Buying a Boleto Turístico

Buying a Boleto Turístico

Innumerable travel agencies in Cusco will try to sell you a package tour of the city and region, including Machu Picchu and some of the Sacred Valley sights. If you prefer to travel independently, you can purchase a boleto turístico (tourist ticket) for S/70, or S/35 with an international student ID. Travel agencies include the ticket in packages, but you can buy one on your own at either location of the Oficina Ejecutiva del Comité Boleto Turístico (OFEC, Av. El Sol 103. 084/227-037. Garcilaso and Heladeros. 084/226-919. www.boletoturisticodelcusco.com), open Monday through Saturday 8 to 5 and Sunday 8 to 2.

The ticket is valid for 10 days for one entry to each of 16 major attractions, including churches, convents, museums, and archaeological sites, in and around Cusco and the Sacred Valley. (Machu Picchu is not included.) Purchasing the tourist ticket is the only way to guarantee entry to the participating sites. In theory, each individual site sells the tickets; in practice, few have them. Depending on what you want to see, however, the full ticket might not be worth the price. Two alternative tickets exist: a boleto parcial (partial ticket) for S/40 is good for admission for one day only at Sacsayhuamán, Qenko, Puka Pukara, and Tambomachay, the four Inca ruins nearest Cusco. Another partial ticket, also S/40, is valid for two days at farther-flung ruins of Pisac, Chinchero, and Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley and Tipón and Pikillacta in the Southeastern Urubamba Valley. Buy your tickets ahead of time at the one of the two OFEC offices.

If you're interested in only Cusco's cathedral and Qorikancha, as are many short-term visitors, then the boleto turístico is of no use. The Archdiocese of Cusco took the cathedral, the church of San Blas, and the religious art museum in the archbishop's palace out of the boleto turístico scheme in 2005. These three sights are now united under their own boleto intergral (integral ticket), which you can purchase at the cathedral for S/15 (S/7.50 with an international student ID). The ticket is valid for 10 days, and the price includes the services of guides at each location, who provide top-notch information in English as well as Spanish (and often other languages, too). If you're not interested in visiting all three, it is possible to pay individual admission prices to these sights, but the three-in-one price is such a bargain, and the sights are so close together, you might as well go for the full ticket.

The Qorikancha, arguably Cusco's most fabulous tourist sight, levies its own admission price, that is, it is not a member of the boleto turístico partnership. The equally wonderful Museo Inka and Museo de Arte Precolombino also charge admission independently.