Machu Picchu Holidays

As shrouded in mystery as it is in clouds, a private or small group tour to Machu Picchu is an opportunity to draw your own conclusions as to what ancient Inca life here was like. The current belief is that the site was built as a royal estate in the fifteenth century and occupied for just eighty years before being abandoned during the Spanish conquest of the Andes, possibly due to smallpox that was introduced by the invaders.

This archetypical “lost city” lies at a high altitude (2,430m) and was introduced to the western world by the explorer, historian and Yale lecturer, Hiram Bingham. He was led there by a local villager in 1911, only to find the graffiti “Agustín Lizárraga July 14th 1902” in charcoal on a wall. National Geographic magazine published Bingham’s later efforts to document and uncover the site, leading him to be widely credited as its discoverer.

The site can be reached either by road from the nearby town of Aguas Calientes or by hiking the Inca Trail, taking about four days with accommodations from camping to luxury lodges. However you choose to get to Machu Picchu, the journey is part of the holiday.

Once you’ve arrived, you’ll have time to explore about 200 dwellings and storehouses, temples, fountains and squares that make up the site plus the sophisticated system of irrigated terraces for food crops for growing food. Royal and religious structures include the Temple of the Sun, Intihuatana Stone and the Inti Mach’ay, a cave used to observe the Royal Feast of the Sun. Many of the central buildings and terraces use the polished dry stone walls that the Incas excelled at constructing and allowed them to build without mortar.

You can explore Machu Picchu, either as a tour in itself or on a day trip as part of a wider small group tour of Peru, with our guides and experts. Add Lima, Cusco, Lake Titicaca, the salt pans of Maras, Colca Canyon and further Inca ruins in the Sacred Valley to your itinerary, or make it a family hike of the Inca Trail.