machu picchu self guided tour

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Self-Guided Tour versus Organized Tour - Machu Picchu Forum

South America
Peru
Cusco Region
Sacred Valley
Machu Picchu

Self-Guided Tour versus Organized Tour

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I don't have anything against organized tours, but my husband and I have traveled both ways and we definitely prefer to go by ourselves. We are both really interested in archeology and photography, and we knew that a half-day at Machu Picchu - or even 2 half-days - wouldn't be enough. Plus we wanted the flexibility of being able to be at the site when the light is at the best.

The 2 biggest concerns I had about going by ourselves were the language barrier (we don't speak Spanish) and the logistics of getting from point A to point B, but both were OK.

We listened to Spanish language CD's for about 6 months prior to the trip. It wasn't always enough, but it definitely helped. This is such a touristy place that many people spoke at least a little more English than I speak Spanish. We had a couple of taxi drivers who didn't speak much English at all, but in one case the driver called our hotel on his cell phone for assistance and in another case a helpful passerby came to our rescue.

Our hotel in the Sacred Valley had a couple of taxi drivers that were at the hotel every day for guests to use. We may have paid a little more than if we had stayed in Ollantaytambo where there are a lot of drivers competing for your business, but rates were pretty competitive and we knew our guys were safe drivers.

Like others we calculated that, even with taxis and entrance fees, we saved more than $1000 per person by doing the trip ourselves. Along with money saved and great photos, biggest reward was knowing that I had put together the trip myself.

ALWAYS self guide save a tonne down there

http://www.saexplorers.org

http://www.andeantravelweb.com

very helpful for planning...

when there last also save over $1K dong this

Thanks for posting...

Nice to hear you had a great time, but you are not giving us any of your tips to share with other travelers, please do.

I think there are some tips here such as: plan your own trip to save money, learn a little Spanish if you can to make things easier, and see if your hotel can help you arrange transportation. But here are a few more:

Pisac and Ollantaytambo: both sites are big with a lot to see. You can spend a good 3-4 hours at each, not including souvenir shopping nearby. O has a bunch of ruins on the mountains across from the fortress you can climb to on your own though it's not for the faint of heart.

Altitude sickness: felt it, recommend getting medication just in case. Flew into Lima and noticed a dull headache starting about an hour later. Next day flew to Cusco and really felt it - more headache and felt faint, off-balance. Transferred to SV and took it easy that day, took pills, drank cocoa tea, avoided alcohol and red meat. By day 3 of trip felt fine and stopped taking pills.

Cold: we only went to SV, MP and Cusco so can't speak for other places but we didn't have a problem either with our clothing or lack of heat in any hotels. At night wore a cotton long-sleeved sweater and a fleece jacket over a t-shirt. It was fine. If you're not treking you won't be out long at night anyway.

I am looking to travel to Peru in november. We will have 16 days for traveling. I am trying to plan our trip myself. I speak fluent Spanish but still get concerned when planning this trip.

We then have a few extra days that I am trying to decide on how to spend those days - possibly amazon or Colca Canyon?

I have 3 separate travel guide books, but they only make me more nervous!

How much do taxis cost and are there entry fees (how much) to the places you went?

Carolyn, San Diego CA

Taxis in Peru do not have a taximeter, you have to negotiate the fare.

They are cheap anyway.

Better to catch them via your hotel, its expensier, but safer.

Just do a little research on this forum and you will find answers to most of your questions.

I know exactly how you feel. We are family of 6 and I have almost finalised our 5 week trip to South America. It has been a massive task and I have been very close to organising tours a couple of times. But, I perservered and have eventually ended up with what I think is a great itinerary. I did cheat a little in the beginning as I had absolutely no idea in what order to visit places, so I contacted a South American agency here in Sydney and pretended that I was interested in them organising the whole trip. I advised them of all the places I wanted to go and then they sent me an itinerary!!

We leave towards the end of December.

2 nights Lima

Lima - Puerto Maldonado

4 day Amazon tour

Puerto Maldonado - Cuzco - Sacred Valley

2 nights Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo - Aguas Calientas - MP

Afternoon return to Cuzco

3 nights Cuzco

Overnight bus Cuzco - Arequipa

2 nights Arequipa

2 day tour Colca Canyon

Colca - Puno

1 night Puno

day Lake Titicaca

Puno - Copacobana - Sun Island

1 night Copacobana

Copacobana - La Paz

We then continue our trip in Bolivia and onto Rio, Iguazu Falls and Buenos Aires.

Booking the accommodation was easy using Trip Advisor. It's the logistics of getting from A to B that's been a bit scary. Hoping that it will all fall into place when the time comes.

I have actually done an Excel Spreadsheet of all our flights and hotels to make sure that I have all info at my fingertips.

I'm sure I have saved thousands and thousands of dollars, especially as we are a group of 6.

Good luck, once you get stuck in, I think you will find it becomes easier and don't be afraid to post questions on TA. Everyone is very helpful and only too happy to pass on their knowledge.

Thanks for the good advice

I think i'll have to dust off my excel skills

I have actually spent 6 weeks in Ecuador traveling that country; however I also had a "homebase" with a host family. I knew a lot just being there with people who lived there.

I think I just need to dive in, use the skills I have and some of these tips - I agree - it's the travel from point A to point B that sometimes scares me most.

This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity.

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