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Machu Picchu ("Lost City of the Incas") is located on a high mountain ridge, at an elevation of about 2,350 m (7,710 ft). Machu Picchu is located above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, about 70 km (44 mi) northwest of Cusco. Forgotten for centuries by the outside world, although not by locals, it was brought back to international attention by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham who re-discovered it in 1911, and wrote a best-selling work about it. Peru is pursuing legal efforts to get back thousands of artefacts that Bingham removed from the site.

In 1913, the site received significant publicity after the National Geographic Society devoted their entire April 1913 issue to Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire and of today's Peru. Since 1983 the site has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and has been the subject of concern about damage caused by tourism.

It is thought that the site was chosen for its unique location and geological features and  that the city was built by the Sapa Inca Pachacuti, starting in about 1440, and was inhabited until the Spanish conquest of Peru in 1532. Archaeological evidence (together with recent work on early colonial documents) shows that Machu Picchu was not a conventional city, but a country retreat town for Inca nobility (similar to the Roman villas). The site has a large palace and temples to Inca deities around a courtyard, with other buildings for support staff. It is estimated that a maximum of only about 750 people resided in Machu Picchu at any one time, and probably only a small fraction of that number lived in the town during the rainy season and when none of the nobility were visiting.

It is said that the silhouette of the mountain range behind Machu Picchu represents the face of the Inca looking upward towards the sky, with the largest peak, Huayna Picchu (meaning Young Mountain) representing his nose. The peak is also known as the "hitching post of the sun."

One of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's best-known works is "The Heights of Machu Picchu", inspired by the city:

"Machu Picchu is a trip to the serenity of the soul, to eternal fusion with the cosmos, there we feel our own fragility. It is one of the greatest marvels of South America. A resting place of butterflies at the epicentre of the great circle of life. Another miracle."

 

Among the thousands of roads constructed by the pre-Columbian cultures in South America, the roads of the Inca were some of the most interesting. This network of roads converged at Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire. One of them went to the city of Machu Picchu. The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu  is part of the more than 14,000 miles of roads built by the Incas across the continent and. is the most popular hiking route in South America. Thousands of tourists walk the Inca Trail each year, acclimatising at Cusco before starting on a two to four day journey on foot from the Urubamba valley up through the Andes mountain range.

Please note that the Peruvian government strictly limits the number of hiking permits issued per day for the Inca Trail. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you make your plans two to three months in advance.