Traveling with a small child is really a marathon (not a sprint), so my hubby, our 1-year-old and that i experienced the breathtaking elevation and sights of Machu Picchu and also the scenic journey to and from the remote area during the period of 72 hours and two nights. Because this was a part of an extended (strictly budgeted) six-month get a hearty the continent, we tracked and kept meticulous records of every purchase. Here's what we spent and ways you can save.
Pre-trip costs
Transportation: USD$152.44 on two adult one-way flights* from Lima to Cuzco with Avianca airline and USD $27.52 on a cab ride from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo. We negotiated the cab fare having a dispatcher, who apparently didn't relay our rate to the driver, so we needed to pay a few dollars more than we'd intended. There are buses available for a lesser cost, but we took a cab to accommodate our baby's sleep schedule.
Train tickets*: $196 on two adult two-way Inca Rail train tickets for "the Voyager" class (the most economic in price, however it felt like first class to us) from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu and "the 360" class (a slightly more costly option) from Machu Picchu to Cuzco. The difference between "the Voyager" and "the 360" was negligible to all of us – the upgrades being wider windows and an outdoor observatory train car you could go admire the views from; however, the return time on "the 360" would be a better fit for the schedule.
We booked our train tickets and Machu Picchu entries one month in front of our intended arrival. A possible change of plans led us to revisit the Inca Rail website a week before our journey, where saw a promotion for the travel dates. We requested reimbursement for the tickets and bought new ones at the lower price, saving $62.
Machu Picchu general entry fees*: $92 for 2 adults. If you want to go on one of the hikes, plan on spending more.
Accommodation: $79.48 for two nights in a deluxe double room with a balcony at Vista Machu Picchu, a brief walk to and from the train station, souvenir shops, local restaurants, and also the bus towards the Machu Picchu ruins.
If I ever return to the region, I'd find something further away from the train tracks, however. The noise of the arriving and departing trains is really overwhelming, my husband felt nauseated anytime he was within our room. And that we didn't use that balcony for considerably longer than to pose for any single photo.
Total pre-trip spending: $547.44
On the ground
Sunday
Total: $66.60
11am: We board our train going to Aguas Calientes, the suburbs located away from Inca ruins. It's by far the nicest type of transportation we've ever taken, and that's including first-class flights. Because we're traveling with a baby, the kind crew upgrades us to seating for four. We enjoy a light lunch and coffee, contained in the price of our ticket, and take a lot of GoPro videos of all the lush greenery outside our huge windows.
1pm: We arrive, make our way to our hotel, check-in, get settled within our room, and it's time for our baby's afternoon nap.
4pm: We're off to explore the town. First of all, an earlier dinner. Right now we have developed a routine for locating the very best deals when dining out, even just in a tourist hub like Aguas Calientes. We stick to side streets, always check the listed prices (where possible), price compare from restaurant to restaurant, as well as, where appropriate, negotiate. Tonight, since we're visiting throughout the slow season, our waiter offers us a 15 percent discount on the lowest-price pre-fixe menu option available, called the "tourist menu" (though it's the most cost effective). We also obtain a drink and dessert each as add-ons, in exchange for sitting in the outdoor seating to help make the place, that is otherwise empty, look appealing to people passing by. Our total comes to $15.12 for 2 meals, which we share one of the three of us.
While we're out, we obtain our bus tickets to get at the entrance of the Machu Picchu ruins ($48 for two adult roundtrip tickets). The following day we'll discover on our in place the zig-zagging path that people can and do, actually, hike one or both ways (about Five to six miles, depending on where you're staying) to save on that expense.
Lastly, we pick up whole milk, fruits, along with other snacks for our baby in a local market, negotiating on all of our prices here, as well, as we've learned more or less what fair prices ought to be for every item, for $3.48.
7pm: Bedtime for baby and adults. We have an early begin in the morning.
Monday
Total: $18.90
8:15am: After free breakfast at our hotel, we're on our method to catch our bus. But I'm frantic. Everything we've read has recommended that people should have rain ponchos for the unpredictable (but often rainy) weather in Machu Picchu. I've learned that in my overexuberance to bring along light, I've left my rain jacket within my suitcase stored in the Ollantaytambo train station. Inside a panic, I stop at the marketplace, negotiating (but not as well as I'd like) to buy a $1.21 rain poncho which i won't end up needing today, but one I will eventually use to protect my belongings on the subsequent visit to the Amazon Jungle.
8:45-11am: We walk through the ruins, pausing at each photo opp to snap our very own perfect family postcard.
After a while of feeling caught up among a lot of holidaymakers, we venture off onto the much emptier Inca Bridge trail, where the staff make us record our names and starting time, so that they know who to consider if we don't sign out. Though my anxiety about heights is defined to the most extreme test, we all do eventually sign out.
It's been a long morning and our little one naps through the end in our visit and keeps on napping whenever we return to your accommodation.
2:10pm: After our $6.05 lunch, we explore more, encountering hairless dogs, which are themselves an element of the history, their presence in Peru dating back thousands of years.
6:30pm: After our baby's afternoon nap, we walk to the very fringe of the town to find the lowest advertised menu for supper, $10.58 for two meals. On our way back to our hotel, we visit a soccer field where our child crawls around, joyful when some local kids share their soccer ball.
For the last stop of the night before being prepared for bed, we spend $1.06 on Inca Kola, a Peruvian soda that my husband has heard is comparable to the Kolashampan bought from his home country of El Salvador.
Tuesday
Total: $4.83
9:30am: Another free hotel breakfast, trip to the soccer field, spotting more local hairless dogs, and it's time for you to buy snacks during the day ($1.21 on avocados) and souvenirs, $3.62 on a 10-pack of llama magnets, the very best price we can find of all the souvenir stands.
10:30am-2:30pm: We head back to Cuzco, first by train to Ollantaytambo. We grab our luggage stored in the station, then change to a private passenger van, also offered through Inca Rail's "Bimodal" train-to-bus service. We originally purchased an afternoon ride from Aguas Calientes, but after our first day here we realized seeing the ruins was the only real true highlight of the area, therefore we changed our return train to obtain back earlier in the day.
The ride back is just as lovely, green, and comfortable because it was in route in.
The final tally
Overall spend: $637.77
Notes: It's certainly easy to remain in Aguas Calientes for just one evening, and, by taking the first get trained in and the latest train out, it's also possible to avoid staying overnight in Aguas Calientes altogether. Having said that, even those without young one's sleeping schedules or levels of energy to think about should consider staying the night time to avoid back-to-back traveling with a potentially long and strenuous hike among. As said before within the diary, hiking back and forth from the entry of Machu Picchu rather than taking public transit could help cut back too.
More travel spending diaries:
6 days in Cuzco and also the Sacred Valley
A weekend visit to Cologne
A long weekend in Paris
