Machu Picchu is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and is also a UNESCO World Culture Heritage that makes it highly popular and attractive. Actually, even without these titles, Machu Picchu is an outstanding and magnificent ancient city. I bet it is also on the bucket list of many tourists and travelers. Well if yo are one of those travelers, the first thing you have to do after you decide on your trip to Peru is to book and buy your Machu Picchu/Huayna Picchu ticket. Because the number of tickets are limited. Each day only 2500 tickets are sold for Machu Picchu and 400 tickets for Huayna Picchu.
So let’s find out how to book and buy your Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu ticket and how to get them. There are 4 ways to get your tickets.
Official Government Website – Online Booking and Sales
You can book and buy your tickets of Machu Picchu, Huayna Picchu, Machu Picchu Mountain and the Museum of Manuel Chavez Ballon from the official website of government. I will try to explain how to book and buy the ticket step by step from the website.
The Types and prices of Tickets of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu
You can (and I recommend that you do) also watch the tutorial video I made about how to book the ticket and make the payment.
You can’t buy the discounted and student tickets from the site. The site only accepts Visa cards. If you do not have Visa cards, you can make payment through Banco de la Nacion with your reservation code. Don’t forget that the cashiers in the bank don’t speak English (at least not that much).
Travel Agencies and Websites
There are many licensed travel agencies in Cusco and websites on the internet that sell tickets of Machu Picchu, Huayna Picchu and other sites. They certainly add the commission to the price of the ticket. The prices of the tickets in the travel agencies and on the websites can be two times of the normal price.
The Cultural Office in Cusco
You can buy the ticket from Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC) office on Calle San Bernardo that is close to Plaza de Armas in cash only. You can buy student and discounted tickets from here. Their office is open between 08:00 and 16:00.
The Cultural Office in Aguas Calientes
Do not worry if you still haven’t bought your ticket and you’re already at Aguas Calientes which is the small village where all tourists who want to go to the Machu Picchu pass from there. You can buy the tickets from the cultural office that is a few hundred meters away to the main square. Again, they only accept cash and the office is open between 05:00 and 21:00.
Great Post
I tried several times purchasing Machu Picchu tickets from the official site, but I later on found out that getting a Credit Card that will work with their website is their biggest issue. They only accept ‘verified by visa” credit cards. The cheapest third party website I found was http://machupicchu.center I got my tickets within a few hours of ordering it.
Yeah unfortunately they only accept Visa 🙁 Thanks for the information Dana 🙂