Hiram Bingham’s 1948 memoir Lost City of the Incas is the obvious starting point if you want to read Machu Picchu before you see it — out of print but easy to find second-hand. Better reads today are Mark Adams’ Turn Right at Machu Picchu (2011), which retraces Bingham’s expedition, and Kim MacQuarrie’s The Last Days of the Incas (2007), which puts the citadel in the wider context of the conquest and the Vilcabamba resistance.
For primary sources, Pedro Cieza de León’s Chronicle of Peru (1553) and Garcilaso de la Vega’s Royal Commentaries of the Incas (1609) are both available in English translation; neither mentions Machu Picchu by name, which is one of the open questions in the archaeology.
Reading before you travel pulls the stones into context: why the Temple of the Sun aligns to the June solstice, which structures were still being built when Pachacuti died in 1471, why the Spanish never reached the site.
When you’re ready to go, Peruways books the train, bus and entrance ticket — and a licensed Ministry of Culture guide — in one booking. Visit Peruways to plan the trip.
