When people hear that we went to Peru, I often get the question, “Why Peru?”. As with most of my trips, it started with a Going.com email in March with a sale to Peru for less than $250 per person. I feel very comfortable planning trips to Europe and the US, but haven’t done much travel in South America or other continents. Since visiting Machu Picchu has been a Bucket List destination for both my husband and me, the cheap flight compelled me to prioritize visiting Peru.

So, Why Peru?

The people are incredibly friendly, the food is AMAZING, and it is stunningly beautiful. Peru offers everything from high desert, to Pacific coast beaches, to the rain and cloud forests to explore. It’s also in the same time zone as Atlanta which means an international flight without jet lag. And, it is the most affordable destination we have ever been to. Including the flights, our 10 day trip including nice accommodations, 3 course meals, coffees, Ubers, a luxury train trip, three inter-country flights, and two days at Machu Picchu with a personal guide on day one was less than $2400 for both of us. We only explored one section of this vast country and hope to be back to explore more. Even if you paid a more typical flight cost of $800 to $1000 per person to fly directly to Peru, your total trip cost would still be less than $4000 for both which is less than most people spend for a week at the beach.

Here are some things to consider before booking your trip:

1. It’s helpful to know a little Spanish or at least have google translate ready on your phone. You cannot expect people to speak English.
2. There is a different expectation for public bathrooms than in the US (link blog on life necessities).
3. Safety – I felt very safe traveling with my husband and used common sense safety precautions. For example, keeping my credit cards tucked away and not wandering around at night on my own. There are a few areas of Peru to avoid, according to the State Department. However, there are still so many safe places to explore.
4. Don’t rent a car! Road rules seem optional. Even taking an Uber was an adventure.

Part of why I love to travel is to experience these differences. It helps me to appreciate the luxuries that we take for granted. How we live our lives, our culture, our traditions, our comforts, are not the norm. Travel illustrates this like nothing else. In a place like Peru where most people don’t have any central heat or air-conditioning and the sewer system can’t support toilet paper, this is abundantly clear. Read more about water, toilets and air-conditioning in Be Prepared – Water and Toilets in Peru.

Yet, everyone we met was friendly and helpful. Living on less than a quarter of American’s poverty rate didn’t seem to affect their happiness. We saw families spending time together at parks. Food is abundant and cheap by our standards, but affordable by theirs. Peruvians have a better understanding of the need to take care of the environment with meticulous recycling and a low level of energy use. How wasteful are we? How discontent can I be when my teenagers have used all the hot water before I can take my shower? Seeing the world first hand gives me perspective on my tiny corner of the world.

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When we found our cheap tickets to Peru and started planning the trip, we knew we wanted to go to Machu Picchu and that was pretty much it. We discovered that Peru has one of the best 10 train rides in the world and decided it was worth the slight splurge to take the 10+ hour journey on the Luxury Train. The train goes between Puno where Lake Titicaca is, and Cusco the big city closest to Machu Picchu. No brainer. Fly from Lima, the capital, to Puno and then get the train to Cusco. I had flights paid for, Airbnb’s picked when about a month before the trip, my husband asked me what the elevation of Puno is. When I looked it up, I discovered it was 12,500 feet. So what does that even mean? As someone who lives at 800 feet this was going to cause some problems. With research we found: 

“The pressure of the air that surrounds you is called barometric or atmospheric pressure. When you go to higher altitudes, this pressure drops and there is less oxygen available. If you live in a place that’s located at a moderately high altitude, you get used to the air pressure. But if you travel to a place at a higher altitude than you’re used to, your body will need time to adjust to the change in pressure. Any time you go above 8,000 feet, you can be at risk for altitude sickness.”

https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/altitude-sickness

The link above goes into detail on the three types of sickness ranging from severity of a headache and nausea to coma. There are some medications that can possibly help, but the best option is to slowly acclimatize. In other words, don’t go from sea level to 12,500 with an hour flight like we were planning to do.

Pivot time. We looked at the map of Peru and noticed Arequipa as a larger city between Lima and Puno. At only 7,550 feet this would be a good stopping place before we reached Puno. At first I was very disappointed. Adding this stop would mean one less full day in Lima and hardly any time in Puno to explore Lake Titicaca. We also would be eating one flight (only about $150 total) and one night of an Airbnb (and I hate losing money!). It also meant that really the only way to get from Arequipa to Puno would be a bus (you can fly but it’s a flight back to Lima and than to a city an hour away from Puno and it might have undone the benefit we would have gotten from staying in Arequipa). Needs must though so I booked the new flight, found an Airbnb, and finally got bus tickets (I kept hoping another option would suddenly appear which it didn’t). 

It turned out that two days in Lima was plenty and Arequipa was one of our favorite cities. Our Airbnb had a stunning view of fields and a volcano, it was relatively untouristy, and it is the place to buy Peruvian goods. The bus trip was not my favorite. At only $28 total for both of us, we actually got luxury reclining seats but opted to seats on the 2nd level next to each other so we could see the view. We saw lots of llamas and alpacas but in high desert there were hardly any trees or even people. I wish we had taken the reclining seats and just slept most of the time. By the time we got to Puno, I was not feeling great either due to altitude adjustments or a six hour winding bus ride. We certainly walked slower and I had a slight headache but none of the extreme symptoms and it didn’t affect our enjoyment the next day of our luxury train trip. We met multiple people on the train who had not been able to enjoy any of their time in Puno due to feeling very ill.

To save you the same headache (figuratively and literally!), learn from my mistake and fly from Lima to Arequipa, luxury bus to Puno and then absolutely take the Luxury Train Trip to Cusco. If you have time, spend a full day in Puno to explore the reed islands of Lake Titicaca.

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Would you like to plan a stress-free trip to Machu Picchu but don’t know where to begin? Getting to see Machu Picchu was the reason we went to Peru and my guess is that most people’s first visit to Peru will include a visit to Machu Picchu. As I planned for the trip, I didn’t find most of these practical tips anywhere even as I poured over blogs and guide books. I hope these tips will give you a great head start as you plan your own trip to Peru.

• The first step in planning a trip to Machu Picchu is purchasing tickets. There are a limited number of tickets a day and for each ticket you have a one hour window to enter Machu Picchu. Purchase tickets here. You cannot buy tickets day of or at Machu Picchu. It’s about $45 a ticket per person per day. This is a lot of money by Peruvian standards but if you put it in perspective of going to somewhere like Disney World for a day it is a true bargain.
• You have to have your passport with you to get bus tickets AND to get into Machu Picchu. They do check to make sure your name matches.
• There are only two ways to get to the town of Aguas Calientes which is at the base of Machu Picchu – by train or to hike in. Depending on which route you hike, it takes anywhere from 1 to 4 arduous days. We took the train.
• As long as you get up early enough to make your train, Peru Rail and the tourist industry of Aguas Calientes will get you to Machu Picchu on time.
• Once you are in Aguas Calientes there are two ways to get up to Machu Picchu – ride the bus with pre-bought tickets around the corner of the bus stop ($12 each way) or walk. As much as I love to walk, it is a long way up and I would recommend getting the bus up.
• There will be a huge line on the sidewalk as you wait for the bus and it will feel like you aren’t going to make your time. Don’t worry, you will. Dozens of buses will take the passengers up the mountain to see Machu Picchu and they actually check the entrance window on your ticket and prioritize people with the next time window.
• While you are in line, you will be approached by locals who want you to pay them to be your guide in Machu Picchu. You do not have to have a guide to enter. If you do hire a guide, they will already have their own tickets to get in and their own bus tickets. It cost us about $90 including a tip to have our own guide and it was well worth it. We learned so much, not only about Machu Picchu but about the local culture and economy and he took amazing pictures at the top of Machu Picchu. I’m glad we didn’t only have selfies of this once in a lifetime experience. His English was excellent but we heard other guides that didn’t speak English as fluently. You don’t have to hire the first guide that approaches you. You negotiate the fee at that time. You will need cash (we payed with a combo of soles and American dollars).
• When we went in September of 2022, double masks were required on the bus and they are insistent.
• The bus trip is a zig zag up the mountain which was very dusty when we went and a little bit scary. I’ve never heard about a bus accident though. If you do hike up or down, there is a path with 1000’s of steps and you cross the road the buses use just a few times.
• You won’t get to see all of Machu Picchu with one visit. There are different circuits and you have to choose. I recommend Circuit 2 for the best overview and iconic views.
• Because I was paranoid that we might not make our time window (we had a noon time slot), we chose to spend the night in Aguas Calientes after we went that afternoon and also had an 8 AM window for a different circuit (4) and to climb Hichuypicchu. It was a little confusing because our ticket gave us a 7 AM window and then also an 8 to 9 window. If you are doing one of the mountain climbs plus circuit 4, then the first window of time is when you can enter Machu Picchu and explore Circuit 4 and the second window is when you can sign in to climb the mountain.
• Although my reason for two tickets was unnecessary (you are going to get there as long as you don’t oversleep), I am so glad we went both days. Machu Picchu is in a Cloud Forest and watching the early morning clouds and mist was exquisite. Getting there at noon on day one was also a nice way to explore the site in detail.
• Even though you have an enforced entrance time and curcuit you must go on, you can stay until they close if you want. So, if you only can go one day, pick the earliest time slot and stay all day.
• We chose to walk down the mountain on day 2 and had an adorable stray dog guide us all the way down. It was beautiful. I felt it in my body like nothing I’ve ever felt the next two days though. I’m active and in good shape and I moved like an old lady from the pain so beware.
• Bugs were not an issue on our whole trip until the base of Machu Picchu while we walked back. My ankles were exposed and I got dozens of tiny bites from something that itched like crazy for days. Put on bug repellent!
• Aguas Calientes exists just for tourists to get to Machu Picchu. We found accommodations to either be incredibly expensive ($500 a night) or cheap and hostel like with a private room (we didn’t have hot water or any water so didn’t really get a shower the second day but it was $24 a night). You can get the earliest train to get the earliest time slot and get a late train out and not spend the night at all. I would only recommend this if you’re coming from Ollie Tambo and not from Cusco though.
• You aren’t supposed to really bring food and water into the site. So, if you do go all day there will be no beautiful picnic looking at the view. However, we did have a water bottle that didn’t seem to be an issue and we had a few energy bars that we discreetly ate and put the trash in our backpack which also did not seem to be an issue.
• There are no bathroom facilities once you actually enter Machu Picchu. There are toilets at the top of the mountain which cost two Soles or about $.50 to use. Because they won’t let you in or out I highly recommend that you empty your bladder before you enter and are able to make the most of your time.
• There are a few food options at the top before you enter Machu Picchu but you cannot go in and out and they are fairly expensive by Peruvian standards.

This is truly a bucket list trip that everyone should do. We saw people with mobility issues enjoy parts of the site. We saw very old and very young and whole extended families. Follow these tips and you can truly experience Machu Picchu stress free.

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