Machupicchu by Train from Cusco

I traveled to Machu Picchu in June by train and it was everything I dreamed of: clear skies, sun all day, and the comfort of this spectacular route 🚞. I took the train from Ollantaytambo, Vistadome service, and the landscape looked incredible: bright snow-capped mountains, the crystalline Urubamba River, and no rain or heavy fog.

a beautiful, comfortable, and peaceful trip

I was picked up at 2:30am for a 7:00am entrance into machu picchu which is expected given the van, train and bus needed to get from cusco to machu picchu. What didn’t make sense and was a logistical nightmare from hell was the 9:20 PM ticketed train departure we were booked on. This meant we finished our machu picchu tour at 10:30 AM and had to wait in the tiny town of aguas calientes for almost ELEVEN hours the way this company had booked our tickets. This would mean I wouldn’t return back to my accommodations till almost 24 hours after I was picked up when it is advertised as a 12-14 hour activity. This was incredibly disappointing and not at all like it was described in the tour information. When I reached out to the company to ask why they had booked such a late train for no reason they said it was due to limited train tickets but there were numerous train tickets still up for sale at many earlier times on the peru rail website which made absolutely no sense. Because i didn’t want to be stuck sitting around waiting for 11 hours and the tour company was absolutely no help I ended up paying for a whole new train ticket from aguas calientes to ollataytambo which added to my overall cost of the trip significantly. Overall this is not worth doing unless you want to be sleep deprived and unhappily trapped in a tiny town waiting half a day just for no good reason.

The tour ad here on tripadvisor is deception. Exposes a value but when you pay you receive a message to edit data. These data is actually pay off the agency. They claim that the entrance to Machu Picchu was not included. In the end, he loses over 800 reais in my case. They will only contact you missing a day for the tour and you in this period have no guarantees. They send you the passages give guidance but do not give you the option to choose which stretch to go up, choose the most basic which is the circuit 1 and claim that it ended for other stretches, lie, I simulated buying directly and had for all the stretches. Also, buy the train schedules to their liking. In my case, the tour ended at 12:30 and I had to stay until 22:00 in Aguas Calientes doing hours and waiting for time to pass, tired of the tour and without a place to rest. Bad service from this agency. Not counting the return, the transfer instead of leaving you at the hotel as it should be, leave you miles away from your hotel. In my case, I arrived at 1:30 in the morning and still had to pick up Uber to get back. Poor agency, misleading propaganda here and bad service. The only thing that saves is the goodwill of the guides who are excellent, but the agency does not provide. I'm going to study a lawsuit against TripAdvisor for allowing misleading advertising and helping keep bad companies like this active here.

I booked this tour more than a month in advance, selecting available times on the platform. Three days after the payment, the agency contacted me to say that there were no longer tickets for Machu Picchu, but they offered that I could personally stand in line to buy the tickets (and spend two days traveling instead of one). I refused and requested a refund; since then, the communication has been erratic. They never resolved my issue, and fortunately, Viator/Trip Advisor backed me up by refunding the total amount of the reservation (two days before the reserved date). Do not book with this agency; look for another one that is serious.

Incredible; the experience one has is incomparable, Machu Picchu is something magical, you absolutely must come!

Do not book this. I was mis-sold a ticket (which I am still yet to receive a refund for) for a day when they are actually sold out. I was told I had to travel to Aguas Calientes THREE days before, with no guarantee of actually getting a ticket. This is obviously at additional cost. The tour operator should have been clear about this before purchase, but clearly not. It doesn’t look like I’m getting my money back anytime soon as they cannot seem to assist (as does Tripadvisor).

We booked today for 2 people for June 8, 2026. The train ride ... to the MP. No cancellations are displayed on the site. The booking has been paid. The money is gone. Then we were canceled, and they are no longer reachable. Beware of scams.

Two days prior to the trip I received an email stating that they were not able to obtain an entrance pass for me. In the end, I had to find my own way.

I liked the train ride,very comfortable and pretty ,the people were very friendly and attentive