Peru is the first destination in this guide where the biggest planning risk isn’t weather, crowds, or money \u2014 it’s your own body. Cusco sits at 3,400 meters, higher than almost anywhere else most travelers will ever sleep, and flying in from sea level and heading straight out to explore is the single most common way a Peru trip gets derailed by altitude sickness in the first 48 hours. Everything else in this guide matters; this is the one thing worth building your entire itinerary around.<\/p>\n
Cusco’s 3,400 meters is where most visitors actually feel altitude effects \u2014 headache, fatigue, shortness of breath, occasionally nausea. Machu Picchu itself, at 2,430 meters, is meaningfully lower and easier on the body, which is exactly why the standard advice is to spend 2\u20133 days acclimatizing in Cusco before heading to Machu Picchu, not the other way around. Coca tea (sold everywhere and offered in most hotel lobbies), deliberately light activity for your first day, and drinking more water than feels necessary all help; travelers concerned about symptoms can talk to a doctor about acetazolamide (Diamox) before the trip, particularly if flying in directly from sea level with no buffer days planned.<\/p>\n
This isn’t a same-week booking. Entry tickets are capped and sold only through Peru’s official government system \u2014 book only through the official site or an established Cusco travel agency<\/strong>; a real and reported scam involves fraudulent websites posing as ticket vendors. Timing matters as much as the source: peak season (May\u2013September) requires booking 3\u20134 months ahead for morning slots and Huayna Picchu permits specifically, shoulder season (April, October) needs 1\u20132 months, and low season (November\u2013March) can often be booked 2\u20134 weeks out. Full detail on tickets and trains: 7 Days in Peru<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most trips fly Lima to Cusco (about 1.5 hours) rather than attempting the long overland route. From Cusco, reaching Machu Picchu means a train \u2014 PeruRail and Inca Rail are the two operators, departing from Cusco directly or from Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley (a shorter, roughly 1 hour 45 minute ride from there versus about 3.5 hours from Cusco itself) \u2014 there’s no road to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the site.<\/p>\n Peru’s cost range is wide and heavily shaped by one line item: Machu Picchu tickets and trains. A realistic mid-range daily budget outside that specific leg \u2014 accommodation, food, local transport \u2014 runs around \u20ac50\u201380 ($55\u201390) per person per day. The Machu Picchu trip itself adds a real, separate cost: round-trip train fares range from roughly $80 in economy class to $500+ for the luxury Hiram Bingham service, plus the entry ticket itself, worth budgeting as its own line rather than folding into a daily average.<\/p>\nGetting around<\/h2>\n
What it costs<\/h2>\n
Where the rest of this coverage picks up<\/h2>\n
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