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Machu Picchu is one of the dream destinations for many people as it was for us and fortunately, we can say that we have already visited this wonderful place.

However, something that made us uneasy was the reports of crowds invading the Machu Picchu, which might even be calling into question the integrity of this treasure in the long run. Something that has tended to worsen since Machu Picchu was chosen as one of the 7 wonders of the modern world, which even captivate more global interest.

Fortunately, the government of Peru, aware of the need to protect the wonder of the world decreed a daily limit of visitors and also a limit of 4 hours in the time of the visit that each person can remain within the space, what makes even more important for you to to acquire your entry ticket in advance, so you do not risk not entering and, you should think and decide about the time you will want to enter (learn more in our Machu Picchu article: 20 things you should know when planning your visit).

However, even with these changes, made in the search to decrease the number of visitors, there are still a lot of people visiting Machu Picchu daily and, there are times when you may have great difficulty in getting some quiet time during your visit, and whoever does this kind of travel, for sure wishes to have some does not want to make it always surrounded by other visitors.

Now let's be honest, it will be very difficult to be alone during your visit to Machu Picchu, but there are ways to be more alone or at least less surrounded by other visitors.

When to avoid going to Machu Picchu

Well, there are two months in which you should avoid even going to Machu Picchu, if you want to avoid crowds, it's the July and August. And the question of avoiding these months is because they are the most crowded months to visit Machu Picchu. This is due, among other reasons, to the fact that during these months academic holidays are taking place in many of the western countries, so it is used by many families to visit this destination. Of course, if you only have these months, we recommend that you go, nevertheless, you may have a chance to escape to the biggest crowds, but if you can go in months other than these, the better.

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

In our article on: What is the best time of the year to visit Machu Picchu, we talk more about the theme, so we advise you to read to know more information before making your choice but, in a brief way, Machu Picchu will have only two wheater seasons, namely the dry season and the rainy season. The dry season runs from the middle of April until October and the rainy season runs from November to the middle of April.

If your goal is to avoid crowds, the best for you is to visit Machu Picchu in the rainy season, especially between November and the middle of April. However, when it rains in Machu Picchu, it may really rain, and spending the day in Machu Picchu with constant rainfall can make you lose some of the magic of the place and even be dangerous, especially for those who travel with children or, who have reduced mobility, because the place can get muddier and, you will walk on stones that, with the rain, become more slippery.

However, you can also pick up a few days without rain, which also occur, as well as some days when you can only catch rain for short periods of time, so you can still have a very pleasant visit. Do not forget only a question, when you buy your ticket, will do for a specific period of time on a given day, so you can not have the possibility to change your date if it rains immensely on the day of your visit.

Visiting in the dry season is more likely to result in better weather conditions during your visit but is also more likely to have larger crowds at your side. In this way, we can advise you, in addition to avoiding the months of July and August, to try to organize your trip closer to the beginning and end of the dry season, especially from the middle of April, May, and September, especially the second fortnight, and the month of October.

In these months, in addition to being more likely to avoid crowds, you are even more likely to catch up on good weather, and even if you can catch rainfall, chances are it will be small rainy moments that will not disturb your visit.

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

We have also addressed this issue, so we also advise you to read our article on the best time of day to visit Machu Picchu. In order to avoid crowds, the secret is very simple, the periods during of the middle of the day are the ones to avoid so, plan your visit so that you can enter Machu Picchu at the time of opening, or closer to the end of the day.

So, since everything in Machu Picchu requires planning if you want to go in one of these periods, you will have to organize your trip to get there at one of these times, especially if you want to be one of the first visitors to Machu Picchu.

As mentioned before, you will have to buy your ticket in advance (click here to buy your ticket to Machu Picchu on the official website of the Peruvian government) and when you buy it, you should choose the entrance at 6am in the morning (when the doors open) or, more for the afternoon period, namely entering at 12 o'clock if you choose to stay near the end of the day.

Once you choose, you will need to organize yourself at the level of where to stay before your visit. Many people take the option of doing a day trip from Cusco to Machu Picchu, which, in our opinion, is extremely tiring and will lead to being in Machu Picchu in the hours of the highest flood, that is, in the middle of the day.

So, if you want to visit Machu Picchu at the beginning of the day, prepare yourself, that the enclosure opens at 6am and you will have to take the first bus that goes up from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu, which departs at 05:30. The point is that the first bus, or rather the first three buses, depart at 5:30 a.m. and each takes about 30 passengers, so to be one of the first to make this trip of about 20 minutes from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu, you will have to be in the queue well before 5:30, to secure his place. We recommend that to be sure of your place, that it is at least until 4:30 in the queue, being that in high season, it may be even earlier.

If you decide to take the route from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu on foot, you will have to reserve at least about 1h30 for the walk.

If the decision is to go by bus, we advise you to buy the bus tickets the day before, as you can learn more by reading our Machu Picchu article, 20things you should know when planning your visit.

As there is no train that will allow you to get to Aguas Calientes so early, you should make the trip to Aguas Calientes the day before and stay the night before in that locality.

If you choose to visit Machu Picchu in the afternoon, this no longer obliges you to stay in Aguas Calientes the previous day, you can stay in Cusco (which makes the day very tiring) or opt for another location, such as Ollantaytambo, for a most relaxed day (see here our article: Cusco or Ollantaytambo: What is the best place to stay before your visit to Mach Picchu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas?).

However, when booking your train schedule, please be careful about your return, as you will need to book a train that departs more at night if you do not stay in Aguas Calientes.

Conclusions

If you are reading this post, it is because you most likely dream of visiting Machu Picchu and maybe are even planning your visit. But as a result of being such a wonderful attraction, more and more people want to visit it, so from all over the world, there are people planning their visit every year.

Therefore, it is not at all possible to have Machu Picchu just for us, as we have seen in dozens of photographs, and the truth is that many photographs are taken with Machu Picchu stuffed with tourists. However, there are ways to seek to visit Machu Picchu by avoiding the floods or at least that the floods are not so great.

So, the solution is to ally the best months mentioned above, with the best times. We recommend the end of April and May, as well as the end of September and October, and also the beginning or the end of the days. However, something that is not much referred to, is that Machu Picchu is generally less populated in the late afternoon than early in the morning, especially from 4 pm, moments when we feel we had the best time on our visit to Machu Picchu.

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.

Booking.com

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.

If you are planning your visit to Peru, here is a list of some of our destination-related posts that are sure to be very helpful in organizing your itinerary:

- 10 reasons why you should visit Lima
- 20 things you should know when planning your trip to Machu Picchu
- What is the Sacred Valley of the Incas? What to see in the Sacred Valley, Peru
- Sacred City of Caral-Supe: Best day-trip from Lima
- How to visit the Rainbow Mountain in Peru? Things to know when planning your trip

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Machu Picchu is, for many of us who love to travel, one of the "Must Do" in our life, and a large percentage of people traveling to Peru do so with the purpose of visiting what is classified as one of the new 7 wonders of the world. However, when you are planning your trip to Machu Picchu, certainty you will come across several issues on your trip organization and, one of them relates to what is the best time of day to visit Machu Picchu.

And this question becomes even more important after the changes that Peru Government recently made in the way of entry into Machu Picchu. Unlike what happened until a few years ago, the possibility of staying all day in Machu Picchu no longer exists, so when you buy your ticket you will have to make the purchase with the ticket at a specific time, with the maximum time of 4 hours of stay in this wonder of humanity. As it is convenient to buy the ticket in advance, so as not to run the risk of having all your trip planned and paid for and, when it reaches your great goal, stay in the door, when the purchase will have to decide the specific time to enter, which conditions your departure time. For example, if you think that you can buy the ticket to come in at 7am on a specific day, if you later change your mind and decide to go only in the afternoon, this will not be possible and you will be barred from entering and forced to buy a new ticket. This, of course, in the hope that there are still tickets available because in times of great tourist influx, it is likely that there may no longer be any available ticket.

Arriving at the conclusion that it is necessary to buy your ticket to Machu Picchu in advance and that when you buy will have to choose the period of the day you will visit, it becomes necessary to choose the period in which you want to visit this wonder of the World and, before making this decision, there are some factors to take into account that will be of particular importance in making your decision. Let's get down to a few.

How to avoid crowds in Machu Picchu?

This is the main issue for many people: when visiting Machu Picchu without it being full of other people. Many of us want to have the privilege of worshiping in peace this wonder of the world, but we want to do it with the minimum of people around us since any traveler with the least experience already knows that the most famous places in the world tend to be filled with other people with the same intention as we, too know and to explore. So when we decide to visit Machu Picchu, we must be aware that many more people have made that decision and many of them will be there on the same day as us.

As the government of Peru has taken precautions to try to limit the influx of tourists, there is a limit of people who can visit per day and each visitor is limited to a limit of hours, which helps to decrease the number of visitors at any time in the local.

Taking into account these changes, and not only linked to them, but also to several conditions that are also linked to the round trip, what the experience confirms is that, in order to avoid larger crowds, the advisable and visit Machu Picchu in the early hours of the day or the last, and the periods between 10:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. tend to be the most filled, so the more you can visit these periods the better.

Visiting Machu Picchu in the morning or in the afternoon?

We then have as the best options to get away from the crowds entering Machu Picchu early in the morning or else in the later period of the day and both have advantages and disadvantages so we will talk a bit about them next.

Visit Machu Picchu in the morning

Perhaps the main choice of many who want to avoid crowds pass by visiting Machu Picchu in the wee hours of the morning and this is a unique sensation in life, to see the sunrise in these Inca ruins at the top of the mountain.

Of course, you're not the only one who has the desire to be the first to come, and if so, know that you have to get up early enough to get it. The doors of Machu Picchu open at 6am and the first bus that departs from Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo) departs from it's center at 5:30 am (click here to see on google maps the exact location where you can catch the bus and, to buy the tickets, it's just near the bus stop, just follow the signs on the road).

The point is that, although the first bus leaves at 5:30 am, its capacity is reduced, and if you really want to catch the first one, you will have to arrive very early, at least an hour before departure, but you may still not be able to take the first bus. The good news is that in the morning, buses depart with a high frequency, usually every 5 minutes, and the journey takes approximately 30 minutes.

If you wish to take the trek from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu, it is free and of moderate difficulty, so it is suitable for anyone who is in good physical condition. The route is well signposted and usually takes about an hour and a half to climb, and the return journey, as it descends, tends to be quicker and easier. Usually, the most common option for those who want to do this walk is to go by bus and get off on foot.

Regarding the entrance to Machu Picchu for the first hours, although it coincides with the time when a person who makes the Inca Trail arrives, it still allows avoiding the largest crowds of tourists and enjoy this space in relative calm during the first hours, especially before tourists arriving from further afield, especially from Cusco.

The sunrise and the first rays of the sun to come will surely be an image that will not stop you from marking your life. Of course, the climate in Machu Picchu can change frequently and there can be rainy days, days with completely sun-filled and even fog. However, even so, you may have the luck of wonderful scenery and pictures, so you should always go prepared for different hypotheses and do not get too depressed if your day visiting Machu Picchu is not blessed by a clear sky. Even if it is not, you may have the opportunity to experience a wonderful experience.

Do not forget that if you choose to join the visit to Machu Picchu with the ascent to Machu Picchu or Wayna Picchu, you will have to go in the morning in order to maximize your experience.

Visit Machu Picchu in the afternoon

As we mentioned, the period between 10:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m. is the busiest, and if by 3:00 p.m. you still see a lot of people exploring the ruins, from 4:00 p.m. is probably the time of day when fewer people are in Machu Picchu, so it is also a time when you can just explore on your own and in many places you will not find anyone close to you, so it is also a wonderful time to explore the Inca ruins.

It is definitely a special time to stay in Machu Picchu at the end of the day and the chances of catching fog is much lower than in the morning so it is also a great option especially for those who do not like to wake up very early or, for those who chose not to sleep in Aguas Calientes.

Conclusions

In a quick conclusion, we can say that if you want to get away from the crowds that visit Machu Picchu daily, we recommend that you wake up early and try to be one of the first to enter or wait and prepare your visit for the end of the day, taking into account that the decision must be made before buying your ticket (which you can buy here on the official website of the Government of Peru). If you choose to take the train for your trip to Machu Picchu, please note that when you buy your ticket, you must also, buy the train ticket, so we recommend that you buy both at the same time (if you want to know more about the purchase of tickets and how to prepare your trip to Machu Picchu, we invite you to read our post about 20 Things you should know when planning your trip to Machu Picchu).

We hope that this idea will help you to prepare for your trip to Machu Picchu. If you still do not have a place to stay on your trip, 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 will not cost you any money and, it helps us to support our blog.
Booking.com

We would also like to invite you to leave your opinion and questions, in case you have already visited Machu Picchu, let us know what you think is the best time of the day to visit. Thanks for your visit to our Non Stop Family Travel Blog, come back often and, if you liked our article, do not forget to share it with your friends.

Pin it for Latter

When to avoid going to Machu Picchu

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

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

Conclusions

How to avoid crowds in Machu Picchu?

Visiting Machu Picchu in the morning or in the afternoon?

Visit Machu Picchu in the morning

Visit Machu Picchu in the afternoon

Conclusions

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