Machu Picchu Town
All our holidays offer an optional excursion to Machu Picchu.
The small town of Machu Picchu, in the valley below the ruins, was known as Aguas Calientes until the late 1990s when it was decided that the name should be changed to that of the ruins. The town is located in an incredibly beautiful area, surrounded by jungle-covered mountains and next to the wonderful Urubamba River. The town itself is not particularly attractive, although it is quite interesting, mainly due to the railway line. There are no cars in the town, apart from the buses to shuttle visitors up to the ruins, and so the ‘main street', as it were, is in fact the railway line. People wander up and down the track, jumping across the platform of the station, and there are even a couple of fruit sellers next to the line. When a train comes, the bustle on the platform, which is the main street's pavement, is wonderful. If it were not for tourism, the whole place could almost be out of a Gabriel García Márquez novel. The town also has one main attraction in itself, the thermal baths. These, located at the top of the hill, are open pools with a stunning view. Many walkers like to come here and rest their weary bones after the Inca Trail. The hot waters are reputedly medicinal. Walking up past the hot baths there is a very pretty waterfall.
Fed up with being unknown, the small town of Aguas Calientes, at the base of Machu Picchu, changed its name in 1998 to Machu Picchu, the same as the ruins. This name obviously has far more kudos and is instantly recognisable around the world. The benefits of this name change were immediately apparent to the mayor responsible for the new name on his first visit to New York. Hearing that the mayor of the famous Machu Picchu was visiting, the city authorities provided him with official transport complete with a police motorcycle envoy to collect him from the airport. As the mayor whizzed towards Manhattan, with police sirens blazing, he must have smiled to think that as mayor of the insignificant Andean town of Aguas Calientes he probably would have had to take the bus.
The ruins of Machu Picchu are the reason visitors come here, and most people spend only one night in the town, or even visit on a day trip from Cusco. However, the whole area is very beautiful, and there are many wonderful walks in the area passing many waterfalls are streams. There is also some good wildlife that can be seen, with many birds, including the cock-of-the-rock, and many, many orchids. The Mandor Waterfall can be reached in a couple of hours, and it is also possible to climb to the top of Putucusi, the peak opposite Machu Picchu on the other side of the Urubamba River.