Tour to Machu Picchu by Train from Cusco

The on-the-ground guides were excellent and worked hard to compensate for the organizer's poor planning. However, communication from the organizer was severely lacking — we received no details until 4:30pm the day before departure, and only after I proactively reached out to ask what time we'd be picked up. The itinerary as scheduled did not align with the tickets we were issued, and we ended up spending our only evening in Cusco reworking the organizer's poor planning ourselves. As a result, we had to pay an additional $240 for new return train tickets and $230 for a taxi back to Cusco to avoid missing our flight. The original write-up stated the trip would take 14–16 hours, but as planned, it would have taken over 20 hours (accounting for a 1.5-hour van ride, a 2-hour train ride, and a 30-minute bus ride after a long wait in line). Additionally, the tickets purchased for Machu Picchu entry were only valid for 2 hours from the printed entry time. Our tickets listed a 6am entry, but we didn't reach the bus line until after 8am — already outside the valid window. To resolve this, the on-the-ground guide took us to a medical center to report an "upset stomach," in order to obtain a medical slip that would allow us past the expired entry window. Upon our return, while still trying to recoup the additional costs we incurred, I reached out to the organizer directly. Despite our best efforts to remain fair — we did, after all, still get to experience Machu Picchu — the overall experience was significantly diminished by the poor planning and communication. Rather than addressing our concerns, the contact simply directed me to raise the issue through TripAdvisor.

This tour was very stressful due to the poor organization of the main center. No information was given until 4:30pm the day before and the a 12-15 hour tour turned into a 20hour tour which ran over our departure flight from Cusco. No help was given to remedy this problem so we had to purchase other train tickets for the return. And then when they agreed to provide the transport back to Cusco from the train station, the driver had to wait for other trains and so we would miss our flight. So we had to hire a taxi to get us back to Cusco and then to airport. Other problems were they gave us entry tickets to Machu Picchu for 6 am which were good for 2 hours and we didn’t get there until after 8! David, the fellow on the ground at Machu Picchu did a fabulous job fixing this problem and it cost him out of pocket. The whole experience was so stressful that we had a difficult time enjoying the actual experience in the site.

Very good service, excellent work by Miguel and his group, great job by the guides, excellent tour...

A nice and pleasant experience

The company was very attentive and clear with the instructions at the time of booking. They told us that availability was limited but that they would help us get the tickets, very kind and gentle. They coordinated everything to visit Machu Picchu; the schedules were the best, and above all, the guide is an expert. Recommended!!!

It was a fantastic experience; Machu Picchu is definitely worth the trip. We had a bit of fog at first, but it cleared up as well.

**PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU BOOK THIS TOUR. THIS COMPANY IS A NIGHTMARE TO WORK WITH.** For those who are not aware, Machu Picchu tickets can book out months in advance depending on what time of year you go. The Peruvian government releases a set number of advance tickets for each day that can be purchased online. Once the advance tickets are sold out, the only option is to purchase your tickets in person (with passport) in Aguas Calientes. The government releases 1,000 in-person tickets per day. I was not aware of all this before booking the tour. My friend and I decided on Peru as a travel destination earlier this year, and when I went to book our Machu Picchu tour a few months ago, most of the tour companies were already sold out for the week of our trip. I found this company on TripAdvisor and they still had availability during our travel week. After booking the tour that was advertised as a one-day trip and paying almost $800, the tour company messaged me and said they actually did not have tickets available for the date I had booked. They advised that if I would like to proceed with the tour, they would provide transportation to Aguas Calientes on the morning of June 3rd and assist us in purchasing tickets in person for June 4th. This meant that we would have to stay in Aguas Calientes for one night (at our own expense) and make this a two-day trip instead of just one day. The tour operator, Miguel, was unable to answer my questions about why this had happened or what exactly the new itinerary would be, so I had to piece it together myself by researching the situation in more detail. We were a bit skeptical about this but we really wanted to see Machu Picchu so we agreed. At one point in mid-May, I was following a Reddit page where people were giving daily updates on the in-person ticket situation. The tickets were in such high demand that some people were having to book 3-4 days out. Since we did not have this much time set aside in our trip, I messaged the tour operator, Miguel, again and asked if he really thought it would be possible for us to get tickets for the next day given the current situation on the ground. He assured me that it was a "100% guarantee" that we would get tickets and stated that the Peruvian government was also releasing an extra 500 tickets per day due to high demand. This was not true and I have no idea where he got this information. My friend and I discussed this and decided to go ahead with the tour since it would be our only shot to see Machu Picchu. If we were not able to get tickets we would ask for a refund. Again, for those who are not aware, it is kind of logistically difficult to get to Machu Picchu as there is no direct road from Cusco. You must first travel to Ollantaytambo, which is about an hour and forty-five minute drive from Cusco. You must then take the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, which is another hour and thirty minutes. From there, it is a thirty minute bus ride to Machu Picchu. In-person tickets are purchased in Aguas Calientes. The tour company did arrange this transport for us and we made it to Aguas Calientes around 7 AM on June 3rd. Things had slowed down considerably with ticket demand and we were able to secure Circuit 2 tickets for June 4th. Our actual tour guide, Pavel, was incredibly knowledgeable and being able to experience Machu Picchu was obviously a once in a lifetime opportunity. That was the only good part about this experience. Our tour was at 11 AM on June 4th and we were finished around 2 PM. While most of the people in our group had train tickets to return to Ollantaytambo in the early afternoon, for some inexplicable reason the tour company booked our return train at 9:50 PM. This meant that we had to spend an additional 8 hours wandering around Aguas Calientes. It is a neat town but there is very little to do there aside from restaurants and souvenir shops. We would have preferred to return much earlier. Given the late departure, we did not arrive in Ollantaytambo until almost midnight. I messaged the tour operator, Miguel, to ask if the same person who drove us from Cusco to Ollantaytambo two nights before would be the same person picking us up from the train and he confirmed that it would be. When we got to the train station, the same person was not there. Instead, there was a woman who herded a large group of us onto a Greyhound bus that was clearly overbooked. When my friend and I got on the bus, there were no seats available. I ended having to sit in the very back of the bus squished between four other people and my friend was forced to sit in the co-pilot seat in the front of the bus with her feet dangling over the stairwell. There were a few people behind us in the line to get on the bus who had to be turned away because there were no seats left. We have no idea how they got back to Cusco. It took two and a half hours in an uncomfortable and slow moving bus to get back to Cusco. We did not arrive at our hotel until after 2 AM, more than twelve hours after our tour of Machu Picchu was complete. I am giving two stars because our tour guide, Pavel, was excellent. The rest of this experience was ridiculous. The tour company did not have the correct phone number for me in WhatsApp, in spite of the fact that I had provided my phone number when I booked the tour. I was also not informed that someone would even be contacting me through WhatsApp until I got a rude message from Miguel through TripAdvisor letting me know that they had been trying to reach me to coordinate our pickup. I was contacted by six different people through WhatsApp during the duration of this trip, and from one stop to the next, I had no idea who would be reaching out to me or who would be our point person at the next stop. I never received a formal itinerary and every interaction with Miguel left me with more questions than answers. I have actually had multiple missed WhatsApp calls from various people from this company since I returned from my trip, which indicates to me that they are extremely unorganized and unable to keep track of who is booked on their daily tours. I get the sense that they just want your money and do not care about your experience otherwise. Generally, the reason people book these kinds of guided tours is so they do not have to deal with the logistics and stress of planning everything. This experience was made more stressful by the disorganization and lack of communication from this company. At the end of the day, I am grateful that we were able to get to Machu Picchu, but given the recent reviews of this tour, others have not been so lucky. There were so many turns where this could have gone wrong and we are lucky that we were not stranded somewhere. I actually feel like I had to do more research and planning for this experience because I did not know from one minute to the next if someone was actually going to show up or if we would be left to our own devices. If I had to do this all over again, I would have just handled everything myself and not booked with this tour company. The cost of this tour was not worth the hassle and I don't understand how the are allowing people to book this "one-day tour" when they clearly don't have the tickets available. Overall terrible experience, please save yourself the headache and book with another company.

Very good service, they fulfilled everything that was described!

We flew 4000 miles to see Machu Picchu. But I find out the day before we are to go that the tour guides have changed it. It is now a two day tour and the guide wants me to change my return flight to adjust. That was not an option. He argued with me repeatedly that it wa somehow both the government’s fault and my fault for not rescheduling my flight. So unfortunately, I did not get to see Machu Picchu. I demand a refund!

BE AWARE before booking this tour — it is extremely misleading. The tour is advertised as a 12-hour tour, but in reality, you need to allow 2 full days. On Day 1, you must travel to Aguas Calientes just to try and obtain an entry ticket to Machu Picchu. There is no guarantee you will even get a ticket. If you are successful, you then need to return again on Day 2 for the actual Machu Picchu tour. We were only informed of this 6 days before the tour date, after already booking and finalising our travel plans. As a result, we are now missing out on seeing Machu Picchu entirely — which was the main reason for our trip to Cusco. To make matters worse, TripAdvisor is making the refund process extremely difficult and continues to advise that the booking is non-refundable, despite the misleading description of the tour. BE AWARE before booking this tour and don't make the same mistake as us!