Ollantaytambo station is the busier of the two main launch points for Machu Picchu — Poroy near Cusco is the other — and most travellers use it for the shorter, faster run. Trains leave for Aguas Calientes several times a day, tracking the Urubamba down into the cloud forest.
The station sits at the eastern edge of the town, a five-minute walk from the Plaza de Armas and the fortress ruins above it. From here you can board a Vistadome with panoramic windows, an Inca Rail 360 with its open-air observation car, or the budget Expedition if you only want to get there.
The ride itself runs along the river for about ninety minutes, dropping from Andean grassland into tropical montane forest in a single stretch. Orchids and bromeliads start appearing on the trunks around the halfway point.
Book the train, the Ollantaytambo transfer and the Machu Picchu entrance in one booking at Peruways so the shuttles line up with the departure.
