Update:  Just met Micha (Germany on Africa Twin) in Nortons Pub on the Plaza de Armas in Cusco this evening after not seeing him since Medellin. He just got back from Machu Picchu. He drove 5 hours or so on paved (badly) roads and 1.5 hours on dirt plus 1.5 feet of water crossing the road at one point to Santa Teresa. Then camped for 10 Soles and left his bike and hiked 4 hours to Aguas Calientas where he bought a site entrance pass and then took the bus up to Machu Picchu. So it’s possible and preferable to ride the motorbike… unfortunately we are already with train tickets…

We arrived in Cusco on Monday and started looking for ways to get to Machu Picchu on Tuesday morning.  There are many travel agencies offering train or bus tickets along with tours and a hotel. For two nights they claim to have train tickets which leave in the afternoon and return the following day in the evening.  The quoted price was $270 per person which went down to $240. Others had found the same length tours that included enough time on both days to see Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu (the lesser site) for $220.

So instead we went to the Inca Rail (on De Sol avenue) and Peru Rail (further downhill on De Sol avenue behind the Centro Artenasias market) and were quoted about $110 for Inca Rail and $68 from Peru Rail (by leaving in the evening and returning the following day in the evening – evening tickets are much cheaper).  Then to the INC (Insituto Nacional de Cultura) office (1 block over from De Sol about 3 blocks uphill from Inca Rail) to buy the entrance tickets to the site itself – 126 Soles each ticket.

Since the floods there is only limited service by train and they don’t leave from Cusco anymore but 2-3 hours by bus away at Piscacucho.  The bus service (private microbuses) were arranged through a travel agency for 25 Soles each way.   A hotel is needed in Aguas Calientes (town nearest Machu Picchu) for the night – we reserved Terrazas Del Inca for $40 for a double room including breakfast and train station pickup/drop-off.

The other option is to get yourself to Santa Teresa by motorcycle or car (apparently the landslides have taken out the direct route – see below).  This would remove the $68 pp train ticket but the other costs would be the same.

Costs per person using the train but not an agency:

• $68 (night trains)
• $40 (hotel)
• $45 (entrance to site)
• $18 (bus to and from Piscacucho train station from/to Cusco)
• total: $171

From HorizonsUnlimited.com – April 15, 2010

I just rode from Cusco most of the way to Machu Pichu. First to Urubamaba then Ollantaytambo (sp) then to Santa Maria, then Santa Theresa on very challenging road. Then leave the bike and get a ride in a collectivo to cable car, ride accross the river with two others, walk 4 km. to hydroelectric plant where the rail runs, then catch a train to aquas caliente some 8 km. or so away. Then walk up the hill to Machu Pichu (we had no guide) or take the bus. Many people walk the tracks from the hydroelectric to Aquas Caliente because of scheduling factors (and they do not let tourists on the morning trains).
The main road to Sta Theresa was closed and we took alternate scenic route which was just passable (BMW R100 GS and KLR). We crossed water running over roads that was over two feet deep.
But lots of fun. Better than taking a train full of tourists from CUsco to Machu Pichu which is what 95% of visitors do.
Lots of hostals and such in Santa Maria and Santa Theresa, and Aquas Caliente. We travelled over about 80 km of gravel/dirt roads.

From MotoAdventureGal on the Southbound Digest, Vol 12, Issue 8

This first week of April (surrounding MP re-opening) I’ve found Cuzco to be full of lies and misinformation. I could not even get decent answers out of the tourist agency, which “should” be impartial (and which told me the only way to get there was to take the $220 vistadome train from Ollantaytamo to Aguas Calientes!!!) and that I would not be sold a MP ticket if I did not have RT train ticket. (The tour I booked, however, did not involve a train, and I WAS able to get in, through the agency, which told me that only a few agencies were allowed to get MP tickets without train tickets.) I went to ask directlly at the train station, and there were 60 people in line ahead of me. I left disgusted. A fellow motoorbiker had found a tour that seemed reasonable, and I booked it with him since I would have otherwise had to wait a week+ for a train ticket.

I just got back from a 4 day / 3 night tour.Originally Eden & I’d planned to ride to Sta Teresa and meet the group, hike in from Sta Teresa because the train is still not running to there (it currently only goes to Hidroelectrica, $8 one way), then hike back to Sta teresa and ride out. I did not do this because I crashed and munched my L hand, so I took their transport, and let me tell you the hiking was a bitch after sitting on my bupkis the last 17,000 miles! Folks all along the way were disorganized, also full of lies, the tourguides were misinformed, and just pain sucked. And I am not here complaining about the natural  disasters–such as the landslides that closed the road from Sta teresa to Hidroelectrica so we had to walk an ectra day, or the landslide on the way back that closed the road for an hour. Other folks experienced lanslides that kept them int heir cars overnight etween towns, the cable cars crossing the rivers were wometime blocked off due to further erosion.

My best advice would be to go in May. That gives these folks a month to get organized, plus another rmonth for things to dry out a bit. eEeryone in town is talking about the corruption of Peru Rail, and how they have a monopoly, and how they are not allowing locals to bring much up on the cargo train, so there are only a few restaurants offering meals at Aguas calientes. I did get food, but hey now, I paid 39 soles for a burger and a chicha at MP proper ~$15)

Oh and while transporation is the key to getting to MP, I saw, count ‘em, FIVE people working on the road to Hidroelectrica.

BTW, trains are not currently running frm Cuzco to Aguas Calientes–only Ollantaytambo to Cuzco.

Two days ago I met two riders saying they were gong to ride to Aguas Calientes. I do not think this is possible, but I would love to be proven wrong–if you are on this list Steve and Larry Simpson, send in your $0.02

Lonely Planet’s Thorntree Forums South America section has ‘sticky’ thread about Machu Picchu with latest visitor experiences.