Ministry of Culture (Machu Picchu Park Passes) — Attraction in Machu Picchu

For everyone who goes to Aguas Calientes without entrance ticket and feels confused and wants to understand how the process (getting Tickets, etc) actually work.

I have been here in 2017 and today (12th October 2023). Both times it was a mess. This time we didn't have an entrance ticket. We arrived by bus in Hidroelectrica and walked along the train tracks for 2h15min (10 to 11,5km depending where they drop you). Tuesday was the day. We got to Aguas Calientes (Ministry of Culture) at around 2.30pm. There was already a line. Our goal was to buy for the day after (Wednesday) a ticket. To our surprise, all tickets were sold out already when we lined up for Wednesday. So what we had to do instead is to line up to get a reservation ticket (basically a small piece of paper with a number on it and a time, when you should come again the day after). After 1h30min standing in the rain we got to the end of line and we got number 498. That means you have a reservation. Meaning the day after (Wednesday), you have to line up at a different line. There they will call out the numbers. Starting from 1 to 1000. Our number as said was 498 and we were called at 5.30pm. Then you go inside the building where you have to wait again until you can go to a free counter and purchase a ticket for the day after (Thursday). Now it's important to keep in mind that 497 people have started to buy tickets already. Most sold tickets are Circuit 1+2 and Circuit 1+2 incl. Inca Bridge. Meaning at number 498 you will most likely get the chance to do one of those however you have to keep in mind that those tickets are also divided in time slots. Most people buy the early time slot of course. So when it was our turn, earliest time would have been for circuit 1+2 (incl or not Inca Bridge) at 11am forward. That was impossible for us. We had a transport planned back to Cusco at 2pm leaving. After 2 nights already in Aguas Calientes, we had to find a different option. For us it was clearly circuit 3 + the mountain. Those were almost all still available. And you can only get inside at 6 or then at 7am. Perfect for us. Two things that no one said anywhere. Whatever I read is always, circuit 3 + mountain is not good, you don't get the typical view etc. That's so not true. Check the pics I posted. So early in the morning on Thursday (don't forget to buy the bus tickets for 24$ return per person the day before) we took the bus up at 5.30am. Entrance at 6am. Then you go inside the park. Lower right. There keep heading towards the sign "Machu Picchu Montaña". Following it for 10 to 15min youll get to an obstacle. Basically a rope between two poles. Now it gets very interesting. Here you have to wait until 7am, then they open and you can go up the mountain. At the same time, if you turn right, you are already on circuit 1+2 route. Since we had to anyways wait, we just went there. At 6.15am no one cares. Really. You basically just go and are on circuit 1+2 route and can take some really nice pics. We turned around then to do the hike. Bcz it's a really beautiful one. It's the second time I hike it and I don't understand why those tickets are sold last. Again, check the pics I post and make your own opinion. One more important thing. When you get down from the mountain and pass the obstacle again, then you have the right to go to the guardhouse. There you have a perfect view of Machu Picchu. The guard will send you there. When I bought the ticket I thought I won't be able to see whole Machu Picchu with circuit 3 + mountain ticket. But the opposite was the case! After the guardhouse you exit Machu Picchu and re-enter it with your ticket. Now you have time to do your circuit 3 in peace. You could even extend it to circuit 4. No one cares. The guards even offered it to us! One last thing. If you take a guide, they can basically bring you to the typical Machu Picchu photo place even with your circuit 3+mountain picture. So don't worry, take advantage of that ticket and don't force to buy a circuit 1+2 ticket just for the sake of it. Hiking time:1h30min. No one...

! Trying to visit macchu pitchu without a reserved tickets 3,4,5 months before depending on the season is extremely hard ! If like me you cannot book your tickets months ago, be ready for an unique experience of loneliness and infinite waiting. If you are ready for it here is the guide : You have to spend 2 nights in agua calientes to be sure to get a place a macchu pichu [ not even the course you want]. You wanna visit it the wedsneday you need to come MONDAY, start the following instruct. First queueing to get what they call a pre-ticket, meaning a piece of paper with ur passeport number, an hour, and a number. You must come back to the indicated hour of the pre ticket, i might be 6 am of the next day or sooner. You will now get another ticket, i call it the first ticket. This ticket has another number from 1 to 1000 (maximum tickets available a day). Each number is related with an hours of passage in the afternoon from 3 pm to 9 pm. First 150 are for 3pm, then 151 to 300 at 4pm ...They will call your number in Spanish with a megaphone in front of the ministerio. At this point you will be able to enter the building and buy you FINAL ticket. Be aware to look for bus hours to get to the site, walk can be done too.

last resort : If like me you find everything i said up there in real time, you might be in the situation where you wanted to visit wedsneday so came one day prior (not enough) because youve been told by a tour agency that was enough there is a last resort thing to do, but i can assure you , it wont be a fun part.

Sometimes for various reasons some tickets are not sold ( a few like 5 to 15) at the end of all the calls after 9.pm and even more 9.30, 10pm you can try to stay in front of the ministerio door and get one of the remaining ticket for the next morning.

Sounds nice, but at this point it syou with yourself battling a crowd of 100 people in the same situation as you, wanting a ticket for tomorrow. Sometimes a queu is done by the people so some people (like me) come a 6.30pm to start waiting till 10pm , hoping that this queu will be followed by others. Forget it at 10pm a crowd of 100 people came directly at the ministerio door avoiding the queue we made with othrt 20 people. At this point, the ambiance is police yelling on megaphone, kids crying being crush in the crowd, "adults" losing all their patience and yelling at everyone. Everyone for himself. What i recommend is coming at 9 pm only if you have a very low number on your pre ticket like 1 to 15. Over this you wont have a single chance to get the remaining tickets because they will call by order of number. I was 310 my brother 311, but anyway not a single person could get a remaining tickets because there were none that day. It is a mix of madness and chance to get u a ticket for the day after your arrival.

I wish i had a guide like this., so i hope it will help...

So after researching for weeks about how to get last minute tickets to Machu Picchu I found out that this is the place to get last minute tickets. Let me explain all the tips and tricks so I can make it easier for the next person.

If you didn’t buy tickets in advance this is the ONLY place you can get tickets in person. I read somewhere you can get tickets in person in Cusco, I don’t believe that is true anymore from what I understand this is the only place to get in person tickets, they only sell 1000/day for the next day.

If you can get here with a few days to spare you are definitely going to get tickets but if you’re short on time it will be difficult.

We arrived Nov 20 at 2100 and all the tickets for circuit 2 (which is the circuit most people want) was completely sold out for the next day. If you don’t mind going later in the day and having a different circuit you can definitely get tickets for the next day. However this was not what we wanted.

Nov 21 at 0540 we got in line there was only 2 people in front of us, someone told us they won’t open until 0740 but that is simply not true. I think they do open whenever they decide though because they said they open at 0600 but they didn’t open on this day until 0630. But after waiting 45 min at 0630 we got our paper slip (#3 & #4) that said to return at 1500.

Returned at 1445 to make sure we didn’t miss anything at 1458 they started calling numbers (glad we got there a little early) because the 2 people who were in front of us (Who had ticket #1 & #2) were not there. We then went inside and after a minute were able to go up to the counter and purchase our tickets for circuit 1 or 2 + Inca bridge for 0600. We were done by 1505.

If you can, the best way to get the tickets you want and to wait the least amount of time is to get there first thing in the morning before the first train arrives which is around 0645-0700 (I say this because people were running from the train station as we were walking back to our hotel). The later you get your slip the longer wait you will have overall whereas I only waited for a total of 45 min between that morning to get my slip and then when I went back to pay.

A few tips: make sure you know which ticket type you want and the time PRIOR to getting up the counter it moves very quick you need to be prepared. And CASH ONLY to pay in person, each ticket costs $152 Soles.

Also if you want to see how many tickets are available throughout the day there is a website that updates in real time:...