What is the best time of year to visit Machu Picchu?

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When we start planning our vacations, there are always several factors that we have to consider during the process and, when the destination is Machu Picchu, we can guarantee that there will be the need of some prepare but, we can also guarantee that it will be worthy, because you can prepare yourself for one of the best experiences of your life.

 When we became parents, our travel style had to change (not for worst, we consider that travel with our son is even better than before we became parents) and, after our child started school, the changes became more, because we had to deal with a bigger limitation in the periods that we could book our vacations and this has increased somewhat the difficulty in getting better prices, either by air travel or lodging. However, even taking into account the school days of our children, there is still a great possibility of marking our holidays and, within these possibilities, we always try to study our destiny, to see which season best fits our goals.

As we began to prepare our trip to Machu Picchu, one of the questions we posed was the need to choose what would be the best time of the year for us to make the trip and, we find out that there's a lot of factors to take into account, and that's what we propose to share with you in this post.

Climate


First of all, you have to consider perhaps the weather conditions on Machu Picchu and, the most the important factor of all, the rain.

 Briefly, we can consider that there are two distinct climatic periods in Machu Picchu, the summer, which runs from November to March/mid-April, and the winter, when the rain is scarce, which runs from mid-April to October. Let's talk about those seasons and the ways that it can influence your trip to Machu Picchu.

Rainy season


Several people will ensure that they visit Machu Picchu during the rainy season and yet they have had a great experience, catching little or no rain during their visit, and this is quite possible. When it comes to the rainy season, it does not mean it rains every day, and all day long, and if you decide to go in this season, you can really have a great experience.

In addition to the possibility of having a day without rain, you are more likely to get good prices, both in terms of stays and plane flights, because when compared with the dry season the prices tend to be much cheaper.

 Another reason that makes the trip even more interesting is the fact that, since many people avoid these months, it is also in it that you can have the possibility of seeing Machu Picchu with fewer visitors, which is always something much more pleasant and, there is still an extra factor that increases the desire to travel in these moments, which is the fact that with the rain, everything turns green and full of life, which gives an extra charm to the place.


A not so good factor is that in this season is when you will get more chances of finding more insects, because they tend to increase their number n the rainy season, so be careful about this issue. We advise you to read here our post about some safety ideas for your visit to Machu Picchu, especially if you travel with children.

An important issue linked to travel during the rainy season is the greater possibility of unforeseen events that are directly linked to high rainfall, such as interrupting roads, closed paths, some damage, something more difficult to occur in the driest season.

Dry season


Let's talk now about the dry season, which coincides with the winter in Machu Picchu, that goes from the middle of April until the end of October. If your desire is to visit Machu Picchu with little chance of catching rain, this is the time to go. Of course, in a subtropical climate, you can never be 100% sure that you will not catch rain but, especially after the beginning of May,  the odds are really much lower and, even when rains, it tend to be for shorter periods than in rainy season.

The possibility of traveling at this time has this great attraction of being less likely to rain, which, in addition to making your visit more comfortable and pleasant, also contributes to increasing safety issues. The reason that we talk about that is that, as you will easily discover, strolling through Machu Picchu will take you through many ascents and descents that, with time and calm, are done in relative safety. However, its degree of difficulty tends to increase with heavy rains and the probability of accumulating mud, something that is rare during the dry season.

The great annoyance of traveling in the dry season is that most visitors tend to save their holiday for that period and it is when the larger crowds tend to check, so you will have greater difficulty in achieving moments of quiet during your visit.

It is also during these months that the tickets are more likely to be sold out, so it becomes even more important to buy the tickets to Machu Picchu in advance, and the same for the train tickets (learn more about this in our article about 20 things you should know when planning your trip to Machu Picchu).

Another disadvantage is that, contrary to what we refer to in the rainy season, the prices of air travel and stay tend to be higher, not just on Aguas Calientes but, in all Cusco area.

However, not every month is equally crowded. If you want to have less confusion during your visit and stay, usually in Cusco or in another nearby place located in the Sacred Valley, we recommend avoiding the months of July and August, which coincide with the academic vacation months of many children all over the world, and that are the months that most people tend to visit this special place.

Conclusions


When we talk about the best time of the year to visit Machu Picchu, we are not only referring to your visit to Machu Picchu, because like the vast majority of visitors, your visit will not only refer to Machu Picchu, but for sure you will also be seeking to explore all the riches that Sacred Valley has to offer.


Going in the rainy season, as we mentioned before, it may have some advantages but it can condition much of your trip and, until, not allow you to achieve some of your planned travel goals.

Traveling during the months of July and August offer much greater guarantees of visiting the whole area of ​​Cusco in good weather, without rain, but it will also be the months in which you will probably have the highest prices for accommodation and flights, and where it will have to deal with larger crowds, so these are not the best months, in our opinion, to do this trip.

If you want to have good chances of having good weather conditions during your holidays, but not having so many crowds, May, June and September will probably be the months that offer the best odds of success.

April and October may be good travel possibilities too, but here the rainfall possibilities are still slightly higher than in the other winter months in Peru. Probably if you travel during the second half of April (we did it and had great weather) or, on the first half of October, you may catch a few rainy periods, but there is always some uncertainty about the weather during these days because they are transitional periods. However, rainy periods tend to be very short in these months.

We really hope that our ideas help you to prepare for your visit and if you are planning your trip to Machu Picchu, we always do our reservations with booking, they are our partners and its with them that we get the best deals. You can look for the best deals by clicking here, it won't cost you any money and, it helps us to support our blog.

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We would also like to invite you to leave your opinion and questions and, in case you have already visited Machu Picchu, let us know about your experience using our comments box. Thanks for your visit to our Non Stop Family Travel Blog, come back often and, if you liked our article, don’t forget to share it with your friends.

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