Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage site at 2,430 metres above sea level, in a saddle between Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain in Peru’s Andes. The citadel was built in the 15th century as a royal estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti.
“Old Peak” in Quechua — hence Machu Picchu — the complex was abandoned around the Spanish invasion in the 1530s and reintroduced to the outside world by Hiram Bingham in 1911. The stonework is mortarless, cut to fit so precisely that a knife blade doesn’t slip between the joints. Water channels still carry flow after 500 years.
The three stop-and-pay-attention landmarks are the Temple of the Sun (built over a natural cave used as the royal mausoleum), the Intihuatana sun-dial (a ritual stone aligned to the solstices), and the Sacred Plaza with its Three Windows and Principal Temple.
Getting there means a train from Cusco (3h20 from Poroy) or Ollantaytambo (1h40), then a 25-minute Consettur bus ride up from Aguas Calientes. Peruways handles the whole chain: hotel pickup, transfer, train, bus, entry ticket, guide.
A well-planned Machu Picchu day is one less thing to think about on arrival. The site does the rest.
