Fiesta Tours Peru

The train journey from Cusco to Machu Picchu is a highlight of any trip to the Andes. The 3 and a half to four hours journey takes you through a changing landscape. First there is a steep climb out of Cusco into the surrounding hillside, by means of a series of switchback turns known locally as "the zig zag".

The train then stops at Poroy before descending into the Sacred Valley, passing by lush, green fields and colourful villages in the foothills of the Andes. After departing Poroy and going through Cachimayo, the train descends to the plateau of Anta, a patchwork landscape of typical Andean crops and passes lush fields and colourful villages in the foothills of the Andes.

Far to the left, just below the horizon, the massive agricultural terraces of Jaquijahuana can be seen, close to the village of Zurite. Sadly, these great terraces are all that remain today of what was once a major Inca city, lost forever during the first years after the Spanish conquest.

Beyond the town of Huarocondo the great plain narrows dramatically as the track enters a deep gorge carved by the rushing Pomatales River down which the railway, too, is funnelled until it meets the Urubamba River, which runs through the beautiful Sacred Valley.

The train passes through extensive areas of terracing dotted with the ruins of Inca fortresses. Bisecting this are still-visible sections of an ancient, long-abandoned highway adopted by the muleteers of the late 19th century, who used it to travel between Cusco and the rubber plantations of the Amazon lowlands.

Five kilometres beyond Pachar, is the village of Ollantaytambo where farmers work with the same patience and skill that their ancestors must have employed to shape and then move the huge blocks of stone with which they built both their homes and the temples in which they worshipped.

As the train leaves Ollantaytambo to begin the last part of its journey to Machu Picchu, the temple complex known as The Fortress, dedicated sometime in the 15th century to the many deities of the Inca pantheon, can be seen to the right above the earthwork ramp once used to drag its monolithic blocks up from the valley floor.

The railway follows the river into the Urubamba Gorge. At Coriwaynachina, known simply to the generations of hikers who have begun the Inca Trail there as Km 88, a fine staircase carved into the rock leads to a series of ruined buildings where once, it is said, Inca artisans took advantage of the constant wind that rises from the valley floor to smelt gold.

Emerging from a short tunnel, a series of beautiful agricultural terraces marks the ruins of Qente, which in Quechua means hummingbird. In this fertile microclimate fed by a nearby waterfall, giant hummingbirds are indeed a common sight in the early morning and bright flowers bloom all year round.

Surrounded by tall ceibos and rocky outcrops hung with orchids and bromeliads, the train passes Km 104 at Chachabamba, from where the one-day trek to Machu Picchu via the magnificent ruins of Wiñay Wayna begins.

At just two km from the Inca Remains, the train arrives at Machu Picchu Town. Surrounded by the high, green mountains that cradle the famous lost city, as well as myriad other Inca remains, this small town, which is well known for its thermal baths, has blossomed into a popular overnight destination for travellers to Machu Picchu.

Guests disembark at Machu Picchu Town to start a unique experience at Machu Picchu Inca Citadel.

For images please click on the train service name

NOTES:

Frequency: Daily

(*)The Hiram Bingham service is programmed from Monday to Saturday

For information on the menu aboard the Hiram Bingham click here

The train departs from San Pedro station in Cusco and quickly climbs out of the imperial city along a series of zig-zagging switchbacks, which carry it through a chaos of streets between houses, which cling precariously to the hills surrounding Cusco’s historic centre.
Emerging from the suburban sprawl at El Arco the train is met by the magnificent sight of undulating green uplands unfolding towards the horizon, where they meet on a clear day with the snow capped Vilcabamba mountains to the northwest.

After passing the small town of Poroy and Cachimayo, the train descends to the plateau of Anta, a patchwork landscape of typical Andean crops and passes lush fields and colourful villages in the foothills of the Andes.

Far to the left, just below the horizon, the massive agricultural terraces of Jaquijahuana can be seen, close to the village of Zurite. Sadly, these great terraces are all that remain today of what was once a major Inca city, lost forever during the first years after the Spanish conquest.

Beyond the town of Huarocondo the great plain narrows dramatically as the track enters a deep gorge carved by the rushing Pomatales River down which the railway, too, is funnelled until it meets the Urubamba River, which runs through the beautiful Sacred Valley.

The train passes through extensive areas of terracing dotted with the ruins of Inca fortresses. Bisecting this are still-visible sections of an ancient, long-abandoned highway adopted by the muleteers of the late 19th century, who used it to travel between Cuzco and the rubber plantations of the Amazon lowlands.

Five kilometres beyond Pachar, is the village of Ollantaytambo, here, farmers work with the same patience and skill that their ancestors must have employed to shape and then move the huge blocks of stone with which they built both their homes and the temples in which they worshipped.

As the train leaves Ollantaytambo to begin the last part of its journey to Machu Picchu, the temple complex known as The Fortress, dedicated sometime in the 15th century to the many deities of the Inca pantheon, can be seen to the right above the earthwork ramp once used to drag its monolithic blocks up from the valley floor.

The railway follows the river into the Urubamba Gorge. At Coriwaynachina, known simply to the generations of hikers who have begun the Inca Trail there as Km 88, a fine staircase carved into the rock leads to a series of ruined buildings where once, it is said, Inca artisans took advantage of the constant wind that rises from the valley floor to smelt gold.

Emerging from a short tunnel, a series of beautiful agricultural terraces marks the ruins of Qente, which in Quechua means hummingbird. In this fertile microclimate fed by a nearby waterfall, giant hummingbirds are indeed a common sight in the early morning and bright flowers bloom all year round.

Surrounded by tall ceibos and rocky outcrops hung with orchids and bromeliads, the train passes Km 104 at Chachabamba, from where the one-day trek to Machu Picchu via the magnificent ruins of Wiñay Wayna begins.

The train arrives at Machu Picchu Town. Surrounded by the high, green mountains that cradle the famous lost city, as well as myriad other Inca remains, this small town, which is well known for its thermal baths, has blossomed into a popular overnight destination for travellers to Machu Picchu.

NOTES:

Frequency: Daily

Highlighted trains will only be available during the high season (April to October) and will only be programmed if demand.

Cusco - from Cusco, the train heads south-east, following the Huatanay River through green fields dotted with willow trees and eucalyptus groves, and passing outlying communities gathered around colonial churches.

25 km from Cusco - the train passes through Oropesa, an early-rising community whose forty-seven bakeries have provided Cusco with its daily bread for generations.

32 km - before reaching Lake Muina, the train turns to the left, crossing the valley road, to join the Vilcanota River at Huambutio as it plunges sharply into its gorge before widening into the great Urubamba canyon.

40 km - at Rumicolca, we are close to the great stone gateway of the same name which, for the Incas, silently guarded the southern approach to Cusco. For the much earlier Wari culture it served as an aqueduct, channeling water from the picturesque Laguna de Lucre to their walled city at Pikillacta.

45 km - the church at Andahuaylillas is one of the jewels in Cusco’s colonial crown and boasts a magnificent series of murals and superb colonial-era paintings, all on diverse religious themes.

59 km - at Urcos lies the lake which gives the village its name. Urcos is both a popular spot for weekenders from Cusco and as local legend suggests, the repository of Inca gold hidden there forever by local chieftains, anxious to prevent the Spanish from melting down their sacred objects.

80 km - the two villages of Cusipata and Checacupe (at 99 km) hide unexpected treasures of both pre-Columbian and colonial origin, from fine Inca and pre-Inca remains, to yet another ornately-decorated 17th century church.

120 km - at Raqchi, just before the San Pedro railway station, the remains of the great temple of Viracocha, the creator god, can just be seen to the left of the train. Raqchi has been described by John Hemming as "probably the largest roofed building ever built by the Incas". Seventeen km beyond San Pedro, the train stops at Sicuani, a bustling island of commerce amid a barren landscape. Aymara women ferry their goods around this important market town on nimbly-chauffeured taxi-tricycles, or sit impassively before their wares awaiting a buyer.

186 km - at Marangani, where an English-style manor house built in the last century is still home to the descendents of the wool barons who established the regions only textile factory there more than one hundred years ago, Cuzco’s fertile hills give way to the high plain known as the Altiplano.

The train continues to climb for another 27 km, past the thermal baths at Aguas Calientes to La Raya, 210 km from Puno. At 4321 metres above sea level this is the highest point on the journey, a cold, remote place whose surrounding snow-draped peaks are often shrouded by mist or fine rain, and whose eerie silence is at least partly attributable to eardrums blocked by the dizzying altitude. Crossing this great watershed, the train travels across a sea of seemingly-endless coarse grassland through villages lost to time for all but the Coca Cola company and local breweries.

281 km - the train reaches Juliaca, a commercial railway-junction town of around 150,000 inhabitants, whose rampant buying and selling seems at times to virtually spill onto the tracks and force the train to pick its way through their stalls.

Juliaca is the last stop on this journey through Andean highland culture before reaching Puno (3855 metres), an expanding, low-roofed university town spread around an austere cathedral, which, since its foundation in 1668, has strengthened its tenuous grip on the shores of Lake Titicaca by gradually scaling the surrounding hills.

Cusco - Puno - Cusco Train:
During the low season (November to March) the departures on both routes are: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. During the high season (April to October) the departures on both routes are: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday

Cusco - Puno - Cusco by Bus