras from the media and cell phones from Radio Stations on that morning of march 29. We finally made it to a deserted town like at 10:30 am, where the local Institute of Culture told us Machu Pichu was closed until April the 1st. But well, we were at the small town of Aguascalientes and on time, just after doing a bus-train ride, so now it was time to climb by foot (no buses running to the top). By the way, the train was really slow, because you can see the roughness of the river and how the rails were affected by the floods.
Going up to Machu Pichu was another story I will not get into, but almost everyone on the first train on the 29th also had return tickets the same day with us on the 9:30 PM departure, except for a couple from Argentina, that had bought a 5:40 PM train that never departed (ended up in our train at 9:30 to Ollanta y Tambo, that was sold as a backpacker fare). So we departed from MP Aguascalientes at 9:30 PM and got Piscacucho 1 hour and 30 minutes later, like at 11:00 PM, where a Minivan was waiting to take us to Ollanta y Tambo (No Cusco on the night train). Once at the road to Ollanta y Tambo, the one way road had an old truck with 3 flat tires and two drunk locals that didn´t want PeruRail customers to get to Ollanta y Tambo, as they are against Perurail and the explotation of the zone. We had to wait until mid-night, when the National Police arrived and managed to move the minivan and the drunk drivers, and finally made it to Ollanta y Tambo at 12:30 AM. As there were no buses running to Cusco at that time, we paid the Perurail drivers (12 of us in two minivans) to take us all the way to Cusco and finally made it at 2:30 AM, perfect to get back to the Novotell Cusco, sleep a few hours, take a bath, breakfast and run to the Airport to catch the first and only StarPeru flight to Lima, that was schedule to depart at 10:45 AM, but got changed to 7:40 AM.
Just to let you know, it was a disaster and the radio and TV stations got this, as Perurail started to sell tickets when Machu Pichu City (Ciudadela up in the hills) was closed, and although in perfect conditions, would not aloud visitors until the President and Susan Sarandon would open it on the 1st of April, making the authorities look like they didn´t care about turist willing to go back to this amazing atraction before that time. Now I can understand why the authorities are mad at PeruRail and are doing this things of not letting them get people in their minivans and buses to Piscacucho, but this will only harm turism more and more. But well, it is a third world country after all, and being from one myself, can only tell you that I know perfectly how stupid, corrupt and politically incorrect authorities can be when handling things like this, just to get the best for them, even if it means running on lucrative turism.
Hope everything gets back to normal as soon as possible, as that will help both, the local Peruvians running out of money from two months withoug turusts (who, by the way, voted for these people that call themselves politics) and turists make this great place a very visited one again.
For me, i do not want to go back to MP, at least for the next years, as my exprience wasn´t a good one.
Hope this helps another FTalkers and please, try to get to Piscacucho by taxi (they are not so expensive in that region), because Perurail will not let you board the next train if you miss your schedule one. They are really strict when it is your fault, but stupid when it is their fault (like with my friends the argentinians and their 5:40 PM train that made them loose their bus to Bolivia).
Last edited by carlitos; Apr 6, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Apr 6, 2010, 10:54 pm
#126
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I read about some of this in the news... :S
I do remember a couple of weeks ago the INC was insisting that Machu Picchu would reopen on April 1st as scheduled. But then the PeruRail folks said the trains would start on the 29th, so that the "access" to Machu Picchu (the train) would be restored that day. I think that this confused things and the media turned it into "Macchu Picchu is reopening on the 29th".
I assumed that the trains would start earlier so that the town would get going before Machu Picchu reopened...
I think that what happened is terrible and that things should've been clearer from the beginning...
I just found this article from RPP (best known news radio station in Peru) March 20th... Tourism and Foreign Commerce minister confirms the April 1st opening date and the March 29th train date and asks tourism operators not to sell tickets for the 29th to avoid confusion.
Edited to add:
The 12,000 km promotion for redeeming Lima-Cusco-Lima tickets is back (once again)...
The conditions state that the award can be redeemed until April 11th, for flying in dates April 10th - June 15th and August 25th - November 30th. Changes (date, flight or route) are permited for alternative flights that have award availability for an equal or lesser amount of kms.
I do remember a couple of weeks ago the INC was insisting that Machu Picchu would reopen on April 1st as scheduled. But then the PeruRail folks said the trains would start on the 29th, so that the "access" to Machu Picchu (the train) would be restored that day. I think that this confused things and the media turned it into "Macchu Picchu is reopening on the 29th".
I assumed that the trains would start earlier so that the town would get going before Machu Picchu reopened...
I think that what happened is terrible and that things should've been clearer from the beginning...
I just found this article from RPP (best known news radio station in Peru) March 20th... Tourism and Foreign Commerce minister confirms the April 1st opening date and the March 29th train date and asks tourism operators not to sell tickets for the 29th to avoid confusion.
Edited to add:
The 12,000 km promotion for redeeming Lima-Cusco-Lima tickets is back (once again)...
The conditions state that the award can be redeemed until April 11th, for flying in dates April 10th - June 15th and August 25th - November 30th. Changes (date, flight or route) are permited for alternative flights that have award availability for an equal or lesser amount of kms.
Last edited by andreadbc; Apr 7, 2010 at 8:11 am
Apr 12, 2010, 6:08 am
#128
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Apr 12, 2010, 7:32 am
#129
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: NJ
Programs: AA, DL
Posts: 456
Did you have to buy your Machu Picchu entry ticket in Cusco? I heard they are rationing enterence tickets or did you go on a guided tour?
Apr 12, 2010, 12:17 pm
#130
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Saigon/Hanoi/San Francisco
Posts: 1,779
From what I can remember, the trains are back to the "old" schedule in June, since, it's Peru, I'm not sure how firm that is....
I brought my ticket through a travel agent that includes a guided tour. Check out free2draw post for the link to the agent.
I brought my ticket through a travel agent that includes a guided tour. Check out free2draw post for the link to the agent.
Apr 12, 2010, 12:28 pm
#131
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Saigon/Hanoi/San Francisco
Posts: 1,779
I was able to get my ticket for PeruRail from the the agency provided in travel agent link posted by free2draw on 3/26 It cost me more but when the train arrived at Piscocuccho at Midnight our driver was waiting to take us on the 2 hour drive to our hotel in Cuzco. I now feel very thankful that in the end that my arrangements were through a tour agency.
Apr 15, 2010, 10:45 pm
#132
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Join Date: Aug 2009
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There's still an ongoing promotion for redeeming award LIM-CUZ rt tickets with LAN (but now it's 14,000kms instead of 12,000)...
The conditions state that the tickets can be redeemed until April 30th, for flying starting April 20th and not including flights from June 15th to August 24th. Changes (date, flight or route) are permited for alternative flights that have award availability for an equal or lesser amount of kms.
Other domestic rt awards in Peru are also discounted to 14,000 or 16,000 kms...
The conditions state that the tickets can be redeemed until April 30th, for flying starting April 20th and not including flights from June 15th to August 24th. Changes (date, flight or route) are permited for alternative flights that have award availability for an equal or lesser amount of kms.
Other domestic rt awards in Peru are also discounted to 14,000 or 16,000 kms...
Apr 16, 2010, 7:20 am
#133
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,432
There's still an ongoing promotion for redeeming award LIM-CUZ rt tickets with LAN (but now it's 14,000kms instead of 12,000)...
But this is still a good deal for foreigners, given the other less attractive options: flying on one of the less-established (less reliable?) carriers with limited schedules or paying LAN's exhorbitant "gringo fee" to buy a ticket. You also get the satisfaction of feeling that you beat LAN at their own game: had LAN not tried to take advantage of foreigners, I'm sure I would have just bought a ticket, instead of searching for a loophole. Now they're getting no revenue from me.
Apr 16, 2010, 8:07 am
#134
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Join Date: Aug 2009
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But this is still a good deal for foreigners, given the other less attractive options: flying on one of the less-established (less reliable?) carriers with limited schedules or paying LAN's exhorbitant "gringo fee" to buy a ticket. You also get the satisfaction of feeling that you beat LAN at their own game: had LAN not tried to take advantage of foreigners, I'm sure I would have just bought a ticket, instead of searching for a loophole. Now they're getting no revenue from me.
It would be very convenient for tourists to take advantage of this promotion and redeem these award flights...
Now if we could also tell the world about the Base Plus fares so that people will stop unnecessarily buying Flexible...
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Last edited by andreadbc; Apr 16, 2010 at 8:44 am Reason: to avoid double post
Apr 16, 2010, 10:33 am
#135
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Thanks for the update. Glad I didn't wait for it -- I assumed there would be restrictions. Like most of the flyertalkers heading down this year, I paid less than half these advertised fares to Lima and, as noted above, I'm not really paying anything for my Cusco flight anyway.
But I wonder if the promo would also work with LOWER LAN fares. Since LIM-Cusco is "worth" $200, the deal could make some sense if you could get a good fare to LIM.
But I wonder if the promo would also work with LOWER LAN fares. Since LIM-Cusco is "worth" $200, the deal could make some sense if you could get a good fare to LIM.