Machu Picchu DIY vs. Tour: How I Saved $58

Table of Contents

• Compare your choice by cost and experience

  • Cost comparison table

• My Experience at Machu Picchu Ruins

Compare your choice by cost and experience

As mentioned in my previous article (Cusco → Machu Picchu: My Painfully Honest Q&A Guide), there was so much inconsistent information that I had to cross-check multiple sources while planning my Machu Picchu trip. It got to the point where I seriously considered just buying a package tour. But persistent as I am 😗 (or maybe just a money-saver ha), I ended up figuring everything out and planning my own trip 🤜

As you can see from the table below, planning the trip myself saved me $58.4 — though that came at the cost of over two hours of research 🥲. For me, maybe not the most cost-effective trade-off… but for you, it could be a pretty good deal! You just need to read my simple Q&A Guide (takes only 5 minutes!) and follow the booking links I’ve included — then you’re all set! Sounds like a plan, right? 😇

Cost comparison table

As for the cost, I do want to mention some things here:

• The price - $270 for joining a tour is provided by a hotel owner in Cusco. They are willing to provide discount at $270/per person.

• If you check other tour options on those famous website, the price is actually similar to $270. (You’ll see many $100+ options but that doesn’t include trains/ Some of them will indicate the full package in the header with cheaper price, but when you click in, it gets way more expensive cuz you’ll have to book services separately)

• The tour offered to me includes a private tour guide but doesn’t include panoramic view train and a snack box.

• There are many websites selling Machu Picchu entrance tickets, which are usually more expensive than the official price ($40 for a foreign adult for circuit 1 official ticket in my case). I suspect the merchants take advantage of the scarcity and hire people to line up for the daily 1,000 onsite tickets.

My Experience at Machu Picchu Ruins

Maybe because the image of Machu Picchu is so iconic, I didn’t really feel that wowwwww moment when I was actually there. But thinking about it, it’s still pretty amazing that the Inca civilization built an entire settlement on a mountain over 2,000 meters high. It’s said that Machu Picchu was originally constructed in the 15th century as a rural retreat for Inca nobles. Many parts of what we see today have actually been rebuilt in modern times to help visitors better understand the original structure — and the restoration work is still ongoing. (No wonder I saw construction tools lying around!)

Visiting in mid-May turned out to be such a good choice. The weather was perfect — you can definitely just wear short sleeves with a light jacket — and it’s great for walking. There are a few trails around the area too, but I didn’t take them. Just walking from the entrance to the ruins took about 2.5 hours, and that was already satisfying enough for me.

Fun fact: some people hike up Wayna Picchu to get a bird’s-eye view of the ruins. That requires a Circuit 3 ticket, which costs about $15 more than the Circuit 1 ticket I had. But when we were there around noon, the checkpoint for Wayna Picchu was completely unguarded — nobody was checking tickets 😂 Not sure if it was lunch break or something else haha.