Most of us are probably familiar with that one specific photograph of Machu Picchu overlooking the rustic Inca ruins with the majestic mountain in the background. But did you know that the picture actually only represents perhaps 5%, at best, of what Machu Picchu site truly comprises?
Did you know that you could come down to and observe every single one of those ruins closely, hike the mountain in the background and also another mountain nearby, get 360 degrees panoramic view comprising that picture and all other amazing landscape from a short hike, and on top of that, chill with llamas on a green prairie overlooking the highlands?
In this post, I would like to share my experience that helped me to get the best out of Machu Picchu using the standard entrance ticket only – even as a solo traveller who does not have much experience in hiking.
My entire mountain-roaming journey is basically just hiking once in Indonesia’s Mt. Cikuray, then a couple more in Jasper, Banff, and Chéticamp of Canada, and that’s it. If you’re more experienced than what I seem to be, then you could also try out some other hiking opportunities in the Machu Picchu site that I will talk about as well, that I wished I had tried too. But you’re very welcome to simply follow my itinerary because I think what I did was already more than just sufficient to carry this as a wonderful once in a lifetime experience!
(This post is written as the second part of my three-piece articles on #PeruMarathonSeries
in the spirit of upcoming Peru’s 99th independence day this 28th of July. Read the previous post on my affordable 6-day full itinerary here.)
