The Inca Bridge at Machu Picchu is a short detour from the main citadel that most day-trippers skip, which is exactly why it is worth doing.
The bridge itself is a 20-foot gap in a stone trail cut 600 metres along the sheer face of a cliff. The Incas crossed it on removable wooden planks — pull the planks and the trail dead-ends, which was the point. It was a defensive back door, closed off to anyone who didn’t know the route.
The walk from the citadel’s main plaza takes about 30 minutes each way, mostly along a narrow stone path with the valley dropping away on one side. You cannot cross the bridge itself any more (it closed to foot traffic after a fatal fall in the 90s), but you can walk to the viewing point and photograph it from the end of the trail.
It is also one of the better photo angles on the citadel — you get the complex in profile from the north-west instead of the standard postcard view.
Reserve your Machu Picchu entry at Peruways.
