Cusco: how many days you need and when to visit Machu Picchu

When to go, and why the season is not optional

There are two seasons here and they are genuinely different trips. The dry season is not merely more pleasant — it determines whether the trails are open at all.

1. January: Think twiceJan
2. February: Think twiceFeb
3. March: Think twiceMar
4. April: Worth it, butApr
5. May: Go nowMay
6. June: Worth it, butJun
7. July: Worth it, butJul
8. August: Worth it, butAug
9. September: Go nowSep
10. October: Worth it, butOct
11. November: Think twiceNov
12. December: Think twiceDec

• Go now
• Worth it, but
• Think twice

• May and September

  Go now

  Dry season, at the edges of the crowd

  Dry, clear and cold at night, but on either side of the peak. May in particular follows the rains, so the landscape is still green while the weather has settled. The best combination available.

• June to August

  Worth it, but

  The driest and the busiest

  The most reliable weather of the year and the highest visitor numbers, with entry permits and the classic trek booked months ahead. Inti Raymi in late June fills the city completely. Excellent conditions, at a price and with a crowd.

• April and October

  Worth it, but

  Shoulder months, some rain, far fewer people

  The transition months. You will probably get some rain, but the sites are quieter and prices are lower. A reasonable bet if flexibility matters more than certainty.

• November to March

  Think twice

  Wet season, and the classic trek closes

  Heavy rain, cloud on the viewpoints and muddy trails. The classic Inca Trail closes for maintenance in February every year, and landslides can disrupt the trains. Cusco itself remains perfectly visitable; the trekking version of this trip does not.

How to structure the days

The standard shape is two easy days in Cusco itself, then the Sacred Valley, then Machu Picchu — and that order exists for a reason. Acclimatising properly at the start makes everything afterwards better.

A common improvement is to sleep lower: the Sacred Valley sits several hundred metres below Cusco, and some people find it easier to acclimatise there and come back up.

What the trip contains

Cusco is a base as much as a destination, and the surrounding valley is the larger part of most itineraries.

• Cusco itself — the colonial centre built on Inca foundations, and the acclimatisation days.
• The Sacred Valley — Pisac, Ollantaytambo, the terraces and the markets. Two days at minimum.
• Machu Picchu — reached by train and bus, or on foot over several days. Entry is capped and timed.
• The high routes — Rainbow Mountain, Humantay and the treks, all much higher and much harder.

Where to stay, and why your hotel's altitude matters

Cusco sits above three thousand three hundred metres, and that turns the accommodation choice into a health decision rather than a comfort one. The centre lies at the bottom of a valley and the neighbourhoods climb the slopes: a pretty hotel in San Blas can mean walking up a steep hill several times a day during the two days when altitude affects you most.

For the first nights, the flatter and closer to the Plaza de Armas, the better. And there is a strategy many local guides recommend: spend the first nights in the Sacred Valley, several hundred metres lower, and come up to Cusco afterwards.

Compare these areas against your priorities

Altitude: the part that decides whether the trip goes well

This is the most important thing in this guide. Cusco is higher than almost any city you have visited and altitude sickness does not depend on fitness: it affects young, athletic people exactly as much as anyone else. The usual symptoms are headache, breathlessness, nausea and poor sleep, and they appear within hours.

The rule that works is a single, boring one: do nothing on the first day. No ruins, no walks, no alcohol. You arrive, walk slowly around the square, drink plenty of water and sleep. That lost day is what makes the next five work.

• Ascend gradually if you can. The Sacred Valley sits some six hundred metres lower, and starting there is what almost everyone with experience recommends.
• Drink far more water than usual and eat lightly for the first days. Alcohol hits much harder and makes everything worse.
• Coca tea is the local custom and helps with mild symptoms. It is in every hotel and it is legal in Peru.
• If symptoms are severe — confusion, persistent vomiting, breathlessness at rest — you descend. This is not something to push through.
• Machu Picchu is lower than Cusco, by about a thousand metres. People are usually surprised: the city is the hard part, not the ruins.

Getting to Machu Picchu, and what to book in advance

Machu Picchu is the site on this list that demands the most advance planning, because access is capped daily. Tickets are by time slot and by circuit, and in high season they sell out weeks ahead. It is not something you buy on arrival.

The usual route is a train from Cusco or Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, then a bus that climbs the mountain in half an hour. Trains also sell out and are among the few expensive things about the trip. The walking alternative is the Inca Trail, which requires a permit, a compulsory guide and months of notice.

• Ticket by circuit and time slot: each type covers a different part of the ruins. Choosing wrong is the most common complaint from people who did not check.
• Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain are the climbs with separate, far more limited quotas. They sell out before everything else.
• The Inca Trail closes every February for maintenance, and it is the wettest month.
• Ollantaytambo as a starting point saves a good stretch of train compared with leaving from Cusco, and it is a living Inca town worth visiting in itself.
• Take your passport to the ruins. It is checked at the entrance and without it you do not get in.

Eating in Cusco, and what to actually try

Peruvian cooking is one of the world's great cuisines and in Cusco it has its own Andean version: less fish than the coast, more tubers, maize and highland meat. There are hundreds of varieties of potato and maize, and that shows on the plate in a way that surprises people.

For the first days it is worth eating lightly because of the altitude, so the soups — which are excellent here — are a better idea than a heavy dish. And be aware that the tourist centre has plenty of mediocre fusion restaurants at high prices; the good food is in picanterías and in the set lunches.

• The midday menú is the best value food there is: soup, main and a drink for very little, in places where people from Cusco eat.
• Lomo saltado, ají de gallina and causa are the Peruvian basics nobody should skip.
• Cuy is a genuine Andean tradition, not a tourist gimmick, and it is eaten on special occasions. Many places want notice.
• Chicha morada is made from purple maize and has no alcohol; chicha de jora does, and is a different thing entirely.
• Eat cooked food and drink bottled water. At this altitude an upset stomach is far worse than at sea level.

Where to eat in Cusco, dish by dish

Cusco is at high altitude and that changes what you should eat, not just how much. Heavy meals sit badly for the first day or two — soups, potatoes and coca tea are the local answer and they work. The restaurants around the Plaza de Armas are the tourist tier; the market and the streets uphill from it are where the value and the flavour are.

• Mercado Central de San Pedro

  Market

  The market, which is the best meal in the city

  The central market in a hall designed in part by Eiffel's office, five minutes from the main square. Juice stands at the front, soup and stew counters in the middle, cheese and bread beyond. Breakfast and lunch are the meals here; it closes in the afternoon. The soup counters are the single best value in Cusco.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Pollo a la brasa

  What to order

  The reliable dinner, everywhere in Peru

  Charcoal-roasted chicken with chips and three sauces, sold at dedicated places that do nothing else. It is what Peruvians eat when they are not cooking and it is consistently good. In Cusco it is also gentle on a stomach still adjusting to the altitude, which the fried and heavy options are not.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Chicharrón

  What to order

  The Andean weekend dish

  Slow-cooked then fried pork, served with mote — big Andean corn kernels — and mint. It is a weekend and celebration food rather than an everyday one, and it is genuinely heavy. Not a first-day dish at this altitude; save it for once you have acclimatised.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Cevichería

  Where to look

  The famous Peruvian dish, and an honest warning

  Peru's ceviche is superb and it is a coastal dish. Cusco is 3,400 metres up and hundreds of kilometres from the sea. Cevicherías here do exist and use trout from the highlands rather than sea fish, which is a legitimate local version — but if you want the classic, eat it in Lima and not here.

  Check it on Wikidata

Things that change the trip

1. 1Give yourself two genuinely easy days on arrival. Not a suggestion — altitude sickness ruins more trips here than weather does.
2. 2Machu Picchu entry is capped, timed and by designated circuit, and sells out well ahead in high season. Book it before your flights if the dates are fixed.
3. 3The classic trek requires a permit that sells out months in advance and closes entirely each February. Alternative routes exist and are less constrained.
4. 4Sleeping in the Sacred Valley rather than Cusco is a common and effective way to acclimatise more comfortably.
5. 5Nights are cold all year at this altitude, regardless of how warm the afternoon was.