How long is the train ride up to Machu Picchu?

From Ollantaytambo, between 1 h 22 and 1 h 46 to Aguas Calientes, depending on the departure, on PeruRail's 2026 timetable. From Cusco it is longer: about 3 h 17 on the direct morning train from Poroy, or around four hours on the bus-and-train services. The train stops in the town below the ruins; a 25 to 30 minute bus does the last climb.

How long does it take to Machu Picchu from Lima?

One long travel day at the least: about 1 h 20 of flight to Cusco, around 1 h 30 by road to Ollantaytambo and 1 h 30 on the train to Aguas Calientes, then the visit the next morning. By road the bus from Lima to Cusco alone takes 21 h 30 to 23 h 45. We plan four days from Lima so that the first nights are spent low.

Is Machu Picchu a day trip from Lima?

No. Getting from Lima to the citadel means a flight, a road transfer, a train and a bus, and the same in reverse, with the train alone taking about three hours return from Ollantaytambo. Plan at least one night in Aguas Calientes, which also lets you take an early entry slot.

How do I get from Cusco to Machu Picchu town?

By train: there is no road into Aguas Calientes, the town officially called Machu Picchu Pueblo. Either drive about 1 h 30 to Ollantaytambo and take the train from there, or take a bus-and-train service from Cusco itself, around four hours in total. One direct train leaves Poroy, outside Cusco, in the May to December season.

Can you do Machu Picchu as a day trip from Cusco?

Yes, but it is a long day. On the PeruRail timetable the earliest bus-and-train service leaves Cusco at 03:20 and reaches Aguas Calientes at 07:40, and the afternoon services back reach Cusco from 17:30. That is a day of fourteen to sixteen hours with about three on the site. A night below the ruins costs one day and gives you the morning.

How to get up Machu Picchu without hiking?

Take the train to Aguas Calientes and the shuttle bus from the town to the entrance. The bus is the only motor transport on that road, takes 25 to 30 minutes each way and costs a foreign adult $24 return. Walking is optional: many people ride up and walk down, which takes about 1 h 30.

How to Get to Machu Picchu: 3 Ways From Lima or Cusco

How to get to Machu Picchu comes down to one fact: there is no road to the town below it. Every visitor who is not walking arrives by train, at Aguas Calientes, and then rides a bus up to the citadel. So the real decisions are where you board the train, how long the day before it should be, and whether you sleep below the ruins. From Lima, the answer is a flight to Cusco, a road to Ollantaytambo, a train of about 1 h 30 and a 25 minute bus.

The route in four legs

Whatever you read elsewhere, the chain is the same. Only the first two legs have alternatives.

Leg	How	Time
Lima to Cusco	Flight	About 1 h 20
Cusco to Ollantaytambo	Road	About 1 h 30
Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes	Train	1 h 22 to 1 h 46
Aguas Calientes to the citadel	Shuttle bus	25 to 30 min

The train times are from the PeruRail 2026 timetable; the road and bus times from PeruRail’s own planning guide. Aguas Calientes, officially Machu Picchu Pueblo, sits at 2,040 m. The citadel is at 2,430 m, almost a thousand metres below Cusco.

Lima to Machu Picchu: fly, then sleep low

From Lima, fly. The bus exists, but Cruz del Sur lists 21 h 30 to 23 h 45 for the roughly 1,102 km to Cusco, a full day and a night before the train.

The flight brings a second decision with it. Cusco is at 3,399 m and you arrive there from sea level in under an hour and a half. The CDC’s ascent guidance advises against going from below 1,200 m to sleeping above 2,750 m in one day. Machu Picchu is the low part of the region, so the logical first move is to go down, not stay up:

Plan	Days from Lima	First night
Straight through to Aguas Calientes	2	Aguas Calientes, 2,040 m
Two nights in the Sacred Valley first	4	Sacred Valley, 2,871 m
First night in Cusco	3 or more	Cusco, 3,399 m, the worst of the three

The four-day version is the one we build: the flight and the valley, a day in the valley, the train, and the visit the next morning. Straight through works too, if your flight lands early and you accept one long travel day. What we would not do is sleep the first night in Cusco and come down to Machu Picchu afterwards. Our guide to altitude in South America explains why the order matters more than any pill.

Cusco to Machu Picchu: three ways to reach the train

From Cusco there are three ways to Aguas Calientes, and the variable that decides is where you are sleeping the night before.

1. Road to Ollantaytambo, then the train. About 1 h 30 by road from central Cusco, then 1 h 22 to 1 h 46 on the train. Both rail companies, PeruRail and Inca Rail, run this line, and it has by far the most departures: on PeruRail’s timetable, from before 06:00 to 21:00. If you are staying in the Sacred Valley, this is the only sensible choice, because Ollantaytambo is already on your doorstep.

2. Bus and train from Cusco. Both companies sell a combined service from the city: a bus to a station down the valley, then the train. On PeruRail it takes between about 4 h 05 and 4 h 41 from the Wanchaq or San Pedro stations. It saves you arranging a transfer, not time.

3. The direct train from Poroy. From May to December, PeruRail runs one morning departure from Poroy, on the edge of Cusco, at 07:35, arriving at 10:52: 3 h 17 without changing. It suits a traveller already sleeping in Cusco who wants the whole trip on rails.

That is how our 13-day Peru and Bolivia route does it, on days 3 to 6: the Sacred Valley first, the train from Ollantaytambo, a night in Aguas Calientes, then Cusco.

Machu Picchu from Cusco in one day: possible, not recommended

You can do Machu Picchu from Cusco and back in a day. On PeruRail’s January to April timetable, the earliest bus-and-train service leaves Cusco at 03:20 and reaches Aguas Calientes at 07:40, and the afternoon returns reach Cusco between 17:30 and 22:30.

Add the bus up, a guided visit of about three hours and the bus down, and the day runs to fourteen to sixteen hours. It also rules out the earliest entry slots, because the first train from Cusco arrives at 07:40. One night below the ruins costs one day and buys you the morning, and that is the trade we make on every route.

Which train, and what it costs

Every train goes to the same station; what changes is the carriage. PeruRail’s timetable lists three classes on this line, Expedition, Vistadome and Vistadome Observatory, and Inca Rail runs its own equivalents. The cheaper classes are perfectly good for a 1 h 30 ride. The panoramic ones are worth it on the way down, when the valley is in daylight.

Neither company publishes a fixed tariff; both quote live by date and class. We keep the observed fares, and the budget for the whole Machu Picchu day, in the train section of our South America travel cost guide, so they are updated in one place.

The rule that does not change: book the train after the entry ticket, never before. The ticket has a fixed time; the train can always be matched to it.

From Aguas Calientes up to the citadel

The last leg is a bus. PeruRail’s planning guide names Consettur as the only authorised company on the road up, at about 25 to 30 minutes each way and $12 one way or $24 return for a foreign adult. Many visitors ride up and walk down, which takes about 1 h 30.

Aguas Calientes is 1,359 m lower than Cusco, so a night there is also an easy night for your body. Arrive in the afternoon, sleep, and take the first buses up.

Tickets: buy them before anything else

Entry is timed, and sold by circuit and route. The Ministry of Culture sells tickets online through its official platform, and in person in Aguas Calientes, where it releases 1,000 tickets a day, valid for the following day. Do not plan around those: in busy months they are the queue you are trying to avoid.

A standard ticket for a foreign adult costs S/ 152, plus the S/ 11 conservation fee that the park authority, SERNANP, charges foreign visitors. Four of the ten routes, including the walk to the Inca Bridge, are sold only in high season. When the daily cap fills, and in which months it fills first, is in our best time to visit Peru guide.

On foot: the Inca Trail and the other treks

The classic Inca Trail is the one way in that is not a train. Even it starts from the railway: PeruRail’s early departures from Ollantaytambo let hikers off at the KM 104 stop. The classic trail needs permits booked months ahead, and it is closed every February for maintenance under the park authority’s own regulation.

There are also longer approaches, such as the Salkantay route, and a back way by road to the Hidroeléctrica station, from where a train covers the last stretch in about 40 minutes. Each of the treks deserves its own planning, and this guide does not try to cover them: if you want to arrive on foot, choose the trek first and fit the rest of the trip around its permit.