You can’t go to Cusco and skip Machu Picchu. I know it’s touristy. I know it’s expensive. I knew both of those things going in and went anyway, because it’s one of the eight wonders of the world and standing in the middle of it makes you understand why. The best way to see it is to book a Machu Picchu hiking tour.
The question is how you go. There are multiple ways to do Machu Picchu — multi-day treks that take 3-4 days hiking in, budget options, luxury options. We did a two-day, one-night guided tour through TreXperience and paid $560 per person. That price included all transportation from Cusco to the train, round-trip train tickets, a full trail lunch on day one, dinner on day one, breakfast at the hotel on day two, and all park entry fees. The only add-on we paid separately was the Huayna Picchu hike, which goes directly to the national park. For what’s included, $560 is fair. These tours are organized down to the minute and worth the price if you want the experience handled for you.
The Night Before: Briefing and Prep
TreXperience does a briefing the evening before departure. They walk you through exactly what to pack, what they’ll carry for you (they hold your main luggage at their office while you’re on the trail — you only bring what fits in a daypack plus one overnight change of clothes), and what to expect each day. You can pay for walking poles. I did not, I never use walking poles on a one-trail hike and I’d encourage you to honestly assess whether you need them before paying for the rental. If you have knee issues, older joints, or genuinely aren’t a regular hiker, take them. If you hike regularly and feel steady on your feet, you probably don’t need them. Don’t let the fear messaging around these tours pressure you into gear you won’t use.
The honest difficulty level: Machu Picchu on a two-day tour is a moderate hike for someone who hikes regularly. We did roughly six to seven miles each day, a lot of it uphill on day one, a lot of standing and walking through the ruins on day two. It’s not technically difficult. It’s long and it’s hot and it’s humid and your legs will feel it at the end. I had just hiked a 14er in Colorado the month before and found Machu Picchu manageable but genuinely tiring. Know yourself — if you’re not a regular hiker or have mobility issues it will be harder, and that’s okay, just prepare for it.
Pack list: small daypack, layers (tank top plus rain jacket — the weather shifts constantly), comfortable hiking shoes or cross-trainers, sunscreen, bug spray, plenty of water. The water is the heaviest thing in your bag and the most important. Rain jacket doubles as warmth when clouds roll in, which they will.
Day One: The Trail In
Pickup is early. Very early. We were the first stop on the route, which meant a 2:15am alarm for a 3am pickup. The van collected the group over the next hour or so, then drove about an hour and a half to two hours to the train station. Sleep in the van. You will want every minute of it.
The train into Machu Picchu is genuinely beautiful — wide windows on all sides, mountain scenery getting more dramatic as you climb. Everyone is awake and excited by this point. It’s a good energy.
We got off at kilometer marker 104, which is the drop point for the one-overnight tour. From here you hike. The trail gains elevation gradually — nothing sudden or technical, just a long steady uphill push through cloud forest. The guides are excellent: bilingual, patient, knowledgeable, and good at reading the group’s pace. Nobody gets left behind.
Partway up, at roughly the three to four mile mark, the guides set up a full lunch in a clearing. When I say full I mean full — rice, chicken, other proteins, guacamole, potato pancakes, fresh fruit, the works. A chef cooks it entirely on-site. We ate until we couldn’t and then kept hiking. This lunch alone is worth a significant portion of the tour price.
The final push brings you up to the main overlook. And then you’re there. You come around a corner and Machu Picchu is below you — the terraces, the temples, the mountains behind it dropping into cloud. It’s the kind of view that makes you stop talking. Even knowing exactly what you’re about to see from every photo you’ve ever encountered, seeing it in person is different. The scale of it, and the thought of how it was built — by hand, at altitude, centuries ago without modern tools — is genuinely staggering.
After the site you catch a bus down to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain. Check into your hotel, shower, and feel the full weight of the day in your legs.
Day Two: The Ruins and Huayna Picchu
Day two starts with a hotel breakfast, then back up to the ruins for the morning history tour. This is where you actually walk through Machu Picchu rather than looking at it from above — the temples, the agricultural terraces, the residential areas, the famous llamas wandering around unbothered by tourists.
The morning is spent at the site with the guides providing historical context. I’ll be honest: I have a limited attention span for extended history lessons and hit my wall around the ninety-minute mark. But the guides are so clearly passionate and knowledgeable that I felt genuinely bad about zoning out. If history is your thing you will be in heaven. If you’re more of a ‘just let me look at the thing’ person, you’ll still have a wonderful time, you’ll just absorb less of the narration.
We had added on Huayna Picchu, the steep peak rising directly behind the classic Machu Picchu photo. This requires a separate ticket purchased through the national park — TreXperience facilitates it but the fee goes to the park directly. At a certain point the guides send the Huayna Picchu group off independently while the rest of the tour continues through the ruins.
Huayna Picchu is steps. A lot of them. Steep, ancient stone steps going straight up the mountain in full sun. It’s not a long hike in distance but it’s relentless in grade and took us about an hour and a half to reach the top. The views from the summit are worth every step — you’re looking down at Machu Picchu from above, which gives you a completely different perspective on the scale of the site, and the mountains stretching in every direction are extraordinary. Coming back down the same steep steps requires care, especially with tired legs. Take your time on the descent.
We came down, rejoined the main group for the final logistics, said goodbyes to the guides (who were taking a different train home), and found ourselves with bus tickets, train tickets, and just enough time to grab lunch before the return train. We made it with about twenty minutes to spare after a longer-than-expected bus queue from the park entrance. Build buffer into your timing on this day — the bus line moves fast but it can look terrifying when you first see it.
Aguas Calientes: Night One and the Time Before the Train
The town itself is worth more than you’d think for a place that exists almost entirely as a launch pad for Machu Picchu. There are restaurants, coffee shops, bars — enough to actually explore if you have the time and energy for it.
Night one we had almost none of either. Our tour got down around 5pm, we had to shower and be at the group dinner by 6pm, and after a full day of hiking at altitude nobody was looking for more adventure. Dinner was included in the tour — a set menu with the whole group at a local restaurant. The food was solid. What made it was the people. Our group was a genuinely good mix: Dutch, German, Czech, American, a few others. Everyone was in that post-hike glow where you feel slightly exhausted and completely happy and willing to talk to strangers. After dinner we went straight to bed. The next morning started at 5am.
Day two is where Aguas Calientes actually opened up. After Huayna Picchu we took the bus back down, had a group lunch the guides recommended, and then had an hour or two to kill before the train back to Cusco. We took a walk through town and found a little bar that claimed to have the best Pisco Sour in Aguas Calientes. We went in mostly curious.
The bartender — I wish I could remember his name — was one of those people who is genuinely passionate about what he does and wants you to feel it too. Both of us are bartenders. We told him we’d never had a proper Pisco Sour. He lit up. He gave us a full lesson on the process, the spirit, what makes it different from anything else — and Pisco really is interesting, it’s not a typical liqueur and the production process has a whole history behind it. Then he made us two versions: a traditional one and a passion fruit twist. We tried both. They were excellent.
It was one of those small stops that ends up being a real moment — a kind person, a shared enthusiasm for craft, an unexpected education on something deeply Peruvian right before we headed home. Sometimes the hour between lunch and the train is where the trip actually happens.
The hot springs are also in town if you have more time than we did — we didn’t make it but they’re apparently not far and worth it if your schedule allows.
The Train Back: Unexpected Party
The train to Machu Picchu is calm and scenic. The train back from Machu Picchu is a party.
At some point during the return journey, each car gets called one at a time to a special car where a performer in an elaborate traditional costume — bright colors, mask, the works — dances and gets the whole car involved. Then they do a mini fashion show where the train attendants model alpaca gear for sale: sweaters, scarves, vests, jackets. Our car got completely into it. We were cheering for the attendants like they were on a runway. Some people bought things. Everyone was laughing. It was one of those unexpected travel moments that you can’t plan for and remember more clearly than things you spent three times as much on.
Our whole tour group ended up on the same car, which meant the people we’d just spent two days hiking with were all there for the party train together. By the time we got back to Cusco we’d said goodbye three times and were still running into each other. Good group.
What I’d Do Differently
Nothing about the Machu Picchu portion. TreXperience was well-organized, the guides were excellent, the trail lunch was absurdly good, and the Huayna Picchu add-on was worth it. If I were doing it again I’d book the same tour.
The one thing I’d consider is the multi-day trek option — people we met who had done the 3-4 day Inca Trail spoke about it in a completely different register, the way people talk about experiences that changed something in them. If you have the time and the fitness for it, that version of the trip sounds extraordinary. We didn’t have the time on this trip and I don’t regret what we did. But it’s worth knowing the longer option exists and what it offers.
Also: don’t try to do Rainbow Mountain the day after Machu Picchu. Multiple people in our group were doing exactly that — another 3am wakeup, another full day of hiking. I needed a recovery day after Machu Picchu. Know your limits and don’t pack the itinerary so tight that you’re too exhausted to actually enjoy what you’re doing.
Practical Notes
Tour: TreXperience, $560 per person for the two-day one-night option. Includes all transport from Cusco, round-trip train, trail lunch day one, dinner day one, hotel breakfast day two, all park fees. Huayna Picchu add-on paid separately to the national park — ask TreXperience to facilitate when booking.
What’s included in $560: transportation Cusco to train station, round-trip train Cusco to Aguas Calientes, trail lunch day one (full spread, cooked on-site), dinner day one, hotel in Aguas Calientes, breakfast day two, guides, all Machu Picchu park entry fees.
Difficulty: Moderate for regular hikers. Long days on your feet, significant elevation gain on day one, steep stairs on Huayna Picchu. Not technically difficult but physically tiring.
Pack: Small daypack only. Layers, rain jacket, sunscreen, bug spray, lots of water. Main luggage stored at TreXperience office in Cusco.
Walking poles: Optional. Useful if you have knee issues or aren’t a regular hiker. Probably unnecessary if you hike regularly.
Timing: Pickup is early (potentially 3am depending on your pickup order). The days are long. Build a recovery day into your Cusco itinerary after you return.
Tip your guides — and tip them well. Ours were with us from start to finish, spoke perfect English, knew the history and the landscape cold, and were genuinely passionate about sharing it. They helped carry bags, loaned out sunscreen, answered every question, and made the whole experience feel personal rather than transactional. The tour price goes heavily toward the company and park fees. The guides work for tips and they earn every dollar.
Our group also passed the hat for the chef and crew who prepared our Day One trailside lunch — a spontaneous group decision and a nice way to close out that part of the trip.
What to budget: my friend and I each put in around $40-$50, roughly 10% of the tour cost. It’s a personal call and the tours aren’t cheap, but factor something in when you’re planning. These guys made the trip.