Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail Hotels

Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail Hotel Reviews

There is only one hotel at Machu Picchu itself and that is the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge. It will cost you to stay there no doubt, as it's an exclusive property owned by Orient-Express, the same company that operates PeruRail, but it's also the only place you can sit in a Jacuzzi and look at the Inca city long after the crowds have left. In Aguas Calientes you'll find many hostels and cheaper hotels lining the railroad tracks—that's not as down-at-the-heels as it first sounds: many rooms have great waterfront views. Aguas Calientes' budget lodgings are utilitarian places to lay your head, with a bed, a table, a bathroom, and little else. A handful of hotels offer surprising luxury for such an isolated location. Their rates can be shockingly luxurious, too.

The Big Four lodgings here (Sanctuary Lodge, Inkaterra, Sumaq, and Hatuchay Tower) meet their guests on the rail platforms—look for their signs when you get off the train—and deliver your luggage right to your hotel room. Some of the main roads in this town are quite steep, making such a service especially nice. (They deliver your luggage from hotel to train for your departure, too, but reconfirm this; the train might pull out with you, minus your bags.) Smaller hotels usually meet guests with advance reservations just outside the train station.

Lodgings keep surprisingly early checkout times. (Hotels free up the rooms for mid-morning Cusco-Ollantaytambo-Machu Picchu trains.) Expect to vacate by 9 am, though this is less strictly enforced in the off-season. Most hotels will hold your luggage if you're not leaving town until later in the day.

Many hotels keep the same official rates year-round but unofficially discount rates during the off-season of mid-September through May.