Ollantaytambo station is where most Machu Picchu trips really start now. It sits in the Sacred Valley at 2,792 m, about 1h40 by road from Cusco. The alternative — Poroy station closer to Cusco — has been on reduced service since the pandemic.
The town itself is worth half a day before the train. The Ollantaytambo ruins climb a hillside above the Plaza de Armas and include some of the Inca’s most ambitious terrace engineering, built as a royal estate for Pachacuti and later a defensive stronghold during Manco Inca’s revolt in 1537. The old-town grid is unchanged from Inca times — one of the few places where you can walk 500-year-old Inca streets, not Spanish ones.
From the station, PeruRail and Inca Rail run multiple daily departures to Aguas Calientes (about 1h30), following the Urubamba downstream through a deepening gorge. Service levels run from the budget Expedition and Voyager up through the Vistadome to the Belmond Hiram Bingham.
Book the train, Consettur bus and timed Machu Picchu entry together at Peruways — one booking reference, no three-operator shuffle.
