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Everyone always wants to know what we paid for a trip, so here goes.   For a week in an exotic country, far from home, it was pretty cheap.  I could have gone a little cheaper, but it was cheap enough already that we didn’t feel the need to economize on the major items (and we even splurged by hiring guides – a first for us).  If you don’t count buying a replacement pocket camera (we don’t, since we’ll be using it again, so it wasn’t a cost specifically for this trip), then we spent less than $1500.

Here’s the general breakdown:

Flight – $70.25 each.  Total $140.50

Lodging – Average of $69.17 per night.  We could have cut this in half and still have been in a safe and clean place. Total – $415.

Tours – the long tour with a guide the first day, a great lunch, the bus ride to, and tickets to  and a guide at Machu Picchu -  $158 each.  Total $316.

3 hours of a car and driver  in the Ollantaytambo area – $23.50.

We did the same thing in Cusco (we used a cab) for about the same price.

Train to and from Machu Picchu – $91 each. Total $182.

Meals (average about $6 per person, but breakfast was included with all of our rooms and evening meals were light) – approx. $150.

Tourist boleta to get into over a dozen sites – $42 each.  Total $82.

That’s a total of $1332.  Plus we bought a couple of souvenirs, drank a lot of coca tea, used the internet cafe (less than $1 an hour) a lot, spent some time in several airports, etc., so fifteen hundred dollars is about right.   Although the tour cost $316, it included over $150 of things we would have had to buy even if we had done it on our own (like Machu Picchu tickets, etc), so you could cut that cost in half, and you could easily cut $100 off lodging.  And you could eat for less than we did, too.  And of course you could cut out momentos and the like.  So you could do the trip for 2 or 3 hundred dollars less than we did.  You could also spend more , a LOT more, by hiking the trail, staying in the Machu Picchu Lodge, and so forth.  Our big savings of course were on the flight.  Tickets right now are running about $800 per person from Charlotte NC to Cusco.  We paid $140, for a savings of $1460 ( the whole cost of our trip).  Have I convinced you yet of the value of frequent flyer miles?

Here’s a breakdown of what things cost, item by item:

Backpacker Train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes $43 US each.

Backpacker Train from Aguas Calientes to Poroy (20 minute drive from Cusco) $48 US each.

Bus from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu. $14 US round trip, each.

Boleto de Visita (tourist entrance to 15 museums and ruin sites) $42 US each.

Entrance to Machu Picchu $42 US each.

Hotel Sauce, Ollantaytambo, $98 US per night.

Gringo Bill’s Hostal $75 US per night.

Hostal Marani in Cusco $34.50 US per night.

Marasal site (not on boleto), $2 US each.

Average meal, $5.50 US each. (All of our rooms included breakfast).

Bottle of water $0.50 US each.

Package tour:  Included a van (or bus) to many of the sacred sites (it dropped us off in Ollantaytambo, but it did a circle back to Cusco if you want to take the whole tour), plus a really good meal in Urubamba, a guide at all the sites, tickets and bus passes to Machu Picchu and a guide at Machu Picchu.  They’ll meet you at the train and take care of everything.  Mitos tours.  $158 US each for us.  The price varies depending on what you want. Hotels, too, if you want.

A car and driver (not a guide) to sites surrounding Ollantaytambo, which we had for about 3 hours, $17  US.  Our driver only spoke Spanish.  Same thing  in Cusco (taxi) for the sites surrounding Cusco,  for about the same price.  We tipped s/$20 which is about $$6.50 in each case.

Beer.  Most places only sell Cusqueña.  About s/$5 each ($1.67 US).   Alcohol doesn’t help altitude sickness, remember.

Hotels/Hostals:

Machu Picchu – expect between $35 to $1000 a night, depending on what you need.  Average around $75.

Cusco – expect between $10 and $400.  Average between $25 and $60.

Ollantaytambo – between $5 and $120.  Average between $40 and $90.

Tags:   Aguas Calientes Peru · Cusco · Cuzco · Machu Picchu · Sacred Valley · Travel SpanishNo Comments