How to get:
The cheapest option is to drive your own vehicle to the hydroelectric power station (the closest point to which you can get driving). That means about 180 km of curves from Cusco, by paved road till Santa Maria, then 25 km of dirt road of a single lane to Santa Teresa, and finally, 10 km of bad road, where many travelers have damaged their car. Then walk 10km (2-3 hours) to MachuPicchu town (also known as Aguas Calientes) and finally climb 1.5km up stairs to MachuPicchu.
The most expensive option is to take a train in Cusco that takes you to Machu Picchu town (average price round trip 180USD) and from there a bus that goes up to the sacred city (roundtrip price 24 USD).
There is an intermediate option that was the one we chose and is driving through the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo, and from there take the train (which is cheaper than from Cusco) about 130USD and then take the bus to go up.
Tickets:
Since this year there are two shifts, the morning one (from 6 am to 12 pm) and the afternoon one (from 12 am to 6 pm) both cost about 46 USD. There is also another one called afternoon ticket that allows you the entrance from 13h to 18h, practically the same as the one in the afternoon but cheaper, costs around 30 USD.
A lot of people said that the most beautiful thing is to get to the citadel very soon to see the sunrise but we can confirm that it is also beautiful to see the sunset and after 4pm we were practically alone!
What to do if you travel with a dog:
Just before reaching Ollantaytambo we stopped at Urubamba where there is a boy, a canine trainer, who offers a “dog daycare” service. There we left Perito really sad but with the assurance that he would be fine, surrounded by other dogs and playing all day. The guy was really nice and was sending us photos and videos so we could see that our baby was fine! 🙂 We have also heard from other travelers that there are more places in Cusco where you can leave your pet.
