Machu Picchu: a cost breakdown

For those of you who have Machu Picchu on your bucket list, I thought it'd be helpful to include a cost breakdown of my recent trip to have as a reference when you plan your own journey. I started the breakdown from Lima, where my friend and I began our journey, to Aguas Callientes (the town of Machu Picchu National Park). It’s always nice to travel with company because you can split the costs but to be conservative, I tallied the total assuming I was traveling alone (all amounts are in USD):

1. Lima> Cusco

-Flight (LIM>CUZ) $92 (1.5 hrs) [Choices: Star Peru, Avianca, LAN airlines]

-Taxi to Plaza de Armas $10

2. Cusco>Ollantaytambo
-Collectivo (Cusco to Ollantaytamba) $3 (2 hrs) [Choices: Real Inca, or no-brand organizations]
-Machu Picchu park entrance fee $40 (DRC Office in Cusco)

3. Ollantaytambo>Aguas Callientes (Machu Picchu)

-Train (Ollantaytamba to Aguas Callientes) $60 (1.5 hrs) [Choices: Peru Rail, Inca Rail]

-Shuttle (Aguas Callientes to MP Park, roundtrip) $20 (40min)

---Our return trip---

Train (Aguas Callientes to Ollantaytamba) $58

Collectivo (Ollantaytamba to Cusco) $3

Taxi to Cusco’s airport $5

Flight (CUZ>LIM) $108

Total transpo: $356 + Park admission $40= $396 and hypothetically 4 full days to do it all

If you have the time and strength and want to do MP on a budget, you can skip the trains and park shuttle and walk instead. We met a couple of backpackers that did this. Apparently walking along the train tracks takes at least 5 hours each way and walking up the shuttle route to the park takes about 2 hours. Also, you can opt for land travel to get from Lima to Cusco; bus fares range from $30-65 and the ride takes about 20 hours. All they had to pay for is their transportation from LIM<>CUZ, the collectivos and the park fee (and perhaps a few nominal cab fares)- less than $200 on the higher-end.

Alternatively, if you’re looking to do the Inca Trail, you’ll need to get to Cusco (the starting point) and then find your own means of returning to Lima after the guided tour is finished. Generally these Cusco>Machu Picchu> Cusco camping trips start around $600 USD and include meals with options for renting camping gear and hiring a porter. Some operators include Aracari, Auqui, SAS, GAP, Llama path, Qente, and Pachamama (and there are many more listed on this tripadvisor review).

Lastly, a few tips:
- Plan to travel the legs of your journey in the daytime- there is nothing worse than trying to find your hostel in dark streets of Lima with limited mobile data. Besides, the landscape is breath taking.
-Utilize luggage storage. Even if you invested vast amounts for a great, equal weight-distributed backpack, the bags yell "RICH FOREIGNER" to the locals of South America.
-Use points to book your flight from home to Lima, if you have them. Especially if you're from the states- cross continental flights to South America are an especially great value considering their dollar costs (20k ea way on Star Alliance). Lots of bang for your points- Cheers!