Cusco Travel Forum

My wife Carol and I, along with my sister, are planning on going down to Peru in less than a month (March 17). We are flying into Lima and going to go down to the Cusco area on March 19 and 20. I know that two days is not enough time, but we have to fly back to Lima to meet with my uncle on Sunday, March 21.

Anyway, we are planning on taking it easy on the first day in Cusco, get acclimated to the altitude and so forth. My first question is, do we need a tour, or can we get around the city and see the best sites without? Also, what are the "best" sites to see in Cusco? Are there certain ones we should avoid? Do we need to get the "tourist pass"? Finally, does anyone have suggestions for a hostel that we should (or should not) stay at? We are on a tight budget.

My next question is for Machu Picchu. We will take the early "backpacker" train and will allow about 4 hours (if I remember right) in the Machu Picchu ruins. I've been told this is not enough time, but we're going to make do. Should we invest in a tour once we get here? My wife is concerned that we will lose track of the time and miss the train going back to Cusco. We have our plane ticket for Sunday, leaving early in the morning. So this would be very bad. We are reserving a book from the library of a self-guided tour of Machu Picchu. Do you think this will be informative enough?

I suppose my last question is if you think we should get a tourguide, is there anyone we should look for or avoid? I know this can be variable, but suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

I think you'll be better off by yourselves, but with a decent guidebook.

Enjoy!

I think Joshua's recommendations are excellent but I don't think you have enough time to do the Sacred Valley if I understand your schedule. With the limited time you have, I would try to take the half day Cusco tour using the Boleto Turistico on the 19th. It is an early start and a late finish to take the train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, do a four hour Machu Picchu tour, and return to Cusco on the afternoon train. It would fill the 20th completely.

I realize you already have your tickets, but if you could fly to Lima early on the 22nd instead, I would focus on Ollantaytambo (and maybe Pisac) in the Sacred Valley on the 20th and spend the night in Aguas Calientes as Joshua recommended. You can then have the whole morning and a bit of the afternoon of the 21st at Machu Picchu before returning to Cusco on the afternoon train.

I highly recommend the Hostal Rumi Punku for your Cusco stay. It's inexpensive and the staff are extremely friendly and efficient. The hotel can arrange cusco and sacred valley tours for you - check with them for options that will work for your tight schedule.

4 hrs at Machu Pichu shouldnt be too bad for a hurried tour of the ruins - Read up background info before you get there - history, general layout, etc - a self guided tour using a good book should be enough. You will be bus'ed from Aguas Calientes train station to the ruins - so make sure you check the bus times so that you wont miss your train back to cusco.

I highly recommend The Machu Picchu Guidebook: A Self-Guided Tour by Ruth M. Wright. I own a copy of the book which I can mail out to you if you need. Just get it back to me once you are back.

Please check my cusco page for more details.

you can recieve help from me, contact me to hermaniti@yahoo.es of course about your trip everything is well done, I THINK YOU ARE RIGHT, do the best you can, the train rout to go and come back is about all day long, you return to Cusco at night. And it is better when you find a guide for your visit to the ruins.
keep in touch. have a nice tour. by by

Thank you all very, very much for all of your input. I think we will probably try and do the tour thing by ourselves. From what I've read from all of you, it seems to be the best. However, I think we may check out some of the tour companies in Cusco to see if there are any that are very inexpensive. We'll see once we get down there.

If anyone has just logged on and still has advice, please continue to leave it, as I will check it up to the day we leave. I am still looking at everyones' website as I am able. I am very impressed with VT; an indispensible website.

Thanks again,
Keith and Carol

jackfruit,

Thank you for your generosity. We'll borrow it from the library and bring it down with us. This way, you don't need to worry about shipping and all that. But thanks for the offer and all of your advice!

Keith and Carol