How to Get Around Cusco Region

Getting in: Cusco’s airport has frequent flights from Lima, about an hour and a quarter. The bus from Lima takes over twenty hours; from Puno and Lake Titicaca it is about seven.

To Machu Picchu: train from Cusco or, more commonly, from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, then a shuttle bus up the switchbacks or a steep hour-and-a-half walk. There is no road to the site. Trains book out in high season.

The Sacred Valley: colectivos run constantly from Cusco to Pisac and Urubamba for very little, and a hired car with driver for a day is inexpensive and covers more.

In Cusco: the centre is walkable but steep and at altitude, so give yourself time. Taxis are cheap and should be agreed before getting in.

Arriving by air, consider going straight down to the valley to sleep lower for the first night.