Or Aguas Calientes, as it’s previously known by, is a small village at the foot of the mountain which Machu Picchu lies on. If you want the earliest of start getting to the ruins in the morning, staying here would be the best choice, and in my opinion the only reason to spend time here. The village is nothing more than a tourist area built to cater to the million+ visitors that descend each year. There are hotels, restaurants, and shops, and quite expensive I thought, compared to the price level elsewhere in Peru. There’s also a huge market next to the train station. Nothing of this particularly appealing to me. My highlights were playing with a kitten and its siblings at a store next to the train tracks running through town, and a small street food market that came into being at the main square.
Getting to Aguas Calientes started with climbing onboard some sort of covered motorbike taxi, from my hostel to the train station in Ollantaytambo, picking up a random person on the way. From there I went on Perurail‘s glass-roofed train to the Machu Picchu village.
Cute cat! Peru is on my list as is South America generally #farawayfiles
Super cute cat!! Wanted to take it home 🙂 Love Latin America!
What a cute kitten! I only spent a small amount of time here. We got off the train quite a bit further away and hiked along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. It was great seeing it from above for the first time. Thanks for sharing on #FarawayFiles
So cute!! Me too. Yes, I saw some people get off the train before arriving at the village. Sounds like a great idea! Seeing MP for the first time was awesome!!
We took the train instead and arrived in this large market area! Indeed the whole town is just built to support the tourists whose main aim (as ours) is to go up to the lost city!
We were dropped off somewhere else, so I didn’t see the market until I was on my way to the train station going back.