Machu Picchu Circuits: Choosing Between the 3 Circuits and 10 Routes

The 2024 system

The Ministry of Culture reorganised entry under Ministerial Resolution 528-2023-MC. Since 1 June 2024 the Llaqta de Machupicchu has been visited on 3 circuits grouping 10 routes, replacing the 5 circuits that ran from 2021 to 2023. The list below matches the Ministry's own Circuits and routes page at machupicchu.gob.pe.

Four routes open only in high season: 1-C Inti Punku, 1-D Inca Bridge, 3-C Gran Caverna and 3-D Huchuy Picchu. The other six run all year. When you buy a ticket you do not simply buy a circuit.

You buy a specific route within a circuit, an hourly entry slot and a date, all bound together. See our tickets page for how the buying process itself works. The official circuit list is the authoritative reference if the Ministry revises anything.

Circuit 1, Panoramic

Circuit 1 covers agricultural sector I-C, the high ground above the citadel. Article 8 of the ministerial resolution lists what it passes: the Kallancas, the upper and lower platforms near the Guardian's house, the andenes before the Inca Bridge sector, and the path to Machupicchu Mountain. This is the circuit built around wide views.

You stay on the agricultural terraces and look down over the whole urban core rather than walking through it, which is why it suits photographers who want the citadel framed from above. It is also the circuit you need if your goal is the long climb up Machupicchu Mountain itself, because route 1-A is the mountain path and it branches from this circuit. The four routes within it range from the full mountain climb to the upper terrace walk, with the Inti Punku gateway and Inca Bridge routes added in high season.

Read our full guide to Machu Picchu Mountain before committing to route 1-A, because the mountain control has no tolerance for late arrival.

Circuit 2, Classic

Circuit 2 covers sector I-C plus urban sectors I, II, IV and V. That is the longest list of named stops of any circuit: the platforms by the Guardian's house, the Llaqta Punku urban entrance, the Quarries sector, the Sun Temple viewpoint, the Botanical Garden space, the Main Temple, the Temple of the Three Windows, the Sacred Rock and the Qolqas sector. In practice this is the circuit that walks you through the heart of the city, temple by temple, and it is the one most people mean when they picture a first visit. The upper part passes the platforms near the Guardian's house, the same vantage that produces the classic wide photograph, before the route drops into the urban sectors.

There are two versions, the designed route 2-A and the lower terrace route 2-B, both available all year. Neither includes a mountain climb and neither includes the Sun Gate, which sits on route 1-C in Circuit 1. See our Sun Gate page if that viewpoint matters to you, because it changes which circuit you should buy.

Circuit 3, Royalty

Circuit 3 covers agricultural sector B plus urban sectors I, V and VI. Article 8 names the agricultural platforms by the Qolqas, the water fountains, the Temple of the Sun, the Inca's House, the Three Doorways enclosure, the Twelve Niches enclosure, the Qolqas and the water mirrors. This is the circuit that enters the sacred and residential core by a different door from Circuit 2, passing the curved Temple of the Sun and the royal enclosures that give the circuit its Realeza, or royalty, name.

It is also the only circuit that reaches Huayna Picchu. Route 3-A is the mountain climb, route 3-B is the designed route through the sectors above, and in high season two further routes open onto the Gran Caverna and Huchuy Picchu. If the pointed peak in every postcard is the thing you came to stand on, this is your circuit, and you should read our Huayna Picchu guide first because its entry turns sell out fastest and its control point has no tolerance for lateness.

How entry slots work

Entry is sold by hourly slot from 06:00 to 15:00. In months of regular demand you may arrive up to 30 minutes after your ticketed slot. From 1 June to 15 October, and on 30 and 31 December, tolerance extends to 45 minutes.

Once inside on a standard route, which means Circuit 1 or 2 or route 3-B, your maximum stay is 2 hours 30 minutes from your entry time if you entered between 06:00 and 13:00. The last two slots leave less time before the site closes. Re-entry is not permitted except in force majeure, so there is no stepping out and coming back.

Overstaying leads to removal with police and park-guard support. The full conduct code, including the bag-size limit and the ban on walking sticks, tripods and food, is on our rules page.

Mountain windows

The mountain routes run on their own stricter windows. On Huayna Picchu, route 3-A, you enter the mountain control in one of two turns, 07:00 to 07:30 or 10:00 to 10:30, and you must be back from the summit by 13:00. Total time on the ticket, including the Llaqta visit, runs up to about 5.5 hours from entry, and around 6.5 hours if combined with the Gran Caverna on the first turn.

On Machupicchu Mountain, route 1-A, the turns are 07:00 to 07:30 or 09:00 to 09:30, also with a return from the summit by 13:00, and up to 6.5 hours total including the Llaqta. At the mountain controls there is no tolerance at all. You must enter at the exact time printed on your ticket.

Compare the two climbs in our Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain guide, or read Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain separately.

Why you cannot mix routes

Tour operators describe the routes as one-way, introduced to control crowding at narrow staircases and doorways. This is an operator description, not an official Ministry statement of a one-way rule. What the Ministry's system does make clear is the ticket structure: one ticket covers one circuit and one route on one date at one entry time, and the ticket is name-locked, date-locked and non-refundable outside force majeure.

In practice that means you cannot buy Circuit 2 and wander onto the Huayna Picchu path, and you cannot change circuits after entry. Choose before you pay, because a mistyped passport number is the only correction the ticket office allows. If you find your date sold out, our guide to sold-out tickets covers the realistic fallbacks.

For identification, carry your passport, carne de extranjeria or diplomatic ID alongside the ticket, and re-read the rules before entry day.

Photos and the classic view

If the aim is the photograph, decide what kind of photograph. The classic wide frame of the citadel with Huayna Picchu behind is taken from the upper platforms near the Guardian's house, which Circuit 1 and Circuit 2 both pass. Circuit 2 then adds the full urban walk, so you get the view and the temples on one ticket, which is why it is the default choice for a first visit.

If you instead want to stand at the Sun Gate itself, the high gateway on the original Inca Trail approach, that is route 1-C in Circuit 1, open in high season, and the round trip from the site takes about 2 hours. Read our Sun Gate page for what to expect. For the mountain peak in the background rather than the view, that is a Circuit 3 ticket, and our overview of Machu Picchu puts the whole picture together.

A mountain climb

Both mountain climbs sit inside this circuit system, on opposite circuits. Huayna Picchu, the steep pointed peak, is route 3-A inside Circuit 3, with entry turns at 07:00 to 07:30 or 10:00 to 10:30 and a return from the summit by 13:00. Machupicchu Mountain, the taller and longer climb on the far side, is route 1-A inside Circuit 1, with turns at 07:00 to 07:30 or 09:00 to 09:30 and the same 13:00 summit return.

Neither mountain control accepts late arrivals. Pick Huayna Picchu for the famous ridge walk above the citadel, and Machupicchu Mountain for height and a broader panorama. Our Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain guides cover the climbs in detail, and the head-to-head comparison helps if you can only book one.

Least walking

Be careful with this question, because no official distance or difficulty figure is published for any route. The Ministry does not grade routes as easy or moderate, and it does not publish step counts or metres per circuit. Operators publish their own ratings, but those are marketing descriptions, not official data.

What can be said from the published facts is structural. Circuit 2 passes the most named sectors, so it is the fullest walk through the site. Circuit 3-B is a shorter list of sectors.

Circuit 1-B, the upper terrace, stays on the agricultural high ground. Route 1-D, the Inca Bridge, takes about 1 hour round trip, and route 1-C, the Sun Gate, about 2 hours round trip, which makes the high-season routes 1-C and 1-D the shortest stated walks in the system. Whatever you choose, the rules apply equally, including the hard-soled-shoe ban.

How the circuit shapes the day

Your circuit decides your day more than anything else you plan. Book an early slot if you chose a mountain route, because both mountain controls open on morning turns and close to latecomers. With a standard circuit and a mid-morning slot, you can ride the first bus from Aguas Calientes up, walk your 2 hours 30 minutes, and still be back in town for lunch.

The site museum at the base, the Manuel Chavez Ballon, is free between 12:00 and 16:00 and you pass near it on the way down whatever circuit you walked, so it pairs naturally with an early entry. Our guide to Aguas Calientes in 1 day sequences the town around your slot, and the main Machu Picchu guide covers the trains, the bus and the arrival logistics that feed into the gate. Guided circuit options are compared on Aguas Calientes tours, and where to sleep before an early slot is covered on where to stay.