Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is the most famous archaeological site in the Americas, a breathtaking Inca citadel of finely cut stone temples, palaces and agricultural terraces perched on a saddle high in the Andes, ringed by cloud-wreathed jungle peaks. Built in the fifteenth century and never found by the Spanish, it was revealed to the wider world in 1911. A UNESCO site and one of the New Seven Wonders, it is astonishing in both setting and craft.

History

Older chronologies, based on John H. Rowe's reconstruction of Pachacuti's reign, put the start of building around 1450, but a 2021 study led by Richard L. Burger of Yale, using 26 radiocarbon dates from human remains, found the site was occupied from about 1420 to 1530; construction appears to belong to the reigns of Pachacutec, 1438-1471, and Túpac Inca Yupanqui, 1472-1493. Archaeologists agree that Pachacutec ordered the royal estate after conquering the middle and lower Urubamba, as a seasonal retreat used for about 80 years; some 750 people lived there, most of them yanaconas, servants who stayed all year, and skeletal and genetic studies show they came from across the Andes, the coast, Ecuador and the Amazon. The site was abandoned around the time of the Spanish conquest, and its builders' name for it is unknown: a 2021 study suggests it was called Huayna Picchu or simply Picchu, the name Machu Picchu, old peak, being attached to the ruins through Hiram Bingham's publications of 1911 (Wikipedia, Machu Picchu).

Highlights

• The citadel - the temples, terraces and stone buildings of the lost city.
• The classic viewpoint - the postcard panorama from the guardhouse.
• Huayna Picchu - the peak behind for a steep climb and aerial view.
• The Inca stonework - the precise, mortarless masonry of the temples.

When to go

May to September, the dry season, for the clearest weather, though cloud and mist can roll in any time; go early for the best light and thinner crowds. Tickets are timed and limited, so book well ahead, especially for the peak Huayna Picchu climb.

Practical notes

Visitor numbers are strictly capped with timed tickets and set circuits, so book well ahead, as it sells out; there is no walk-up. Reaching it means a train and bus or a multi-day trek, and the town below, Aguas Calientes, is touristy. The altitude and steep terraces demand some fitness, and rain and mist are common.

Nearby

Cusco and the Sacred Valley are the gateways; the Inca Trail leads here on foot.

Key facts