Machu Picchu is a city of stairs. The Incas built it on a saddle between two peaks and connected everything with cut-stone steps — somewhere around 3,000 of them, depending on who counts and where they stop.
The hardest flights are not inside the citadel but above it: the climb to Intipunku (Sun Gate) runs about 300 steps and takes an hour each way, and the Huayna Picchu permit covers a steep two-hour return with a stretch of near-vertical stone that gives most climbers pause. Both reward you with the citadel from an angle no day-tripper sees.
Preparation matters more than fitness. Lightweight hiking shoes with real grip, a litre of water, sunscreen for the morning and a rain shell for the afternoon. Spend two nights in Cusco first so the altitude is not a surprise.
Peruways handles the train, the bus, the timed-entry ticket and (where you want one) the Huayna Picchu permit, which is capped at 400 climbers a day and sells out six to eight weeks in advance in high season. Our guides know which steps to take slowly and which to push through.
