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INTRODUCTION

The route zigzags up to the highest point of the railway (3668m/12033ft) and continues through typical Andean regions down to the tropical area of Machu Picchu located at 2400m/7873ft above sea level.

ITINERARY:

Day 1: We will pick you up at 6.20 am and take you to the train station - the train leaves at 6.50am. After a 4-hour journey of majestic views we arrive at Aguas Calientes (Hot Springs Town) where we will spend the night. There will be plenty of time to relax if you want to have a hot bath in the natural springs!!!

Day 2: After breakfast we will take the first bus (6.30am) up to Machu Picchu. You will have a guided tour (approximately 2 hours) and then plenty of time to explore the mysterious city by yourself.

You will meet your guide in Aguas Calientes town for lunch and to be given your train tickets back to Cusco. The train usually leaves at 4.20pm and we will arrive back in Cusco at about 8.45pm.

Machu Picchu (Quechua: Machu Pikchu, "Old Peak"; pronounced ['mɑ.tʃu 'pik.tʃu]) is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level.[1] It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 km (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. The river is a partially navigable headwater of the Amazon River. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu probably is the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. It is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

It was built around the year 1460, but was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was said to have been forgotten for centuries when the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. It has recently come to light that the site may have been discovered and plundered several years previously, in 1867 by a German businessman, Augusto Berns.

Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it is especially important as a cultural site and it is considered a sacred place.

Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are located in what is known by archaeologists as the Sacred District of Machu Picchu. In September 2007, Peru and Yale University reached an agreement regarding the return of artifacts which Hiram Bingham had removed from Machu Picchu in the early twentieth century.