Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

The three ways of getting around in Peru, especially around Machu Picchu, is by plane (internal flight from Lima to Cusco), vehicle, driving to the Sacred Valley or start of the Salkantay Trek, or train. Driving to Ollantaytambo from Cusco is about 1.5 hours. There is so much to see along the way and many people make a day tour to visit Chinchero, salt mines near Maras, ruins at Moray, and eventually the impressive ruins at Ollantaytambo. Even after driving around for a full day, I didn’t have time to see it all including the ruins at Pisac. Driving to our first hike of the Salkantay trek was over 3 hours, but the drive was broken up well. Carla took us to the Mollepata ruins which was so refreshing after seeing the more popular ruins. We basically had this spot to ourselves. We continued for an hour to Carla’s home town, Mollepata, for lunch with locally grown foods. From there, we proceeded on a mountain road (very similar to the ones in Montana!) for about 1.5 hours to the trailhead. We said goodbye to our driver, who took our things the rest of the way to the lodge.

Our feet carried us nearly the rest of the journey until Day 6 when we crossed over the Llactapata pass. At the end of the road, we found a train station (that had an excellent maracuya popsicle) and boarded a train to take us to Aguas Calientes. Buses take us up and down from Machu Picchu before a later afternoon train to Ollantaytambo (about 1.5 hours). From there, we continued back to Cusco by vehicle.
 

There is a lot of driving and train time involved, but with so much to see along the way, it’s broken up really well. My favorite mode of transportation, of course was my trusty feet!