One of the New 7 Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu is a bucket list destination for many travellers.
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And if you’re planning a trip there soon, we have good news, as securing a ticket is now much easier.
That’s because Peru’s Ministry of Culture has scrapped advance reservation tickets to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Instead, travellers will now have just 15 minutes to complete their purchase on the official ticketing website, Tu Boleto, before the reservation is dismissed and returned to circulation.
The new system also means that only named tickets are available for purchase, so your ID must match your ticket if you want to enter Machu Picchu.
The change was made to make sure that the “availability shown on the platform corresponds to tickets that can actually be purchased by the public”, according to the Ministry of Culture.
The new ticketing system has been introduced as a trial run initially, and the 15-minute time limit for purchase may be increased or decreased after this period.
There has been no update to the strict limit on the number of visitors to the Machu Picchu citadel, which is set at 5,600 during the high season and 4,500 during the low season. The Inca Trail network is also capped at 750 visitors per day.
There are 1,000 tickets available for purchase at the DDC-Cusco of Machupicchu Pueblo ticket office daily, with these available to use the day after purchase.
Europeans who want to visit the 15th-century Inca site will need to fly to Peru’s capital Lima before taking a domestic flight to Cusco.
From there, you can take a train or bus to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Town), before hiking or taking another bus up to the citadel.
There are direct flights to Lima from Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam.